Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

راهی برای رهایی

Rate this book
رمان «راهی برای رهایی» از آثار ماندگار «موریاک» است که از فرانسه ترجمه شده و نسبت به دیگر آثار او از حال و هوای متفاوت‌تری برخوردار است و در مجموع اثری جسورانه به حساب می‌آید.
این رمان روایتی از سرگذشت پسرکی متفاوت و تنها که حتی مادرش نیز او را پس می‌زند و او خود را در دنیایی سرشار از آشوب و ترس و تنهایی بی‌کس و تنها می‌بیند.
در بخشی از این رمان می‌خوانیم:
هیچ قدرتی نه در زمین و نه در آسمان نمی‌تواند زنی را از برگزیدن یک مرد و انتخاب‌کردنش به عنوان خداوند برحذر دارد. این شامل حال خودِ مرد نمی‌شود. زن مصمم است که این بت را در مرکز زندگی‌اش قرار دهد. دیگر هیچ کاری برایش باقی نمی‌ماند جز اینکه در بیابان قلبش صحرایی بنا کند و آن را وقف این الوهیت موفرفری بنماید.
زن‌های دیگر عاقبت همیشه کارشان پیش خدای خود به استغاثه و تضرع می‌کشد، ولی او مصمم است که از خدایش انتظاری نداشته باشد. از او چیزی نخواهد ربود مگر آنچه را که می‌توان از موجودی بدون اطّلاعش گرفت. قدرت اعجازآمیز یک نگاه مزورانه و یک فکر غیرقابل کنترل! شاید روزی جرأت انجام یک حرکت را بیابد، شاید این خداوند تماس دهانی را بر دستش تحمل کند.
فرانسوا موریاک روزنامه‌نگار، نویسنده، شاعر فرانسوی و برنده جایزه ادبی نوبل سال ۱۹۵۲ است که یکی از بزرگترین نویسندگان قرن بیستم اروپا محسوب شده‌است

