Des amants

by Daniel Arsand

1749. Sébastien Faure a quinze ans. Alors qu’il garde un troupeau de chèvres et de brebis, surgit un cheval au galop qui désarçonne son cavalier. C’est grâce à quelques plantes séchées qu’il parvient à réveiller le presque mort, Balthazar de Créon. Celui-ci lui promet qu’il est désormais à lui. Fidèle à sa promesse, il revient quelques mois plus tard et emmène Sébastien dans son château de Créon pour l’éduquer, faire de lui un médecin du roi, et surtout l’aimer. Balthazar et Sébastien vivent leur passion à l’écart de la société car, à cette époque, on insulte, on violente, on tue deux hommes qui s’aiment. Cependant, la fureur du monde les rattrape. La cour, où Créon est invisible, bruisse de terribles rumeurs ; on l’y accuse des pires forfaits et on prépare son procès. Balthazar finira sur un bûcher tandis que Sébastien devra fuir et cacher ses sentiments.

Genres: Fiction, LGBT, Historical Fiction, France, Queer, Romance, Historical

176 pages

First published January 9, 2008

Reviews

[Cristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and enigmatic - a small volume straddling the line between prose and poetry with chapters often made up of one or two paragraphs expressing an atmosphere or a sentiment, rather than new events connected to the plot.

The relationship between Sébastien and Balthazar is portrayed by Arsand with small, intimate touches and the winds of change of the novel's historical setting give even more poignancy to the small private universe of the two lovers of the title.

It's hard to express with words a book that is so subtle and evanescent. One thing I know, however, is that this is one novel that will haunt me for a while.

Highly recommended.

[Diane]

Jhumpa Lahiri says this is the best book she's read this year. I'm in.

[Nicolas · Rating 5 out of 5]

there are no words to describe the beauty of this book

[Ann Klefstad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great translation, retains the kinetic qualities of its original language, so recognizably French from the first sentence, beginning with an exclamation of the divine and leading up, through twists of diction, to the materiality in question: "God, how commonplace, in that time before the chaos and the proclamation of liberties, to have a father who tills the soil and a mother who makes invigorating concoctions!" In 100 short (often half-page) chapters, a great passion is outlined that will color everything it touches with something like the raw and brilliant pigments that its nominal hero, Sebastian, uses to create his paintings-- a practice that grows out of his 18th-century healing, poisoning art, learned from his mother.
The vicious law of homophobia destroys the lives of every sympathetic character in the book, whether son, lover, mother, or innocent bystander. Nevertheless, this is not a polemic. It's a tragic poem that lets us realize just a small part of the incalculable suffering endured by people who loved in a way not sanctioned by their times.

[Floflyy · Rating 3 out of 5]

La plume délicieuse de Daniel Arsand au service d'une histoire d'amour interdite en 1749. Malgré des chapitres courts et une caractérisation des personnages assez pauvre, on sent la passion et la complexité des émotions de ces deux amants dont rien ne prédestinent au bonheur.

[James Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 ⭐️

Queer French fiction just doesn’t miss with me. I’d really recommend this book, it’s super short and an easy read with once again great writing. In Lovers, we follow young nobleman Balthazar who falls off his horse in the countryside where the young Sébastien, versed in medicinal herbs and healing, catches his eye for his youthful beauty and ability to heal. Months later Balthazar orders him to his manor and is taught in the way of the French court hoping to get him the position of the King’s medical aid. What ensues is a passionate love between the young men as they grow together and start to generate talk within the nobility and, being the 18th century, the King comes to Balthazar with an ultimatum: discard Sébastien and live or don’t and die.

My favourite part of this book is probably the writing with Arsand straddling the line of prose and poetry. Having 100 chapters but only 129 pages, this slim book covers a large range of emotions and sentiments within each chapter with multiple needed to actually add to the plot. He uses razor-sharp, beautifully raw, honest and impactful passages that really hit home. In some ways, it feels like a fable and there are lots of messages portrayed, the main one being the way the young men discard any notions of class, social barriers and what people may ‘think’ because they love each other… because that’s what really matters at the end of the day and yep they had a connection. Their love was real and not even the threat of death could refute it… heartbreaking!! The changing passage of time in the book adds to their bond with Arsand beautifully staying true to the historical setting.

Some parts weren’t 100% to my liking but I know I need to read this again and will update with quotes when I do so.

