Very Woman (Sixtine): A Cerebral Novel

by Remy de Gourmont, J.L. Barrets (Translator)

"What is that cloud, called Sixtine, which comes to trouble my royal indifference and to conceal my sun—death? I do not want to go to sleep in the shadow of her beauty...." Hubert Entragues, aesthete and litterateur, conceives a passion for the ethereal Sixtine in this "cerebral novel" of 1890. The romance remains largely imaginary, a passion localized in the skull of the intellectual Entragues. Alone with his thoughts and his literature, the narrator's baroque reflections careen from lyrical exaltation to sullen despondency according to the inscrutable actions of his elusive inamorata. In his refined loneliness, his lucid and sensual daydreams develop into a story within the story, mirroring and embellishing the inner experience of their author. Very Woman is a masterpiece of the symbolist movement of fin de siecle literature. A brilliant stylist, Gourmont's luxurious, poetic prose is full of erudition, irony, and eroticism, creating an atmosphere all its own. "A book that meant a lot to me is Sixtine , Remy de Gourmont." —Blaise Cendrars

Genres: Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1890

About the author

People widely read works of Symbolist poet, novelist, and critic Remy de Gourmont of France, an important influence on Blaise Cendrars, in his era.

Reviews

[Hélène Lamboley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un livre dans lequel on retrouve bien les thèmes et idées décadentes (ce que j’y cherchais) mais qui m’a donné l’impression de se croire plus intelligent qu’il n’était.

Beaucoup de mépris en effet de la foule et un élitisme littéraire et intellectuel affiché mais avec un style qui ne m’a pas conquise et qui m’a surtout semblé recycler Huysmans, Baudelaire et Villiers-de-L’Ille-Adam.

La déstructuration du récit est assez novatrice mais relève plutôt pour moi du jeu formel que d’un réel discours tenu par l’auteur.

Le discours sur les femmes, misogyne et même inquiétant quand il laisse entendre que les femmes attendent d’être forcées alors qu’elles feignent de ne pas être intéressées, n’a pas contribué à me faire apprécier le roman

[Medio Mutante · Rating 1 out of 5]

nothing to recommend this to a reader in the 21st century - a rambling, desultory look into the mind of misogynist obsession