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The Girl Beneath the Lion
""Quand la jeune fille fut entrée dans le bois, l'inconnu vint la saisir", Vanina écoutait avec curiosité cette petite phrase qui bourdonnait dans sa tête sans qu'on eût rien fait pour l'appeler, née dans l'état de vide mental qui avait été le sien pendant qu'elle marchait sous le soleil et qui avait fait place à une agitation d'esprit un peu fébrile depuis qu'elle se trouvait sous le couvert des branches. "L'inconnu vint la saisir" - oui ; et n'était-ce pour cela, justement, qu'elle s'était échappée de sa chambre ?"
- GenresFictionLiterature
First published January 1, 1956
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90 people want to read
About the author
André Pieyre de Mandiargues
114 books25 followersAndré Pieyre de Mandiargues was a French writer born in Paris. He became an associate of the Surrealists and married the Italian painter Bona Tibertelli de Pisis (a niece of the Italian metaphysical painter Count Filippo De Pisis). He was a particularly close friend of the painter Leonor Fini.
His novel La Marge (1967) won the Prix Goncourt and was made into a film of the same name by Walerian Borowczyk in 1976. It is his collection of pornographic items that is featured in Borowczyk's Une collection particuliere. He also wrote an introduction to Pauline Reage's Story of O.
His book Feu de braise (1959) was published in 1971 in an English translation by April FitzLyon called Blaze of Embers (Calder and Boyars, 1971).
His novel La Marge (1967) won the Prix Goncourt and was made into a film of the same name by Walerian Borowczyk in 1976. It is his collection of pornographic items that is featured in Borowczyk's Une collection particuliere. He also wrote an introduction to Pauline Reage's Story of O.
His book Feu de braise (1959) was published in 1971 in an English translation by April FitzLyon called Blaze of Embers (Calder and Boyars, 1971).
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 13, 2012
Of the many facets of the surrealist program, the pure unrestraining of desire is probably least interesting to me at this point. To be fair, I'm sure this was a much more significant point in the earlier, more repressive times of surrealism's conception. And of course even now there is much of great interest and relevance that can be said of desire. However, it also seems that, for a certain period and subset of surrealists, addressing underrepresented desire didn't really have to amount to much more than a classier kind of erotica. Hence the apparently uninteresting synopsis of this novel, which follows a kind of idealized sensual and sexual awaking of a girl on holiday in Sardinia. After arranging a tryst with a stranger on the beach on a seeming whim, she then carefully orchestrates the next two days to set up the perfect first experience.
As an interrogation of desire itself, this is beautifully written, but seems a little lacking in depth. In particular, as one of the two other reviews on GR notes, it seems much more in line with the fantasies and desires of the male author/narrator than those plausibly belonging to female lead Vanina. Although, to his credit, Mandiargues does flesh in her psychological background in a few well-placed bursts to greatest narrative effect. And though it may feel more like a male fantasy, Mandiargues is also careful to make it clear that all of the real power and agency in the brief relationship rest entirely in Vanina's hands: everything plays out exactly to her specifications to the point where it could be argued that she's actually using the seducee she "gives herself to", in a rather odd, veiled way. Nothing here in this idealized pure desire really speaks to my actual values in relationships, but there's a certain interest there nonetheless. I didn't put it down in frustration, at least, which is totally a possibility whenever I'm reading a middle-aged Frenchman's idea of a young girl's first love.
On the other hand, as noted by the only other review, this has a tremendous sense of place. Mandiargues' Sardinia is place of dusty empty towns and beautiful spirit-haunted desolations of shore. Not that there's anything supernatural here, but the whole is far elevated by the atmosphere and mythic context he constructs. For instance, a passage on local legends:
Which leads me to what may actually be my favorite aspect of the book. I began this a day after beginning, also, Anna Kavan's posthumous collection My Soul In China: A Novella And Stories, and the toothless dog myth immediately leaped out at me. Here, possibly, was one of Kavan's sources. More, as the book continued, I realized that Kavan had actually reconfigured the entire novel into a cynical assessment of the sexual liberation of the times. (And so, also, a ready shared reaction to some of my reservations). Lucky to encounter these little-read books so closely together as to be able to fully recognize the correspondences.
Incidentally, though that's almost the same cover, I have the Grove Evergreen edition from 1958 (E-126).