[Zéro Janvier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Je ne connaissais pas Daniel Arsand avant de découvrir ce roman : Des amants. Le titre m'a intrigué et la quatrième de couverture m'a convaincu :

Ne nous quittons jamais. Nous ne nous quitterons jamais. Comme dans une chanson qui a sans doute déjà été écrite. Une chanson de rien.
Rien. Un mot qu'affectionne Sébastien.
Rien. Un mot que Balthazar prononce très peu souvent. Le temps n'en est pas encore venu. Mais cela viendra, comme le reste. Et c'est, ce sera quoi, le reste ? Et le reste de quoi ?
Rien. Pas vraiment, se dit Sébastien. Il y a Balthazar. Et il y a l'amour.

Des amants est un magnifique chant d'amour et d'humanité. A travers l'histoire incandescente de Balthazar et Sébastien, il dénonce l'intolérance de la société, d'hier et d'aujourd'hui.

L'action se déroule en 1749, quarante ans avant la Révolution. Sébastien Faure a quinze ans, c'est un fils de paysan. Balthazar de Créon est un jeune noble. Après une chute de cheval à laquelle Sébastien assiste, Balthazar fait de lui son protégé, son ami, son amant. A Moulins puis à Paris où le roi requiert sa présence, contre l'avis de sa mère, Balthazar ne sépare plus de son compagnon et risque sa réputation et sa vie par amour pour Sébastien. Celui-ci lui sera infidèle, mais l'amour sera toujours là entre eux.

Comment ne pas noter l'étrange similitude avec Un homme accidentel de Philippe Besson ? J'ai lu ces deux romans l'un après l'autre et la ressemblance m'a frappé. Dans les deux livres, nous assistons à une rencontre accidentelle de deux êtres que tout oppose (le flic et l'acteur pour Philippe Besson, le noble et le paysan pour Daniel Arsand). Dans les deux histoires, la passion va isoler les deux hommes du reste du monde et les mener à leur chute.

Les deux romans sont malgré tout différents. Dans Des amants, Daniel Arsand dépeint habilement la folie d'une mère qui perd son fils et le désespoir d'un garçon qui réalise qu'il ne verra plus son compagnon. C'est parfois grandiloquent et mélodramatique, à l'inverse de l'émotion retenue que Philippe Besson parvient à créer dans Un homme accidentel. J'ai apprécié Des amants mais ma préférence va nettement au roman de Philippe Besson. Il ne restera pas dans ma mémoire, peut-être parce qu'il a précédé un roman qui, lui, restera inoubliable à mes yeux.

[Elisabeth Watson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dis. Uh. Pointed. I saw some advance promotion, and was intrigued. Also, since I'll buy just about anything published by Europa, I put this on hold as soon as it came out. I have to admit that I was a little put off by the way Europa flogged this on Twitter (tweeting snippets) as, like, BEING Pride month, for days on end. But still. I picked it up with expectation on Monday and ended in dissatisfaction on Tuesday.

More than anything, it felt sloppy. Sloppy in character, sloppy in imagery, sloppy in narrative arc...when you use that few words, everything needs to come into sharp focus IMMEDIATELY, everything needs to hold together all the more tightly. Absolutely didn't happen here. The thing that made me angriest: I couldn't for the life of me figure out why Sebastian suddenly wanted to paint, nor the role that art came to take in his life. By the end of the book, I felt downright snippy everytime a paintbrush was mentioned. But that's only the extreme example among many. Entirely forgettable, I'm afraid...

The translation was fresh and polished, I don't think I can fault that.

[Mimi V · Rating 3 out of 5]

another book store find; i picked it up mostly because i have tended to appreciate the books published by Europa editions. (i'm going to have to say again that i *love* my local book shop -- The Book Cellar in Lincoln Square in Chicago. great books, helpful and knowledgeable staff, and a lovely cafe that also serves wine and beer.) (i'm not an owner, and i'm not an employee--just a grateful customer.)

this book is written from the perspective of several characters, with lovely language (although this is one of those books that makes me wish i read french, as i'd like to know if it's as lovely in its original language.) the story is about a prince who becomes infatuated with a shepherd-boy in 1749 france. they fall in love, which is obviously frowned upon, especially by the crown (although a prince, the lover, Balthazar, is not the king/queen's son.) while the story is somewhat predictable, given the circumstances, the way it is told makes it worth reading.