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

5 people are currently reading
320 people want to read

About the author

François Mauriac

565 books400 followers
François Charles Mauriac was a French writer and a member of the Académie française. He was awarded the 1952 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the deep spiritual insight and the artistic intensity with which he has in his novels penetrated the drama of human life." Mauriac is acknowledged to be one of the greatest Roman Catholic writers of the 20th century.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
120 (20%)
4 stars
184 (30%)
3 stars
193 (32%)
2 stars
79 (13%)
1 star
21 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
Profile Image for AiK.
726 reviews268 followers
September 27, 2023
Данная новелла написана Нобелевским лауреатом Франсуа Мориаком в 1951 году, но действие происходит после Первой мировой войны. Эта новелла о мальчике Гийу, отстающим в развитии вследствии болезни или состояния в ментальном здоровье, но автор не называет диагноза. Его мать, Поль, вышла замуж за последнего барона Де Сэрнэ из-за нелепого желания войти в аристократическую среду, возникшего, когда девочки из титулованных семейств в школе отказывали ей в дружбе. Ее муж, страдал слабоумием, но это не остановило ее. Она чувствовала себя обманутой: продалась из тщеславия и ничего взамен! В деревне не называли ее баронессой де Сэрнэ, ее называли мадам Галеас.
Мужа она не любила и испытывала отвращение к его отвислой губе. Она не спала с ним, но однажды ответила на его объятия, родился Гийу, полностью похожий на отца.
Поль, не сдерживаясь, вымещала на нем все свои невысказанные претензии к судьбе, била его, обзывала его и его отца.
Гийу пытались отдать к иезуитам, но оба раза его возвращали, поскольку он портил простыни.
В общем, мальчик был запуганной и замученной жертвой глубоко несчастной, не добившейся своей цели, а оттого очень жестокой, матери.
Однажды, Поль отвела сына в деревню к учителю, чтобы тот взял его для дополнительных занятий. Господин поговорил с ним, как с нормальным учеником о книгах, и вдруг выяснилось, что Гийу прочел довольно много книг, глаза его засияли, когда он заговорил на любимую тему. Неосторожный вопрос, и он снова преобразился: его плечи поникли, взгляд потух и стал снова отстранённым и бессмысленным. Учитель нашел к нему подход, казалось бы, все наладится.
Но к несчастью, учитель оказался то ли коммунистом, то ли социалистом, он был одержим классовой ненавистью и посчитал неприемлемым давать уроки отпрыску баронской фамилии.
Поль сыплет оскорблениями в адрес отца и сына. Чтобы не слышать оскорбления из ее уст, отец уводит мальчика на кладбище, где он ухаживает за могилами. Обернувшись, отец видит лишь удаляющийся капюшон сына, он видит его цыплячью шею, его вид, напоминающий раненую землеройку, вызывает глубокое сострадание у отца, самого натерпевщегося в жизни. Он идёт за сыном. И далее, история умалчивает, то ли он толкнул Гийу в ручей, то ли сын увлек его в стремнину, но остался только факт - они оба утонули.
Поль больна раком, но не может принимать морфий.
"Робер Бордас входит в комнату Жан-Пьера, снимает с полки «Таинственный остров», книга сама раскрывается все на той же странице: «И действительно, бедняга чуть было не бросился в ручей, отделявший его от леса; ноги его на мгновение напряглись, как пружины... Но сейчас же сделал шаг назад и опустился на землю. Слезы покатились из его глаз. «О, ты плачешь, — воскликнул Сайрес Смит, — значит, ты снова стал человеком!» Господин Бордас присаживается на кровать Жан-Пьера, держа на коленях открытую толстую книгу в красном переплете. Гийу... Сознание медленно созревало в этом хилом тельце. Ах, как чудесно было бы помочь ему вырваться наружу! Быть может, для этого-то труда и явился на землю Робер Бордас. В Эколь Нормаль один из преподавателей объяснял студентам происхождение слова «учитель», «наставник», «instituteur». Учитель — тот, кто наставляет, тот, кто учит, тот, кто пробуждает человеческое в человеке, — какое же это прекрасное слово! Может быть, на его пути встретятся еще такие, как Гийу. И ради ребенка, смерть которого он не предотвратил, он ни в чем не откажет тем, кто придет к нему. Но ни один из них не будет этим маленьким мальчиком, умершим потому, что господин Бордас пригрел его как-то вечером, а наутро выгнал, словно бродячего пса, которого впускают в дом лишь на минуту... Он возвратил его тьме, и тьма навеки поглотила ребенка. Но тьма ли это? Его взгляд скользит поверх книг, поверх стен, поверх черепичной крыши, Млечного Пути, созвездий зимнего неба и ищет, ищет царство духа, оттуда, быть может, ребенок, обретший вечную жизнь, смотрит на него, Бордаса, видит, как по его щеке, поросшей черной щетиной, ползет слеза, которую он забыл вытереть."
Финал мне показался с налетом лицемерности: о труде наставлять, пробуждать человеческое в человеке, Бордас знал, когда учился стать учителем, а иначе бы он им не стал, но он отказал в помощи из-за каких-то абсурдных причин.
Значение таких книг, что они учат быть человечнее нас, читателей.
229 reviews119 followers
August 25, 2017
داستان درمورد پسربچه ی عقب افتاده ایه که مادرش هیچ علاقه ای بهش نداره، مدام تحقیرش میکنه و اون رو از خودش میرونه.  زنی که به طمع موقعیت اجتماعی و پول، همسر مردی میشه که مشکلات ذهنی داره و حاصل این ازدواج یه پسر بچه ی عقب افتادست.. 

کتاب اصلا ترجمه ی خوب و روانی نداشت و خوندنش خیلی سخت بود. درکل از نظر محتوایی نسبتا خوب و از لحاظ ترجمه و سبک نوشتار چندان جذاب نبود بنظرم.
Profile Image for Golsa.
86 reviews3 followers
October 28, 2025
اگر ترجمه بهتر بود می تونست امتیاز بالاتری داشته باشه ولی با این ترجمه نتونستم ارتباط برقرار کنم با فضا و ...
Profile Image for Mark.
393 reviews332 followers
October 22, 2013
I read this book whilst languishing and feeling sorry for myself after an op last year. Not sure if that is the best of atmospheres in which to imbibe such a sad story but I found it quite wonderful.