As an interrogation of desire itself, this is beautifully written, but seems a little lacking in depth. In particular, as one of the two other reviews on GR notes, it seems much more in line with the fantasies and desires of the male author/narrator than those plausibly belonging to female lead Vanina. Although, to his credit, Mandiargues does flesh in her psychological background in a few well-placed bursts to greatest narrative effect. And though it may feel more like a male fantasy, Mandiargues is also careful to make it clear that all of the real power and agency in the brief relationship rest entirely in Vanina's hands: everything plays out exactly to her specifications to the point where it could be argued that she's actually using the seducee she "gives herself to", in a rather odd, veiled way. Nothing here in this idealized pure desire really speaks to my actual values in relationships, but there's a certain interest there nonetheless. I didn't put it down in frustration, at least, which is totally a possibility whenever I'm reading a middle-aged Frenchman's idea of a young girl's first love.
On the other hand, as noted by the only other review, this has a tremendous sense of place. Mandiargues' Sardinia is place of dusty empty towns and beautiful spirit-haunted desolations of shore. Not that there's anything supernatural here, but the whole is far elevated by the atmosphere and mythic context he constructs. For instance, a passage on local legends:
They discussed the gulls that the fisherman and his wife believed were souls in search of a body, coming to scream around the houses where there was a wedding bed of a body laid out for burial; and they mentioned certain toothless dogs, encountered only at night and supposedly hosts to souls in torment, that would take your hand in their cold, smooth mouths; they spoke of a great white skate that appeared on the surface of the sea and would vanish only after having heard the service for the dead chanted aloud by the crew; they discussed the eels that left the tide-pools during the heat of the day to couple with the snakes among the rocks of the beach; and they mentioned the other serpents that tempted the goats to strange nuptials and made them give milk by biting their udders.
Which leads me to what may actually be my favorite aspect of the book. I began this a day after beginning, also, Anna Kavan's posthumous collection My Soul In China: A Novella And Stories, and the toothless dog myth immediately leaped out at me. Here, possibly, was one of Kavan's sources. More, as the book continued, I realized that Kavan had actually reconfigured the entire novel into a cynical assessment of the sexual liberation of the times. (And so, also, a ready shared reaction to some of my reservations). Lucky to encounter these little-read books so closely together as to be able to fully recognize the correspondences.
Incidentally, though that's almost the same cover, I have the Grove Evergreen edition from 1958 (E-126).
October 21, 2017
Subtitled in the original French "Un livre de baise érotique douce" or, roughly, "A Book of Gentle Erotic Fucking", "The Girl" is part of a genre I rarely dip into: the book of gentle, erotic fucking. I can't even say how or why I picked this up. De Mandiargues was a Surrealist, my homies, so maybe that's the connection. Anyway, when the tidy little Grove Press Evergreen paperback edition arrived, I knew I was in for some unabashed armpit licking and sandy-ass beach sex, and I wasn't disappointed. What is probably more important is how good this book is. Erotic insofar as it is the tale of a young Italian countess who surrenders her virginity randomly to a dude on the beach in Sardinia (sand-in-ass), it's more the tale of the kind of feral lust that scare the shit out of people these days, especially in America where sex is only discussed pathologically or in some stupid genderific way. It's beautiful and subdued in style, and the actual "gentle fucking" parts slip by you while you're reveling in the moon craving the sea at night and the recurrent motif of the sea lily.
December 28, 2021
Už když jsem knihu bral do ruky, tak jsem tušil lehkou zradu. A jak vidno, můj literáradar mne opět nezklamal.
Přeji dobré ráno z mísy všem přátelům dobré literární recenze. Takže dnes tu máme krátkou novelku argentinského erotomana, který se soustředil na příběh dvou adolescentek, které tráví prázdniny na Sardinii.
Příběh to není ledajaký! Teda vlastně je. Holky jsou ve věku, kdy kalhotky začínají byt na obtíž a jelikož ještě nebyly diskotéky, tak se musí spokojit s Italama na pláži. A tak si jedna vyhlídne jednoho, kterýmu řekne, že chce jeho sardinku, ale jakože jen postel a žádnej kostel a ať ji ani neříká, jak se jmenuje.
No a ten ji jeden večer navštíví na čumendu a druhej pak na mambo a konec. Nekonečně popisy sardinské flóry mě dováděli k lehkému šílenství a tak celkem za 6/10. Protože kdo popíše akt na stránku a olivovník na 5, si víc nezaslouží.
Přeji dobré ráno z mísy všem přátelům dobré literární recenze. Takže dnes tu máme krátkou novelku argentinského erotomana, který se soustředil na příběh dvou adolescentek, které tráví prázdniny na Sardinii.