[Andy Quan · Rating 5 out of 5]

While 'Lovers' did remind me of Jeanette Winterston's 'the Passion', a favourite book, it also reminded me of Alessandro Barrico's 'Silk', another period piece written in extremely short sections.

It worked for me. With so little to work with, I think the writing, ideas and story all have to meld together perfectly, because once you've fallen off board with the novel, there's too little to climb back on again.

Unfortunately, that seems to have happened for a number of reviewers here!

But I found it clean, condensed, poetic, sad and romantic. Of course, with this style, we're not going to really get to know the characters well; instead, the book has a mythic quality, and yet I couldn't predict which way this story would turn or end. Perhaps you have to be a sad romantic to find it appealing. I thought it was lovely.

[Jim Coughenour · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of those handsome Europa editions that comes festooned with hushed praise. "So spare but so rich." Well, it's spare all right, but as I absorbed how preposterous its conceit and how unsatisfying its denouement, I felt it far too long. Lovers is a period piece, a bated-breath costume drama that lacks the dignity of soft porn or the savage wit of Laclos, a story of two improbably-matched lovers, doomed and beautiful of course. Superb sentiment is not enough.

[Thibaut · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poétique et beau. Une belle prose, qui en quelques mots, quelques pages, à travers des chapitres très courts, parvient à peindre une fresque historique dans lesquels évoluent des personnages de peu de mots, humains et émouvants. C’est une belle expérience, comme une visite dans un musée, qui suivrait un fil rouge mais dont les tableaux pourraient être appréciés individuellement.
Le style est réussi, mais forcément les personnages et leur intériorité en pâtissent un peu et restent parfois inaccessibles.

[Nao · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comme je suis contente d'avoir acheté ce livre ! Je n'en attendais pas tant, mais il m'a ravie. Assez court, il se lit d'une traite : une soirée de voyage au cœur d'un amour absolu.
Daniel Arsand manie les mots avec brio. Ce qui pourrait être mièvre devient fatal, mystique. Le ton est toujours juste, l'auteur ne rate jamais son but.
Je le relierai avec plaisir.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful little book, really perfect, plenty of précises available as well as reviews which will tell you what this novel is about - but the title really says everything - and that is what makes it so beautiful, moving and memorable. I've read it more then once - it well repays revisiting. Get this book and enjoy a memorable reading experience.

[Daniel]

A schematic, clever, cold little novella told in 100 tableaux.

In 1749, handsome gay peasant boy Sébastien Faure saves the life of nobleman Balthazar de Créon. They become lovers and Créon whisks Sébastien off to his castle, though the relationship precipitates towards a tragic conclusion. In principle, an irritating, telenovela-esque, bodice-ripping set-up that’s all about wish fulfillment & melodrama. I do think the book does a pretty decent job of redeeming this premise, but still I find myself wishing: couldn’t it have been something else?

Arsand’s propensity to preciousness is mitigated by an earthy sensibility, and the starry-eyed romanticism of the book is tempered by the imperfections of the romance. The tragedy is mostly in the right key–the couple isn’t persecuted as much for buggery as for political relationships. It’s not perfect on any of these counts, but many passages about death, queer passion, and 18th-century peasant life are controlled and judicious, which isn’t easy to pull off.

My favorite dimension of the novel: it represents a dysfunctional open relationship in a way that feels measured, honest, and gay. It’s an aspect of gay life that I don’t think is represented enough. Other things I liked about it: the passages about Sébastien’s early infatuation with Créon; the reaction of Balthazar’s mother, Anne de Créon, to his relationship; the book’s phenomenology of time; and the well executed faux-historicist framing of the story (reading it, I thought it might be a kind of documentary fiction). The most central aspects of the romance are left unspoken. This is very intentional and careful on Arsand’s part, but it means there that at some moments the book feels too intellectual and, at others, too sentimental.

Sébastien is in many ways a precociously modern character. He’s a libertine gay, a proto-Nietzschean, and by the end a Gothic painter. All of this is well and good, but when he goes through his Rothko phase in painting, Arsand loses me.

[Deep · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I was suckered into buying this by the beautiful cover, the title, the compelling layout, sufficiently encouraged by the first page or two to believe that this book offered great promise: poetic, artistic. And for the first while the promise was sustained, the hope - expectant - maintained. But in the end it did not deliver, and from halfway through you are asking yourself -is this profound? Or acrually not profound, just faux profound - pretentious? And written in such a poetic, spare way it takes longer than perhaps it should to finally decide this. As a narrative it starts interestingly, perhaps it will be a mini 'Perfume', but in the end there are no great twists, it's fairly straightforward - if rather random at the end. I'm not sure what to make of it. I would still say it LOOKS stunning, but I would not recommend anyone read it I don't think.
SPOILER: It's very gay.
6/10

p117 "She knows the bulk of it. He is no longer really with her. She knows that he is abandoning her. Even when he possesses her, even when he asks her how her day has been, even when he says Come to me, even when he kisses her neck and strokes her hair. She knows and says nothing. She also knows that he will never leave her."

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, bumping it up to 4 because I feel bad that the average rating is so low

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novella in 100 short sections following the path of same sex lovers in 18th century France. Arsand writes very well, evoking a lot in few words.

[Fayrose Hajer]

I can't decide on a star rating...

[Wendy Lu · Rating 3 out of 5]

mmm highly recommend reading this out loud while wine-drunk

[Cyril · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful. Mesmerizing.

[a.d. · Rating 4 out of 5]

such a perfect little precise piece of poetic prose on the different kinds of love. beautiful and profoundly moving, sparse and well-written.

[Maddy Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

i guess 3.5 stars as well ? the writing was gorgeous but as a whole i expected it to be better. there's certainly stronger Sad Gay Novels™ out there

[Bantu Somebori · Rating 5 out of 5]

« On est dans un siècle où dire je t’aime est rare »

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some lovely passages, but when you get down to it, a whole lot of nothing. Offensive to compare this to Forster, as one of the jacket blurbs does.

[ploupplou · Rating 4 out of 5]

je suis mort.

[Amelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though I’m rating this below the average rating, I think the average rating for this book is too low. I thought the people would like it more

[Shayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was quite lovely, but I suspect I won’t remember it six months from now

[Camille Andersen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Écrit comme un poème, se lit facilement mais il faut aimer le style un peu abrupte. L’histoire paraît trop courte.

[Benjy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh.

This is the appropriate length for a story as scant and superficial as this one. I enjoyed it just fine but if I'd spent more than one sitting reading it, I would have been upset. The brief sections are quite nice on their own but taken as a whole, they don't add up to much and the narrative is poorly paced and often illogical.

It's probably my own close-mindedness but certain aspects (crots, jumps in perspective, narrative gaps and fixations, plot elements) made Lovers seem like a lesser-than version of Autobiography Of Red or Names Above Houses -- the latter a tepid imitation of the former. This book had baseless accusations of people being alchemists but otherwise, I don't know why else I would ever recommend it over either of those other two.

So: if this year you read only one fragmented, arcane novella about traumatic young gay love, save this one for next year.

As with most lovers, there comes a time when the titular Lovers lose their plurality and we are left with a single Lover. And yet, the story continues, shifting focus in the final 20 or so pages to a separate narrative that, other than taking a hot pee on the idea of love, has little to do with the bulk of the novel that precedes it.

The painting metaphor was labored, I thought. With no exposure to art beyond some amateur paintings, Sebastien decides capriciously to become a painter. It is his only identifiable trait beyond Balthazar and yet instead of dilettantism, he becomes a minor master. Not only does he apparently invent Expressionism a good 150 years before anyone else but he also can paint so realistically to disturb his subjects with their likenesses.

I've found that painting is often used by lazy or unimaginative writers as a symbolic stand-in for the writing process. I don't know that this is what has happened here but well, I don't know that it isn't. It struck me as a weak and indulgent thing to make Sebastien's only "thing" beyond sodomy.

Later, when Andre has his headaches, Sebastien does not use his "sorcery" to cure his headaches, letting that burden fall on his kind landlady who finds Andre's wife's response to her efforts lacking in gratitude. I suppose that late relationship is meant as some kind of parallel view of Sebastien and Balthazar's or an indication that Sebastien has abandoned that side of himself (or that the title of the book is Lovers, not Lovers Specifically Called Sebastien and Balthazar). But it seemed improbable to me.

The characterizations are flimsy. I suppose the story is about the ways in which people connect and the clarity of those connections rather than about the hazy, mercurial people making those connections. But without at least something to know about these people beyond the most archetypal qualities, their love makes little sense. I guess you could say the same of Romeo & Juliet and that's a pretty good one. So what do I know?