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Mascarade
1948. Dix-huit ans après La Peur, quatorze après Clochemerle, Gabriel Chevallier publie un recueil de cinq longues nouvelles, Mascarade. Cinq portraits-charge hauts en couleur, drôles et cruels : le colonel Crapouillot, un dur des durs de 14-18, qui « veut des morts » pour faire sérieux ; tante Zoé, vieille fille bigote et pétomane ; Mourier, un as de l'homicide domestique ; Dubois, un as lui aussi mais du marché noir et « le vieux », qui gratte son jardin pour déterrer son or. Cinq récits qui commencent dans la banalité avant de basculer dans le sordide et la tragédie. Une langue étonnante et roborative, crue et truculente, une joie dévastatrice héritière des plus grands pamphlétaires. Jean-François Nivet, Les Lettres françaises. Une mascarade car tout est tromperie, pirouette et faux-semblant, trahison et mensonge. Vincent Wackenheim, La Revue littéraire.
360 pages, Pocket Book
Published November 7, 2012
About the author
Gabriel Chevallier
91 books28 followersGabriel Chevallier (3 May 1895 – 6 April 1969) was a French novelist widely known as the author of the satire Clochemerle.
Born in Lyon in 1895, Gabriel Chevallier was educated in various schools before entering Lyon École des Beaux-Arts in 1911. He was called up at the start of World War I and wounded a year later, but returned to the front where he served as an infantryman until the war's end. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre and Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur. Following the war he undertook several jobs including art teacher, journalist and commercial traveller before starting to write in 1925. His novel La Peur (Fear) published in 1930 drew upon his own experiences and formed a damning indictment of the war. He was married with one son and died in Cannes in 1969.
Clochemerle was written in 1934 and has been translated into twenty-six languages and sold several million copies. It was dramatised first in a 1947 film by Pierre Chenal and in 1972 by the BBC. He wrote two sequels: Clochemerle Babylon (Clochemerle-Babylone, 1951), and Clochemerle-les-Bains (1963). In the USA the Clochemerle books were published under the English titles The Scandals of Clochemerle (for Clochemerle in 1937) and The Wicked Village (Clochemerle-Babylone, 1956).
Others translated into English include Sainte Colline (1937), Cherry (Ma Petite Amie Pomme, 1940), The Affairs of Flavie or The Euffe Inheritance (Les Héritiers Euffe, 1945) and Mascarade (1948).
Other books in French include Clarisse Vernon, Propre à Rien, Chemins de Solitude and Le Petit Général.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_...
Born in Lyon in 1895, Gabriel Chevallier was educated in various schools before entering Lyon École des Beaux-Arts in 1911. He was called up at the start of World War I and wounded a year later, but returned to the front where he served as an infantryman until the war's end. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre and Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur. Following the war he undertook several jobs including art teacher, journalist and commercial traveller before starting to write in 1925. His novel La Peur (Fear) published in 1930 drew upon his own experiences and formed a damning indictment of the war. He was married with one son and died in Cannes in 1969.
Clochemerle was written in 1934 and has been translated into twenty-six languages and sold several million copies. It was dramatised first in a 1947 film by Pierre Chenal and in 1972 by the BBC. He wrote two sequels: Clochemerle Babylon (Clochemerle-Babylone, 1951), and Clochemerle-les-Bains (1963). In the USA the Clochemerle books were published under the English titles The Scandals of Clochemerle (for Clochemerle in 1937) and The Wicked Village (Clochemerle-Babylone, 1956).
Others translated into English include Sainte Colline (1937), Cherry (Ma Petite Amie Pomme, 1940), The Affairs of Flavie or The Euffe Inheritance (Les Héritiers Euffe, 1945) and Mascarade (1948).
Other books in French include Clarisse Vernon, Propre à Rien, Chemins de Solitude and Le Petit Général.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_...
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January 15, 2023
Gabriel Chevallier's gallic, jocularly vulgar sass in the first story of this collection predates San Antonio by a mere year. The depiction of the war makes for an interesting comparison with the apocalyptic sketches of World War I in La Peur, published 18 years before and its comic verve is irresistible. Chevallier proves himself to be a mature writer with full mastery of his craft, getting more brooding with each story. The collection ends up with a story entitled "The Treasure" about an old man at the end of his life digging for some gold coins bequeathed to him by his father, an occasion that has him pondering one last time a long, solitary, bitter life irremediably changed by the war. It is good, almost to a fault, too eloquent, too sure of its effects and its handling of commonplaces.
Displaying 1 of 1 review