I love Mauriac or rather Hopkins' translations as unfortunately my french A level is so long in the past that I cannot think of reading it in the original but every one of his works that I have read I have found really moving.

This small novel is heartbreakingly beautiful. Its the story of local gentry in Mauriac's provincial France, a lovely but disgruntled wife who had hoped for a better life through her marriage finds herself languishing in the back of beyond with a weak and in-bred husband and a seemingly ' imbecilic' son.

The tragic unfolding of the misery of so many lives, the heartless casting aside of the young boy by those in whom he should have been able to find support or some sort of refuge, the inevitability of the looming outcome, all these things build up horribly but so tenderly as you see the developing love of the father. I really loved this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Mark.
393 reviews332 followers
August 24, 2014
I read this book whilst languishing and feeling sorry for myself after an op last year. Not sure if that is the best of atmospheres in which to imbibe such a sad story but I found it quite wonderful.

I love Mauriac or rather Hopkins' translations as unfortunately my french A level is so long in the past that I cannot think of reading it in the original but every one of his works that I have read I have found really moving.

This small novel is heartbreakingly beautiful. Its the story of local gentry in Mauriac's provincial France, a lovely but disgruntled wife who had hoped for a better life through her marriage finds herself languishing in the back of beyond with a weak and in-bred husband and a seemingly ' imbecilic' son.

The tragic unfolding of the misery of so many lives, the heartless casting aside of the young boy by those in whom he should have been able to find support or some sort of refuge, the inevitability of the looming outcome, all these things build up horribly but so tenderly as you see the developing love of the father. I really loved this book.
Profile Image for Kurahuma Yukama.
37 reviews4 followers
August 10, 2013
La contraportada dice que esta novelita o relato es posiblemente su Obra Maestra, no se , tendria que leer mas, y aunque este lejano en mi recuerdo ya , me quedo con Nudo de Víboras.
La historia empieza bien,pero termina muy pronto!! Te encariñas con el Mico y zas !!! el fin de la novela! en mi opinión daba para mas , es una lastima que tan buen personaje tenga tan pocas paginas de gloria.

Profile Image for Raha.
107 reviews42 followers
February 5, 2019
نمیدونم چرا ولی حقیقتاً تنها چیزی که شاید ایمان منو نسبت به اینکه کسی وجود داره و یا عدالتی هست که حتما بالاخره یه روزی اجرا میشه؛ همین به دنیا اومدن کودکان مریض هستش! از نظر من تنها موجوداتی که مستحق زندگی کردن در این کره ی خاکی زیبایی که ما آدم بزرگها اون رو تبدیل به لجنزار کردیم، فقط و فقط بچه ها هستن!
این موضوع که یک کودک نتونه از این دوران زندگیش مثل بقیه بچه ها بهره مند بشه،از درک من خارجه!!!
چرا باید کودکی متفاوت به دنیا بیاد؟ چرا باید از بدو تولدش مورد ترحم بقیه قرار بگیره؟ چرا نباید مثل بقیه از سلامت جسمی و فکری برخوردار باشه؟
واقعا بچه ها چه گناهی کردن!
حالا بیشترین چیزی که منو اذیت کرد وقتی این کتاب رو میخوندم این بود که حتی مادرِ این کودک هم اونو طرد کرده بود!فرزندی که خودش به دنیا میاره و درواقع عامل اصلیِ همه زجر ها و درد های کودک همین مادره، اما با گستاخی تمام بچه خودش رو طرد میکنه!
شاید بهتره قبل از اینکه تصمیم بگیریم یه موجود دوپای دیگری رو به این دنیا اضافه کنیم، بیشتر فکر کنیم، دقیق تر، منصفانه تر، عاقلانه تر و واقع بینانه!
Profile Image for Aeroyou.
163 reviews2 followers
July 25, 2025
Peut-être le roman le plus noir que j’ai pu lire de Mauriac jusqu’ici, mais qu’est-ce que j’aime ses ambiances, avec ces familles aristocratiques dysfonctionnelles et ses personnages imparfaits mais attachants !
Ça me réconcilie avec l’auteur après le petit bémol qu’avait été « Génitrix » pour moi.
Profile Image for Andres Borbon.
Author 9 books35 followers
October 5, 2019
Una obra maestra. No es una novela de terror, pero me va a provocar pesadillas durante mucho tiempo.