Příběh to není ledajaký! Teda vlastně je. Holky jsou ve věku, kdy kalhotky začínají byt na obtíž a jelikož ještě nebyly diskotéky, tak se musí spokojit s Italama na pláži. A tak si jedna vyhlídne jednoho, kterýmu řekne, že chce jeho sardinku, ale jakože jen postel a žádnej kostel a ať ji ani neříká, jak se jmenuje.
No a ten ji jeden večer navštíví na čumendu a druhej pak na mambo a konec. Nekonečně popisy sardinské flóry mě dováděli k lehkému šílenství a tak celkem za 6/10. Protože kdo popíše akt na stránku a olivovník na 5, si víc nezaslouží.
November 14, 2011
Not a novel for plot obsessed readers, this is a book of lyrical descriptions and flights of language meant to subdue the reader, bathing them in the lush landscapes, both physical and psychological, until he or she becomes as enraptured as the story's main character. At it's core The Girl Beneath the Lion is a book about the sexual awakening of a young girl. As she struggles to come to terms with her desires, the novel captures the fear and excitement of this period flawlessly. My only issue with the book stems from the manner in which she chooses to enact her fantasies. In many ways it reads like a male wish-fulfillment rather than a teenage girl's. Though the author does a fine job of justifying her need for submission with mythical images, and to some extent puts her entirely in control of the event even in her submissive role, the nature of her fantasy feels a little off. It's a testament to the power of the prose that this could easily be overlooked as one is swept away in the beauty of the writing.
February 12, 2019
André Pijere Mandidůdy napsal knížku o dvou buchtičkách, který jsou u moře v Itálii a jedný z nich začne šplouchat jak na maják, tak i na mušličku. Tím pádem si tedy vybere floutka co jde okolo a řekne mu, že se bude zazdívat vjezd do nudlárny. Pro neznalé sexuelních pojmů: že se v její troubě upeče nějaký ten dortík, italsky: panakota pro kokota. Tohle rozhodnutí má za následek, že nás dalších 50 stran autor mučí tím, co si tahle dívka představuje. Já jsem sice romantik a na sex se občas i vysprchuji, ale tohle bylo chvilkami moc. Když někdo o kapradí nebo o lopuchu napíše víc než jedno slovo, tak kámo víš, že jedeš po dálníci do průseru. Nakonec se to přežít docela dalo, ale jelikož jsem už zkušený pardál, který jezdí jak předem tak i zadem, moc mě to nevodrovnalo. Za lyričnost ubírám a zároveň přídávám 2 body, takže celkově to je dle mé literaturistické kalkulačky za 7/10 a doporučuji to všem dívkám, které chtějí poprvé péct dortíky.
August 24, 2012
Worst book I've ever read.
December 2, 2016
Lyrický skvost, v němž slova hladí duši, s mírně erotickým přídechem, literatura jak má být bez jakéhokoliv odstínu šedi...
September 18, 2023
Panensky krásné pobřeží je od prvních stran popisováno jako nějaká symfonie, stejně jako panenství hlavní hrdinky Vaniny, která si prochází první zamilovaností, touhou, vzplanutím a poté, co se nahá ukáže svému budoucímu milenci jí "srdce po vší té kávě bušilo jako o závod a přála si, aby jí vypila ještě víc a srdce jí bušilo ještě prudčeji" (k tomuhle jsem se po probuzení se svým šálkem rád přidal). Je to takové feminní, "hlava plná toužení, hlava plná přemýšlení nad jednou věcí". A Mandiargues v tom popisu, ani banálním příběhu, nikam nespěchá, máchá se a převaluje, jak ospalé vlny na pobřeží, ale zároveň dobře zachycuje náladu, plynutí, což může být pro netrpělivou mysl čtenáře stejně tak negativum, jako pro trpělivou pozitivum. (...) V jeden moment se Vanina přesune ke vzpomínce na 'geniálního sýraře' Giacoma, který ji jako malou natíral sýrem, aby měla lepší pleť a pak ji po těle olizoval a kousal a zněl jako kůň - dcera správce, Medea, s ním měla podobné tajemství, ale ta ho zase sýrem natírala - o čemž se nikdy dvě dívky nikomu nesvěřily, jen jedna druhé. (...) Závěr knihy přechází až do metafyzikálního splynutí v jedno. Vanina splývá v jedno se vším. Písek. Je v tom jistá síla. Ale je to hodně, jak už jsem řekl, feminní text, ze kterého asi energicky nasajete něco, jako když čicháte ženě k vlasům, ochlupení, slyšíte ji dělat jemné zvuky. Ale panenské maso je panenské maso a žena přistupuje ke svému prvnímu sexuálnímu partnerovi s jakousi naivní odevzdaností (i když mu těsně před aktem musí ukázat, že nechce, aby on dokázal, že ji chce dobýt), která může snadno přerůst ve stejně naivní lásku. (...) "Muž