En este pequeño infierno viven la abuela, una baronesa venida a menos, el heredero, débil mental y casado con una mujer que sólo accedió al matrimonio para obtener un título nobiliario y el hijo, el mico, que heredó la faz bobalicona del padre y acaso su roma inteligencia. La madre busca un preceptor para su hijo, más para intimar con el hombre que por el beneficio del vástago. Y el preceptor, un hombre frustrado, se ve ante la disyuntiva de aceptar la cercanía de la mujer y al hijo o seguir rumiando su arruinado futuro.

Todo está prendido con alfileres y, aunque mal, funciona. Basta un acontecimiento nimio para hundirlo todo.
Profile Image for Iván Ramírez Osorio.
331 reviews29 followers
July 30, 2018
Un libro hermoso, "sencillo" y bastante humano ( lo que sea que esto signifique). Se hace un poco corto y los personajes, diversos y profundos, no tienen suficientes páginas para darse a conocer. Sin embargo, esta historia de amor, odio, interés y codicia humana resulta atrapante, cercana, enternecedora y , por momentos, dolorosa. Gran libro.

5.0
Profile Image for Ivy-Mabel Fling.
637 reviews44 followers
October 21, 2018
If you like Mauriac's dark woods, his less than perfect people, their longings and their disagreements with each other, you will like this. It is very typically Mauriac in my view - and absolutely brilliant!!
Profile Image for Maryam.
20 reviews10 followers
April 18, 2020
روحی که در این جسم رنجور پنهان بود... چقدر زیبا بود اگر باعث جهش آن شده بود! شاید اصلا برای همین کار به این دنیا آمده بود‌.
Profile Image for Andrea.
315 reviews42 followers
December 28, 2013
Ce petit texte, à la fois touchant et tragique, reprend des thèmes du Le Baiser au lépreux, mais il me semble moins abouti comme roman. La brévité a des vertus, d'accord, mais l'histoire très condensée lui donne trop une allure de comte moderne, avec un message à la clef - à prendre avec une vision humaniste ou catho, au choix.
193 reviews12 followers
January 19, 2012
Ce court roman relate le calvaire vécu par un enfant un peu simple (est-ce si sûr), martyrisé psychologiquement par sa mère et victime de la faiblesse de son père. Ce texte sec, nerveux et fin nous plonge dans la petite noblesse de province désargenté du sud-ouest. Le coup d'oeil est parfait, l'intrigue imparable et ce jusqu'au dénouement final.

Un roman à lire, une merveille à découvrir.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Helen Lombard.
23 reviews1 follower
February 25, 2017
Pas convaincue. C'est un classique, certes, mais mis à part le fait que les personnages sont petits et mesquins, rien ne m'a particulièrement marquée.
La fin est censée être dramatique mais est aussi fade que le paysage décrit.
Une lecture décevante, mais heureusement rapide.
Profile Image for Susan.
Author 11 books92 followers
March 6, 2024
The Little Misery by François Mauriac was had been on my to-read list for several years, and the other day I requested it from the library. I can’t remember where or when I learned about it, but it’s one of my favorite types of books to read — “a psychological novel which portrays the suffocation of life in a family.” Ha ha, just call me cheery 🙂

The library’s copy had 1968 typed inside the cover, so the book itself has been around a while, complete with the library card pocket still glued in the front — I love when I find those. I read that Mauriac is “the greatest Roman Catholic writer of the 20th century,” which I found interesting since he was new to me. The book is translated from French and is just over 100 pages.

Our story is set in post-WWII France. A woman, Paula, is depressed with her life. Years ago she encountered a soldier. People saw them together and assumed they had an affair, “but all that had ever happened had been the meeting, in their persons, of two solitary sufferers whose loneliness had never mingled.” She lives with her husband and son, who are both described in a nebulous way that gives us the idea they have some mental disabilities. They all live with Paula’s aristocratic mother-in-law, who apparently isn’t fond of any of them. The son, Guillou, is the “little misery,” and is “generally regarded as an idiot.” Whatever his issues are apparently leave him unable to attend regular school, and Paula takes him to meet with the local teacher, hoping that the teacher might work with him after regular school hours.

This teacher has his own struggles: “Here he was, a man of forty, burning with desires, bursting with ideas, yet fated never to escape from a schoolhouse in an empty village street … (his wife) was sometimes filled with pity for her husband, for she was too intelligent not to realize that he was suffering. But in (their son) they would find their compensation. It was her opinion that when a man has reached her husband’s age he is willing enough to shift the burden of ambition to the shoulders of his son … that was her opinion.”

While this meeting takes place, Guillou (who has moments of seeming pretty normal, although unloved and pitiful) realizes that he likes this teacher, and he particularly takes a shine to a photo of the teacher’s son, who is probably near his age and who appears to be perfect in every way. Guillou forms a mental dream of this son, admiring him and paging carefully through one of his books. But the teacher’s wife later finds dirt on a page of the book Guillou has looked through, and convinces the teacher not to take him on as a pupil.

When he learns that he will not be working with the teacher, Guillou is disappointed and the whole family argues. Guillou tries to make a point, but no one listens to him. Indeed, a theme in the book is no one listening to others, and people just “missing” chances of connection at so many levels. He realizes that “not a soul, anywhere, wanted him.”

Guillou’s dad tells him to come along with him, and they head down to the village river by way of the churchyard, where Dad’s job is tending the gravestones. The story ends tragically (but no spoilers).

The book is full of little phrases you notice that brim with “deep meaning” in some way. There’s not a lot of overt religion, but there is an overarching theme of searching for God. Guillou muses — “Nor was the Good God in their chapel at home, which Fraulein used now as a room in which to keep brooms and packing cases and broken chairs. Where in this harsh world had God set up His dwelling? Where was a trace of Him to be found?”

Here are excerpts from a review of the book by a blogger I enjoy reading:

"Typical Mauriac: dense, heady, centered on manipulative characters, misunderstood desires, spiritual combat and lots and lots of frustration. Quite sad, almost unbearably so, but with a hint of redemption at the end. As is often the case with Mauriac, the story concerns a bunch of terrible people who are concerned with status and wealth more than anything else and who either ignore God or promote some perverse image of God that supports their bigotry, selfishness and cruelty.

In (Flannery) O’Connor, the protagonist usually experiences some personal injury, humiliation or other sort of pain. With Mauriac, it seems that characters (finally) see a glimmer of truth when the horrible consequences of their actions on others can’t be denied any longer.

In every case, sure, God may have a wonderful plan for you life, but your resistance is strong, and breaking things is painful. It’s very sad, but the events, as they do in Mauriac, make clear to these horrible people in a way that nothing else has, how horrible they have been. It is now too late for some things to get better, but not too late – never too late – for a touch of grace, somewhere.

I always finish a Mauriac novel thinking…don’t be that way. Untie the knots, open your eyes, shake it off, and love generously."

So — I’m doubting this appeals to many of you, but it did to me; I like thinking/mentally “talking through” books like this in my mind. I recently read someone in a biography described as an “internal processor.” I’d never heard the term, but I have claimed it as my own descriptor 🙂
Profile Image for Stephen Durrant.
674 reviews171 followers
September 22, 2021
This brief novel, written fairly late in Mauriac's life, is a magnificent, if slightly over-heated, study of the intersection of class and politics in small-town France. Like so many of Mauriac's works, it also concerns a Dysfunctional Family (yes, capitalize that!). "The dirty child," to translate the title, is coddled by his grandmother, disliked by his mother, and largely ignored by his silent father, who does however let his son sit in the cemetery day after day and watch him tend to the graves of his ancestors! Now, the grandmother is a "fallen aristocrat," while her daughter-in-law is not only from the working class but seems to have a streak of "red" running through her spirit. Well, I won't go on with a plot summary, since it is only a one- or two-hour read (unless you are a mediocre reader of French who insists, like me, to tackle it in the original . . . then count on maybe five hours). At any rate, things come to a crisis when the mother succeeds in getting her "dirty child" a tutor, who happens to be the village school teacher and hence a left-wing rival to priests and aristocrats. Suffice it to say, things end badly, which shouldn't surprise any reader of Mauriac, who has a genius for portraying the multifaceted awfulness of family life!
Profile Image for Simon.
242 reviews3 followers
July 25, 2018
A short and rather sad bitter novel . A mother who seems to revile her young son as well as his aristocratic family. They all live together in a chateau .

It unfolds that the boy actually has hidden qualities : he is shown reading delightedly to a tutor who for reasons of social class decides not to teach the boy after the trial lesson. The moment of tension comes as the boys brightness unfolds at the same moment that the tutor is thinking absentmindedly about his own life’s problems. So an opportunity is missed, and really that is the only possible moment of connection in the whole novella .

I enjoy Mauriac ; his novels are tense psychological dramas often set in the French countryside of minor nobility or bourgeoisie. So the backdrop is the vineyards or fields south of Bordeaux with a fine house setting. The kind of background I like very much.

Read in French
Profile Image for Suzanne.
110 reviews4 followers
December 7, 2020
un récit intéressant et parfaitement construit mais possiblement un peu trop oubliable : on survole le drame familial de trop haut
Profile Image for BENJAMIN JONES.
132 reviews1 follower
December 7, 2020
Très court mais (ou plutôt "donc") débordant de thèmes inexplorés tels que :
- le communisme : vu positivement à travers l'instituteur, qui aurait aimé aider le petit Guillou à "jaillir" de sa situation (comme les classes ouvrières ?)
- l'homosexualité : mentionnée explicitement une seule fois mais je pense que ça court dans tout ce que fait Mauriac ; au moins ici on parle de l'absence de désir entre les couples hétérosexuels, et, que sait-on, je sous-entends une notion de "it takes a village..." (aphorisme en anglais qui signifie que l'éducation d'un enfant vient de toute la communauté et non pas seulement des parents) et dans ça une idéalisation de l'amour paternel et le soutien de l'instituteur, cette haine maternelle n'ayant pas sa place
- l'abus des enfants (il reste quasi muet tout le livre mais vers la fin on a droit à son monologue intérieur)
- le Sud-Ouest et des familles nobles désargentées où tout le monde se déteste...

Bref un bon Mauriac que aurait pu faire le double de longueur sans que ses idées soient épuisées. Mais je suis déjà très fan de lui.
Profile Image for Alice.
1,700 reviews26 followers
October 9, 2013
Mlle Alice, pouvez-vous nous raconter votre rencontre avec Le Sagouin?

"Encore un livre remporté à l'occasion du concours des 50 ans de Pocket..."

Dites-nous en un peu plus sur son histoire...


"L'histoire d'une famille où tout le monde est malheureux et méchant les uns envers les autres et où c'est l'enfant qui en subit les conséquences."

Mais que s'est-il exactement passé entre vous?


"Ceux qui me connaissent vont me dire: "mais pourquoi t'obstines-tu à lire ce genre de livre alors que tu sais que tu ne vas pas aimer?" Pour tout un tas de raisons: parce que je suis optimiste, parce que j'aime les belles surprises, parce que j'essaie de ne pas avoir de préjugés, parce que ce livre est dans ma PAL? Mais le miracle ne s'est pas produit et je n'ai pas aimé. En toute honnêteté, je ne comprends pas l'intérêt de ce très court récit qui nous raconte tout ce désespoir. Je l'ai déjà expliqué, je lis pour me divertir et je n'ai pas besoin d'un livre pour me rappeler à quel point la vie peut être moche. Après je sais que c'est un livre qui a eu du succès et j'aimerais sincèrement que ceux qui aiment m'expliquent ce que cela leur apporte pour essayer de comprendre sans juger."

Et comment cela s'est-il fini?


"La fin est dans la droite lignée du reste. Si vous cherchez du joyeux, abstenez-vous!"



http://booksaremywonderland.hautetfor...
Profile Image for Pippa.
Author 2 books31 followers
September 16, 2012
Beautifully written, with the typical Mauriac gift of not condemning anybody. Almost too painful to bear though.
Profile Image for Anna Zenchenkova.
219 reviews6 followers
July 23, 2016
Чтобы не забыть, как называется переведенное произведение: "Мартышка"
Profile Image for Dervla O’Shaughnassy.
52 reviews1 follower
November 5, 2022
De quoi ça parle ?

Guillou, décrit par tous comme sale, bête et laid, ce qui lui vaut de sa mère le surnom de « Sagouin ». Guillou, méprisé par une génitrice qui rêvait de noblesse en épousant l'héritier d'une ancienne famille aristocratique maintenant en déliquescence. Guillou enfin, malaimé par un père aussi méprisé que lui, qui ne sait comment lui témoigner son amour ; et traité avec condescendance par une grand-mère qui, bien que lui manifestant quelques tendresses, est persuadée au fond d'elle-même de son imbécilité.

C'est dans ce climat de décrépitude et de splendeur passée que grandit l'enfant ingrat et renfermé, rejeté par tous… À l'exception peut-être de l'instituteur du village qui semble témoigner un peu de gentillesse à son égard et permet à Guillou d'espérer.

Mais quand, bien vite, le rêve se brise, sans plus personne vers qui se tourner, il rend les armes. Après tout, qui se souciera de sa disparition ? Là encore, il se peut que le petit garçon ait oublié de considérer la présence d'un père, aussi silencieux et mis à l'écart que son fils…

Mon avis : … Mitigé.

Pour commencer, les personnages sont trop monolithiques et manquent par conséquent de subtilité. Une affreuse mégère de mère, une grand-mère sévère et intraitable, un instituteur au bon fond mais obsédé par une quête de gloire, et un duo père/fils soumis et maltraités par la nature qui, pourtant ne demandent qu'un peu d'affection pour s'épanouir. Certes, c'est un panel relativement intéressant (quoique manquant légèrement d'originalité), mais les traits de chacun sont tellement accentués que c'en devient grotesque.

Et ni les péripéties, ni les choix des uns et des autres ne font évoluer les personnalités. Entendez-moi bien, je ne déplore pas ici une soudaine effusion d'amour, mais au moins des caractères quelque peu nuancés quand arrive la dernière page, afin d'échapper à la malédiction des éternels personnages plats.

Cela étant, les péripéties ne sont pas sans intérêt et la fin aurait pu donner quelque chose de vraiment beau. Mais de même que leurs agents, les actions paraissent grossières et maladroites : un petit garçon inoffensif détesté par un village entier, cela me semble un procédé bien facile pour jouer avec les émotions du lecteur. Beaucoup de critiques ont qualifié ce roman de satire poignante, ou autres louanges du même acabit. Toutefois, conformément au dicton, trop de satire tue la satire…

Enfin, le style est raffiné et élégant, recourant au XXème siècle à un langage caractéristique d'un écrit du XIXème .Ce n'est pas déplaisant, j'en conviens, camouflant même parfois certaines balourdises narratives, mais cela renforce tout de même l'impression de décalé, de pas-tout-à-fait qui prédomine dans le livre.

En conclusion, une oeuvre non dépourvue de matière, mais trop pataude dans sa conception, et manquant au fond de subtilité. À confirmer ou infirmer par la lecture de quelques autres romans de Mauriac.

https://lirelandoulerevedunemontmartr...
Profile Image for Dorottya.
675 reviews25 followers
January 22, 2021
Mauriac was a master of writing ill-fated relationships, haphazardly made marriages and dysfunctional families - I read 3 other novelettes by him along with this one yesterday, and that was an overarching theme in all of them. And... spoiler... all of them were done so masterfully, exploring a different realm of why a relationship went wrong.

This one was probably my favourite. It showed what the tragic results could be of someone marrying a person just for a title or just to try something new, without having a proper connection. We see Paule, the mother figure, not feeling any sort of gentle, motherly feelings for her son, but her only trying to make him more presentable... which, funnily, is also the aim of Paule's "nemesis", her mother-in-law. Poor little Guillaume thinks his grandmother loves him so much, but she only acts like it to spite her daughter-in-law. We see him struggling to see his family fighting all around, which causes him a lot of grief next to having learning and focus difficulties and being different from the other kids. It was really heartbreaking to read the ending - but honestly, it made so much sense.

As short as this book is, it doesn't only show the resentment a woman feels who had to bear a child from a man she learnt to despise - it also shows how toxic it is for a family to have a family member shunned from society because of some really ill-mannered and ill-purposes gossip about how virtuous they are, and what kind of severe difficulties it can cause to the families in the long run (in this case, the boy not getting proper extracurricular care and help in studying because the town is thinking Paule is an adulteress).

It also depicts how you can ruin a child's life by gaining their trust and promising a relationship full of trust and help to them, but eventually not caring about them. Playing with Guillaume's emotions and the rejection by the teacher who was the first who could "touch" him a certain way was definitely a stab in the heart for him.
Profile Image for Hans Moerland.
555 reviews15 followers
September 23, 2025
“Le sagouin” van François Mauriac (1885-1970), gepubliceerd in 1951, heb ik gelezen in de Nederlandse vertaling van Herluf van Merlet, die een jaar later verscheen onder de titel “Het snertjong” en die niet op Goodreads is te vinden.
Het is een triest maar onderhoudend verhaal over het korte leven van een weinig te benijden jongen in Zuidwest-Frankrijk, zoon van een onbeduidende man uit een adellijke familie en een bourgeoismeisje dat hogerop wil en bij wie ‘moederliefde’ niet in haar woordenboek voorkomt.
Ook politieke aangelegenheden spelen een rol, en voor zover ik nog mocht hebben geaarzeld of ik “Het snertjong” met drie of met vier sterren zou honoreren, geeft navolgend citaat de doorslag: “Maar altijd zou er een kern zijn van mensen, die het land zouden besturen, dáár was ze vast van overtuigd: een kern van de meest intelligenten, de meest ontwikkelden, maar ook van mensen die over leidersgaven zouden beschikken” (p. 49). Van zoiets wil een mens wel opknappen, ten tijde van een kabinet-Schoof.
Profile Image for Ivana.
166 reviews12 followers
December 27, 2018
Krátky ponurý príbeh o chlapcovi údajne mentálne zaostalom, ktorý stráda aj emocionálne v spleti nepriateľských rodinných vzťahov. Keď prvý raz dostane šancu rozvíjať sa, tá je onedlho potopená pre triedny boj. Chlapec predsa patrí k zámožnej rodine a učiteľ, ktorý mu dodal nádej, zas sníva o revolúcii. Nie, so zámkom sa učiteľ nemôže stýkať, veď zámok je triednym nepriateľom a chlapec, hoc neustále ponižovaný rodinou i okolím, je jeho súčasťou. Autor na niekoľkých stránkach vykresľuje zopár postáv plných vlastných frustrácií, ktoré si kompenzujú na ostatných. A človek odlišný a zraniteľnejší dostáva kopance namiesto podpory.

Nuž, bodlo by skoncovať s tvorbou kopy frustrovaných jedincov a verím, že aspoň vo vzťahu k osobám s určitým obmedzením (resp. odlišnosťami) sme sa niekam posunuli. S frustráciami to optimisticky nevidím.
227 reviews2 followers
July 13, 2023
Tai istorija apie nelaimingai ištekėjusią moterį, kuri neteisingai apkaltinta turėjusi neteisėtų santykių su kunigu ir taip užtraukusi garbingai šeimai gėdą. Apie josios vyrą be nuomonės ir turintį galimai psichologinių ar net psichinių sutrikimų. Apie jos vaiką, kuris negeba mokytis ir yra ujamas ir neapkenčiamas nelaimingos savo mamos. Apie nuolatinius konfliktus su anyta dėl vaiko. O iš tiesų tas vaikas yra gabus, tik tiesiog negeistas ir nelauktas. Ir kai įkalbėtas mokytojas visgi persigalvoja tą vaiką mokyti. Vaikas galutinai įsisąmonina, kad yra niekam nereikalingas. Ir knyga baigiasi tragedija. Liūdna. Tai nemeilės, atstūmimo ir buvimo niekam nereikalingu istorija. Šiai dienai to turime labai daug aplink, tad aktuali tema. Tik gal per mažai išvystyta, bet tema užkabinta.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.