musí být bezpochyby silný, především ale musí být opravdový, pomyslila si." (...) Akt ztráty panenství jako akt splynutí s přírodou (...) "Teď tě už znám," řekla. "K tomu, aby se dva poznali, je třeba se milovat." (...) Otevřenost ženy poté, co se s ní vyspíte, když se vám otevře sexuálně, otevře se vám i její historie, její bolest, najednou plyne, poté, co neznáme prakticky nic o její minulosti, po sexu se otevírá jako řeka. V tomhle ohledu souhlasím, tak to je. (...) "Mladík ji políbil na hrdlo. Bude mě milovat? tázala se Vanina sama sebe, protože ohledně schopnosti sdílet lásku chovala o mladých mužích pramálo falešných nadějí. Pak si pomyslila ještě: Důležité je to, že je krásný a opravdový a že já miluji jeho. Není nezbytně nutné, aby on miloval mě; není dokonce ani třeba, aby měl duši, aby v něm hnízdil mořský pták." (tady jsem si vzpomněl na Patrice O'Neala a jeho rovnici, že nejlepší je, když žena miluje muže a muži se ta žena zase "pouze" hodně hodně líbí) (...) Chuť mořské soli s chutí její krve. Vlna chladu, směsice emocí. Kalhotky ve vlnách. Mořská lilie je zajímavej take nad "ztrátou panenství", ale určitě ne text jen tak pro každého, i když si myslím, že nijak extrémně neprovokuje, ba naopak. (...) "Cožpak láska potřebuje nálepku?"
July 19, 2024
A random second-hand find promising 'the awakening of a young girl during the heat of a Sardinian summer'. Would it deliver? It certainly didn't scream 'quality'. In fact 80% of the book is description of the Sardinian coastline, village and life, with the awakening climax coming in the last 10 pages. Not very rewarding, rather dull - and of the sentiments of Vanina herself? Plausible, rather fascinating. The characters of Vanina and her friend the bulky Juliette are well drawn.
5/10
Quotes
p22 "Juliette is an animal," she told herself. She also told herself how much she liked her that way, how good it was to have an animal for a friend, a little heavier and a little stupider than oneself."
p25 "When she passed the young man, what came into her head? Whatever occurred to her was so sudden, so unforeseen that she would not have been able to explain it, but:
"Three o'clock this afternoon, in the pines below the village," she said to him, quickly bending down. "I'll be there." And she caught up with Juliette who had noticed nothing."
5/10
Quotes
p22 "Juliette is an animal," she told herself. She also told herself how much she liked her that way, how good it was to have an animal for a friend, a little heavier and a little stupider than oneself."
p25 "When she passed the young man, what came into her head? Whatever occurred to her was so sudden, so unforeseen that she would not have been able to explain it, but:
"Three o'clock this afternoon, in the pines below the village," she said to him, quickly bending down. "I'll be there." And she caught up with Juliette who had noticed nothing."
January 12, 2024
Erotica by a French surrealist that's neither as dirty or weird as that would imply.
Two young women go to an Italian island for a vacation. One of them meets a young man who she decides to lose her virginity to.
There's a lot of flowery descriptions of beach landscapes and contemplating the nature of desire. I happened to read this in the middle of a week long snowstorm, so that probably made me appreciate it more.
The whole book is basically building up to a sex scene that I thought was appropriately intense.
I wouldn't say this is essential reading, but it's worth picking up if you come across a copy.
Two young women go to an Italian island for a vacation. One of them meets a young man who she decides to lose her virginity to.
There's a lot of flowery descriptions of beach landscapes and contemplating the nature of desire. I happened to read this in the middle of a week long snowstorm, so that probably made me appreciate it more.
The whole book is basically building up to a sex scene that I thought was appropriately intense.
I wouldn't say this is essential reading, but it's worth picking up if you come across a copy.
November 24, 2021
Both sumptuous and austere in theme and style
June 4, 2022
3 1/2 stars. Sunbaked southern Euro mid-century sexual-awakening-cum-pagan-rite story with an oceanic, dreamy style. Not exactly PC but definitely not exploitative.
April 2, 2025
Atmospheric descriptions. Not a bad read.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews