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A Nail, A Rose
'Madeleine Bourdouxhe is one of the more remarkable literary discoveries of the last few years' Jonathan Coe
These are stories of longing and dissatisfaction, of daily life ruptured by strange currents of feeling. A woman, wandering alone and heartbroken, is first attacked and then romantically pursued by a stranger. A maid wears her mistress's expensive coat to meet her lover, but finds herself more preoccupied by fantasies of intimacy with 'Madame'. A woman gives birth on the day foreign troops invade the city, and must flee with her newborn on the back of a truck.
Written in the aftermath of the Nazi occupation of Europe, and admired by the Existentialists and the Surrealists alike, these stories are now translated with extraordinary clarity by Faith Evans. With piercing insight and candour, Madeleine Bourdouxhe illuminates the conflicted hearts of the housewife, the mother, and the maid. These unforgettable tales of ordinary women are suffused with desire and melancholy, memory and fantasy, and lit by the furnace burning just beneath the surface of everyday life.
These are stories of longing and dissatisfaction, of daily life ruptured by strange currents of feeling. A woman, wandering alone and heartbroken, is first attacked and then romantically pursued by a stranger. A maid wears her mistress's expensive coat to meet her lover, but finds herself more preoccupied by fantasies of intimacy with 'Madame'. A woman gives birth on the day foreign troops invade the city, and must flee with her newborn on the back of a truck.
Written in the aftermath of the Nazi occupation of Europe, and admired by the Existentialists and the Surrealists alike, these stories are now translated with extraordinary clarity by Faith Evans. With piercing insight and candour, Madeleine Bourdouxhe illuminates the conflicted hearts of the housewife, the mother, and the maid. These unforgettable tales of ordinary women are suffused with desire and melancholy, memory and fantasy, and lit by the furnace burning just beneath the surface of everyday life.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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462 people want to read
About the author
Madeleine Bourdouxhe
10 books23 followersMadeleine Bourdouxhe moved from Liège to Paris in 1914 with her parents, where she lived for the duration of World War I. After returning to Brussels, she studied philosophy. In 1927 she married a mathematics teacher, Jacques Muller. The marriage lasted until his death in 1974. Her daughter was born the day the Germans invaded Belgium in May 1940. She fled with her husband to a small village near Bordeaux, but was forced by the government in exile to return to Brussels, and remained there, active in the Belgian Resistance.
After the war, she lived regularly in Paris and had contact with writers such as Simone de Beauvoir, Raymond Queneau and Jean-Paul Sartre, and also with painters such as René Magritte and Paul Delvaux. Her last novel, 'A la Recherche de Marie', was published in 1943. In the mid-1980s, however, Madeleine Bourdouxhe was rediscovered by the feminists, resulting in new editions and translations.
After the war, she lived regularly in Paris and had contact with writers such as Simone de Beauvoir, Raymond Queneau and Jean-Paul Sartre, and also with painters such as René Magritte and Paul Delvaux. Her last novel, 'A la Recherche de Marie', was published in 1943. In the mid-1980s, however, Madeleine Bourdouxhe was rediscovered by the feminists, resulting in new editions and translations.
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August 25, 2020
Irène, Anna, Louise, Leah, Clara, Blanche, a nameless woman and René.
Seven women, one man. Eight stories, sketching fragments of eight lives, apart from one all told from a female perspective, in which the Francophone Belgian writer Madeleine Bourdouxhe (1906-1996) conveys slices of everyday life of working class women, mostly turning the eye inwards to the train of thoughts of the women through an interior monologue blurring reality and dream. Bourdouxhe’s women are women who struggle with their identity and their roles as a woman and who seem to seek justification for their existence, unsure of their right to exist, at times doubting if they even exist at all, and for that sake endure a good deal of brutishness. The voices and fortunes of the various women come across as that little distinctive the fragments almost appear episodes of one woman’s life, whether they spend their days plodding through household tasks, scraping enough money for a living, spend some of their scarce free time in cafés or helping males comrades with their social or revolutionary activities. Without transition the narratives shift between reality and dream, from Louise brightening up her life by day-dreaming about going out with an imaginary friend to dance, to Blanche who wonders if she is getting mad:
Let the fire exist through me, she thought, and let me exist through the fire. My life is made up of a thousand necessities, or a thousand complicities with water, with enamel, with soap, air and fire.
As if to grasp a better understanding of herself, she raised her arms and drew herself back a little. She stood there, her wild black head framed by her raised arms still slightly dripping with soapy water, her chest straining beneath the pink linen apron. This is me, Blanche, and I shall never know who I am. She lowered her arms, plunged her hands back to the lukewarm water and stood stock still, head lowered, hands immobile, watching the foam as it died, with a light sound, around her wrists.
Madeleine Bourdouxhe’s elegant prose has been compared to Virginia Woolf’s and in a sense I can see why- the buoyant outburst of colours in Leah reminded me of the colour palette in which Virginia Woolf painted Kew Gardens; also the interior monologues are reminiscent of Woolf. Rather than Woolfian however, there is a surreal quality to her images and dreamscapes in which the poetry of Paul Éluard comes to mind – Paul Éluard was a friend of Bourdouxhe – although Bourdouxhe during her lifetime fiercely denied any of such surrealist influences.
You need at least a thousand good men to triumph over one evil one.
Tranquil, mysterious, menacing in spells, atmospheric, in these stories Bourdouxhe touches on themes like friction in male-female interactions, (domestic) violence, vulnerability, brutality, marital incomprehension, suicide, heartbreak, loneliness, love, class issues, lust, ‘the tenderness of the flesh’, friendship, revolutionary ideals and life under the Occupation of France and Belgium during the second world war. Life is rough and the women respond to their plight and to men moving along a passive/active continuum of giving shape to their own lives, from accepting violence as an inherent part of it and coping by day-dreaming over taking matters into one’s own hands to procure change.
Sometimes they were at the heart of love, like a bee in a closed flower. Two hands can join together in joy, in torment, in emotion, in prayer, or in revolt; but their love-making was a whole in which they touched on hope and despair.
One story stands apart (in length, theme, tone); in the novella Sous le Pont Mirabeau (after a poem of Guillaume Apollinaire) Bourdouxhe draws on her own experiences during the war: a nameless woman having just given birth to a daughter in a Brussels hospital the day before the German invasion on 10 May 1940 joins the fleeing civilians to France. In the chaos of the roads getting blocked by the exodus, the awareness of sharing the common fate of the war seems to render the world a more friendly and gentle place than the one depicted in the other stories, as the woman and her new born meet only benevolence, care and helping hands everywhere. Life goes on during the war, children are born and need milk. Observing the young soldiers spreading over the North of France awaiting orders, Bourouxhe poignantly paints a war episode seen from a woman’s perspective, which reminded me of the descriptions of the fleeing Parisians by Irène Némirovsky in Suite Française (with the difference that the response on the refugees in Bourdouxhe’s novella is far more compassionate than the treatment the Parisian refugees get from their compatriots in Némirovsky’s novel).
After having read the moving character study La Femme de Gilles, Bourdouxhe’s debut novel from 1937 earlier this year, these eight stories (originally published in 1985, apart from the novella Sous le Pont Mirabeau, which was published in 1944) turned out excellent further reading. Offering a fascinating view on the lives of women who generally are overlooked during the 30ies and 40ies, the stories mostly float on mood or atmosphere rather than plot and are written in a more lyrical, subtle and pictorial style than the debut novel which verged to naturalism.
A lovely bonus of this edition were the illustrations of the novella ‘Sous le Pont Mirebeau’, as they were drawn by Mig Quinet (1906-2001), a Belgian modern painter I was unfamiliar with and of whose vibrant work could be further explored in this catalogue which shows the variety of her work, ranging from domestic scenes, circuses, carrousels to lyrical abstraction.
Many thanks to Edelweiss and Pushkin Press for giving me the chance to read an advanced copy of A Nail, A Rose.
Seven women, one man. Eight stories, sketching fragments of eight lives, apart from one all told from a female perspective, in which the Francophone Belgian writer Madeleine Bourdouxhe (1906-1996) conveys slices of everyday life of working class women, mostly turning the eye inwards to the train of thoughts of the women through an interior monologue blurring reality and dream. Bourdouxhe’s women are women who struggle with their identity and their roles as a woman and who seem to seek justification for their existence, unsure of their right to exist, at times doubting if they even exist at all, and for that sake endure a good deal of brutishness. The voices and fortunes of the various women come across as that little distinctive the fragments almost appear episodes of one woman’s life, whether they spend their days plodding through household tasks, scraping enough money for a living, spend some of their scarce free time in cafés or helping males comrades with their social or revolutionary activities. Without transition the narratives shift between reality and dream, from Louise brightening up her life by day-dreaming about going out with an imaginary friend to dance, to Blanche who wonders if she is getting mad:
Let the fire exist through me, she thought, and let me exist through the fire. My life is made up of a thousand necessities, or a thousand complicities with water, with enamel, with soap, air and fire.
As if to grasp a better understanding of herself, she raised her arms and drew herself back a little. She stood there, her wild black head framed by her raised arms still slightly dripping with soapy water, her chest straining beneath the pink linen apron. This is me, Blanche, and I shall never know who I am. She lowered her arms, plunged her hands back to the lukewarm water and stood stock still, head lowered, hands immobile, watching the foam as it died, with a light sound, around her wrists.
Madeleine Bourdouxhe’s elegant prose has been compared to Virginia Woolf’s and in a sense I can see why- the buoyant outburst of colours in Leah reminded me of the colour palette in which Virginia Woolf painted Kew Gardens; also the interior monologues are reminiscent of Woolf. Rather than Woolfian however, there is a surreal quality to her images and dreamscapes in which the poetry of Paul Éluard comes to mind – Paul Éluard was a friend of Bourdouxhe – although Bourdouxhe during her lifetime fiercely denied any of such surrealist influences.
You need at least a thousand good men to triumph over one evil one.
Tranquil, mysterious, menacing in spells, atmospheric, in these stories Bourdouxhe touches on themes like friction in male-female interactions, (domestic) violence, vulnerability, brutality, marital incomprehension, suicide, heartbreak, loneliness, love, class issues, lust, ‘the tenderness of the flesh’, friendship, revolutionary ideals and life under the Occupation of France and Belgium during the second world war. Life is rough and the women respond to their plight and to men moving along a passive/active continuum of giving shape to their own lives, from accepting violence as an inherent part of it and coping by day-dreaming over taking matters into one’s own hands to procure change.
Sometimes they were at the heart of love, like a bee in a closed flower. Two hands can join together in joy, in torment, in emotion, in prayer, or in revolt; but their love-making was a whole in which they touched on hope and despair.
One story stands apart (in length, theme, tone); in the novella Sous le Pont Mirabeau (after a poem of Guillaume Apollinaire) Bourdouxhe draws on her own experiences during the war: a nameless woman having just given birth to a daughter in a Brussels hospital the day before the German invasion on 10 May 1940 joins the fleeing civilians to France. In the chaos of the roads getting blocked by the exodus, the awareness of sharing the common fate of the war seems to render the world a more friendly and gentle place than the one depicted in the other stories, as the woman and her new born meet only benevolence, care and helping hands everywhere. Life goes on during the war, children are born and need milk. Observing the young soldiers spreading over the North of France awaiting orders, Bourouxhe poignantly paints a war episode seen from a woman’s perspective, which reminded me of the descriptions of the fleeing Parisians by Irène Némirovsky in Suite Française (with the difference that the response on the refugees in Bourdouxhe’s novella is far more compassionate than the treatment the Parisian refugees get from their compatriots in Némirovsky’s novel).
After having read the moving character study La Femme de Gilles, Bourdouxhe’s debut novel from 1937 earlier this year, these eight stories (originally published in 1985, apart from the novella Sous le Pont Mirabeau, which was published in 1944) turned out excellent further reading. Offering a fascinating view on the lives of women who generally are overlooked during the 30ies and 40ies, the stories mostly float on mood or atmosphere rather than plot and are written in a more lyrical, subtle and pictorial style than the debut novel which verged to naturalism.
A lovely bonus of this edition were the illustrations of the novella ‘Sous le Pont Mirebeau’, as they were drawn by Mig Quinet (1906-2001), a Belgian modern painter I was unfamiliar with and of whose vibrant work could be further explored in this catalogue which shows the variety of her work, ranging from domestic scenes, circuses, carrousels to lyrical abstraction.
Many thanks to Edelweiss and Pushkin Press for giving me the chance to read an advanced copy of A Nail, A Rose.
April 6, 2020
I got this book and read it after Ilse’s review of a similar edition . I loved her review when it was first posted, and I have loved it even more after having finished the stories.
There were many aspects that captivated me in this series of stories that turn around women, often having their names as titles: Anna, Clara, Louise, Blanche. Women rooted in their satisfying and imprisoning households, subject to their loves, and sometimes to violence. All of them in search of their unfixed identity often stemming from their momentary sensitivities and senses. Searching for freedom.
What struck me most about Bourdouxhe’s writing is how open it is. The wavering between reality and memories, or dreams, and the fuzziness separating different time frames, made me felt that the stories and the characters could move or behave in any unpredictable way.
Striking also is the very delicate writing, with exquisitely lyrical passages, which however do not prepare you for the elements of disturbance and assault that unavoidable puzzle the reader.
Her writing exerts then pure fascination. I am delighted to have come across Ilse’s introduction to a writer unknown to me until then.
June 11, 2020
“This impassive woman with her far-away eyes, asking for pure lavender and telling him, in her slow unsullied voice, how to dry her hair... Why couldn’t she say the things that everyone else said: that the weather was fine or lousy, that the sea was calm or choppy (...) She was a peculiar, dangerous woman.”
Madeleine Bourdouxhe foi uma autora belga, contemporânea de Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre e Paul Éluard, com os quais privou, não tendo tido a mesma projecção que eles nem uma obra tão prolífica. “A Nail, a Rose and Other Stories” é constituído por um conjunto de contos focados sobretudo em mulheres e por uma novela, “Sous le Pont Mirabeau”.
Os contos são intensos e atmosféricos, debruçando-se sobre a vida interior de mulheres da classe operária, muitas vezes com inesperados ou despropositados actos de violência, em que a escrita requintada supera o conteúdo, o qual por vezes se revela vago e confuso.
Já em “Sous le Pont Mirabeau”, baseando-se na sua própria experiência, a autora conta-nos a fuga de uma mãe com o seu bebé recém-nascido numa coluna de camiões, no dia em que Bruxelas foi invadida pelo exército alemão. Ao medo, junta-se o relato de episódios de solidariedade da população e do entusiasmo dos jovens soldados esperançosos, ainda no início da Segunda Guerra.
“In the evening the roads were dark yet they thronged with people, bumping into each other, interrupting and questioning each other, still hoping to find somewhere to spend the night. It was full of people and quite dark, until the great green and red arc lights shone out over rooftops, walls and faces. (...) People took refuge in shelters, standing close to each other, elbows touching, shoulder to shoulder. For how many hours did she hold her child above people’s heads so as to save her from being smothered?"
A Nail, a Rose – 4*
Anna – 4*
Louise 4*
Leah – 4*
Clara – 3*
Blanche – 4*
René – 3*
Sous le pont Mirabeau – 4,5*
Madeleine Bourdouxhe foi uma autora belga, contemporânea de Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre e Paul Éluard, com os quais privou, não tendo tido a mesma projecção que eles nem uma obra tão prolífica. “A Nail, a Rose and Other Stories” é constituído por um conjunto de contos focados sobretudo em mulheres e por uma novela, “Sous le Pont Mirabeau”.
Os contos são intensos e atmosféricos, debruçando-se sobre a vida interior de mulheres da classe operária, muitas vezes com inesperados ou despropositados actos de violência, em que a escrita requintada supera o conteúdo, o qual por vezes se revela vago e confuso.
Já em “Sous le Pont Mirabeau”, baseando-se na sua própria experiência, a autora conta-nos a fuga de uma mãe com o seu bebé recém-nascido numa coluna de camiões, no dia em que Bruxelas foi invadida pelo exército alemão. Ao medo, junta-se o relato de episódios de solidariedade da população e do entusiasmo dos jovens soldados esperançosos, ainda no início da Segunda Guerra.
“In the evening the roads were dark yet they thronged with people, bumping into each other, interrupting and questioning each other, still hoping to find somewhere to spend the night. It was full of people and quite dark, until the great green and red arc lights shone out over rooftops, walls and faces. (...) People took refuge in shelters, standing close to each other, elbows touching, shoulder to shoulder. For how many hours did she hold her child above people’s heads so as to save her from being smothered?"
A Nail, a Rose – 4*
Anna – 4*
Louise 4*
Leah – 4*
Clara – 3*
Blanche – 4*
René – 3*
Sous le pont Mirabeau – 4,5*
July 17, 2019
“Let it rain, dear God, let it rain again on my cold country… Let torrential rain wash away all colour and all life. When will that time come when we shall be once more at each other’s side, on the threshold of the shadowy gate where all daylight’s games are shattered for ever?”In her engaging Introduction to this newly re-republished short story collection, the translator, Faith Evans, recalls first reading the Belgian writer’s works in French and immediately recognising “a confident feminist vision that, though born of time and place, still spoke with an exciting directness.” She admits to being “drawn to the author’s quiet strength.”
Born in Liège in 1906, Madeleine Bourdouxhe moved to Paris with her parents as a young girl and remained there for the duration of the First World War. She returned to Brussels to study Philosophy at the university, and there married a mathematics teacher in 1927. Her first novel, La Femme de Gilles, was published in 1937, and the second, Marie, in 1943, in between which the Germans invaded France and she was forced by the government in exile to return to Brussels, where she remained as an active member of the Belgian Resistance.
She spent much time in Paris after the war, regularly encountering other writers such as Raymond Queneau and Simone de Beauvoir (who singled her out for praise in The Second Sex). However, unlike certain of her contemporaries, Bourdouxhe’s output was for many years neglected by literary historians, until she was rediscovered by feminist scholars in the 1980s. She died in 1996, but fortunately not before Evans had met and spoken with her in her Brussels apartment in 1988. She describes her as an “elegant, straightforward woman in her early eighties, naturally reticent, though clearly delighted at the idea of having her work translated”.
Written in the aftermath of the Nazi occupation of Europe, there are seven stories in A Nail, A Rose – pieces widely admired by both the Existentialists and the Surrealists when first published in 1944. Not until 1989 were they translated into English following a surge of reinterest in her writing. The novella included at the end, Sous le pont Mirabeau, appears here in English for the first time.
The stories concern the lives of ordinary women (except in the single instance of René, in which the protagonist is male), and are written with insight and acuity. Her characters are often unfulfilled and regretful, given to fantasising because lonely, and are frequently involved in abusive or otherwise suppressive relationships. One woman, wandering alone on an icy night, thinking of her former lover, is first attacked and then romantically pursued by her unknown assailant; another, married to a wife-beater, dreams of a different life, one in which she can instigate revolutions; and a maid servant wears her mistresses fashionable coat to meet a male suitor while imagining intimacy with “Madame”.
There is tragedy, brutality, desire, melancholy and an element of farce in this remarkable collection. The vivid narratives highlight the most wretched aspects of patriarchy with the use of startling imagery and exquisite prose. One can see why Bourdouxhe has been compared with Rhys, Mansfield and even Woolf.
A Nail, A Rose has been brought back into print as part of the petite and stylish Pushkin Collection of paperbacks, designed to be “as satisfying as possible to hold and to enjoy.” The illustration on the front cover is by Jack Hughes, a London-based artist whose “characters live in a world of sharp suits, coiffed hair and fast cars.”
“Love, it is all the same in the end – it never offers anything new. And as for the real thing, well, she’d never come across it, either in herself or in other people.”Many thanks to Pushkin Press for providing a review copy of this title.
July 30, 2019
This ranks high on my shelf of overnight success stories discovered 70 years after being written. Bourdouxhe is right up there with Irene Némirovsky, Hans Fallada, and other authors who wrote eyewitness accounts of life under Nazi occupation, not historical novels or reconstructions, but works of originality given the spark of verisimilitude via experience. Her heroines are flesh and blood and evidently their stories mirror Bourdouxhe's own life. There is a fine introduction by Faith Evans, the translator, who researched Bourdouxhe while translating the stories back in the 1980's and had a chance to meet her in person.
August 18, 2019
Strong on image and atmosphere, with an underlying tension and the menace of catastrophe, and with a very Gallic feel to them, these stories have a timeless quality, despite most of them being set in a very specific time and place. The short story format suits them well. They are concerned with the inner musings and daydreams of women, trapped by circumstances beyond their control, lonely and unhappy, yearning to be able to take charge of their own lives. Their feelings and needs are misunderstood and disregarded by the men around them, to the extent in some cases that they suffer physical abuse. The exception, of course, is Rene’s story, written from a man’s point of view, serving to highlight the women’s experiences.
I found translator Faith Evans’ introduction just as interesting as the stories themselves, putting Madeleine Bourdouxhe’s life and work in context and inspiring me to seek out copies of her full length novels. I’m so pleased to have been introduced to her work and that this translated collection has been republished for a 21st century readership. With thanks to Pushkin Press via NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC.
I found translator Faith Evans’ introduction just as interesting as the stories themselves, putting Madeleine Bourdouxhe’s life and work in context and inspiring me to seek out copies of her full length novels. I’m so pleased to have been introduced to her work and that this translated collection has been republished for a 21st century readership. With thanks to Pushkin Press via NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC.
October 20, 2025
This story collection by Madeliene Bourdouxhe is meant to be savoured. You need to read and read it again to gather the essence of the mundane stories underlined with themes of love, violence, autonomy, freedom, and war.
The tonality and nuance of the stories by Bourdouxhe are subtle, sad, and dream-like. Here, you enter the world of these women of a generation haunted by violence and watch them navigate complex emotions through the banality of their existence. Only one of the stories is narrated from a male POV - René. Here too, the narrator serves as a window into the lives of two women close to him.
The novella Sous le Pont Mirabeau stands apart from the eight short stories. A woman who has just given birth is forced to escape her city and undertake a long journey in search of safety and solace. We see a war-torn France and Belgium through her weary eyes. She encounters fellow travellers, soldiers, and folks from other cities and villages on her way. Under the canopy of their generosity, she seeks safety for herself and her infant daughter with a dream-like naivety that reduces war to an opportunity for appreciating the beauty in everyday life, threatened yet unaltered.
I could almost call this type of writing the literary equivalent of shoegaze. Bourdouxhe's women are detached and non-confrontational. They let the world come at them and change the contour of their lives. Their emotional depth is often found between the lines, unspoken and obscure. Understanding these women tests you as a reader. It takes a patient and invested reading to uncover their heart.
My one qualm was that often Bourdouxhe lets the smokescreen used to obscure her character's emotions become a barrier in understanding their motives. The language gets convoluted like thoughts, but instead of leading the readers to a better understanding of the characters, it leads them to dead ends, laden with a frustrating sense of being a perpetual outsider to these tales. Some stories are better than others. The first four stories—the eponymous A Nail, A Rose, Anna, Louise, and Leah—stand out as an outstanding surrealistic experience. The exasperation I felt while reading the rest outweighed my enjoyment of them.
The tonality and nuance of the stories by Bourdouxhe are subtle, sad, and dream-like. Here, you enter the world of these women of a generation haunted by violence and watch them navigate complex emotions through the banality of their existence. Only one of the stories is narrated from a male POV - René. Here too, the narrator serves as a window into the lives of two women close to him.
The novella Sous le Pont Mirabeau stands apart from the eight short stories. A woman who has just given birth is forced to escape her city and undertake a long journey in search of safety and solace. We see a war-torn France and Belgium through her weary eyes. She encounters fellow travellers, soldiers, and folks from other cities and villages on her way. Under the canopy of their generosity, she seeks safety for herself and her infant daughter with a dream-like naivety that reduces war to an opportunity for appreciating the beauty in everyday life, threatened yet unaltered.
I could almost call this type of writing the literary equivalent of shoegaze. Bourdouxhe's women are detached and non-confrontational. They let the world come at them and change the contour of their lives. Their emotional depth is often found between the lines, unspoken and obscure. Understanding these women tests you as a reader. It takes a patient and invested reading to uncover their heart.
My one qualm was that often Bourdouxhe lets the smokescreen used to obscure her character's emotions become a barrier in understanding their motives. The language gets convoluted like thoughts, but instead of leading the readers to a better understanding of the characters, it leads them to dead ends, laden with a frustrating sense of being a perpetual outsider to these tales. Some stories are better than others. The first four stories—the eponymous A Nail, A Rose, Anna, Louise, and Leah—stand out as an outstanding surrealistic experience. The exasperation I felt while reading the rest outweighed my enjoyment of them.
September 20, 2009
Found this at a used bookstore and thought it looked interesting. Never heard of it before and it seems to be nowhere and overlooked, for the most part, in both French and English. These stories are very concise, and focus more on the title character herself and a particular feeling or situation rather than a conventional storyline (~plot). Overall the collection feels very hazy and languid, a trait of many of the women and the language overall... which creates a LOT of mood but without a sudden bite to them many of the stories run together. The characters themselves are strong and individual, though for the above reasons the collection may be forgettable to some, though lots of the imagery of certain feelings or situations come back to the reader's mind like scenes from a dark, sexy movie - though I have to think on it to place which particular story they are from.
"Walking through the streets, Irene could see no light. She passed other people on the pavements and in the streets, but couldn't see them either. All she could see was the image of Danny, picking up his glass in both hands and twisting it so that the beer swirled around in the bottom. He wasn't saying anything. Irene was talking and slowly going mad."
"Walking through the streets, Irene could see no light. She passed other people on the pavements and in the streets, but couldn't see them either. All she could see was the image of Danny, picking up his glass in both hands and twisting it so that the beer swirled around in the bottom. He wasn't saying anything. Irene was talking and slowly going mad."
September 22, 2020
Merci à Ilse, qui m’a introduite à cet auteur et qui a fait une critique si éclatante de ce livre (avec l’addition, dans son édition, de Sous le Pont Mirabeau , que je vais certainement lire – ma commande sur internet a manqué).
Par où commencer ? Avant tout, ces contes sont une réalisation – en termes dramatiques - de la puissance de la femme. Celles-ci sont enfermées dans un contexte où l‘on a dû s’habituer à la violence (la Belgique en temps d’après-guerre). Malgré leur passivité – ou, plutôt, née de cette douceur, patience, acceptance - c’est la puissance. Et je dis ceci parce que le dernier conte, Champs de Lavande, nous montre l’effet de cette passivité, ou même inertie, sur l’homme. Je ne me permets pas ici d’entrer dans les détails de l’histoire, mais le conte est avant tout symbolique; le désintéressement extrême de la femme, sa volonté dont l’existence même nous est interdite, sont étalés en opposition directe non seulement à la brutalité de l’homme mais à sa manque de compréhension, son refus, sa honte de ses propres actions et de son échec.
J’ai commencé par le dernier de ces récits mais cela ne rend pas justice au développement psychologique habilement allaité par l’auteur, d’un conte au suivant.
Premier conte : Anna. Ses rêves, son rêve, qu’elle devient ; introduction aux sentiments maternels compliqués qu’introduit cet auteur comme par nécessité; aussi le premier choc de la violence qui domine ce livre. Suivi par : Un Clou, Une Rose: magnifique, tout à fait mystifiant ; en dire plus, serait de tout gâter. Pourtant c’est le conte qui est le plus difficile à lire, qui déchire, qui prévient, qui menace du terrible pouvoir, endurance et désir inexprimé de la femme.
Qu’est-ce qui va en naître ?
Dali, Geopoliticus Child
Les Jours de la Femme Louise nous permet de prendre haleine au cours d’une marche lente, maussade, ténébreuse; voyeurs, participants au sort quotidien de cette femme. Ce n’est pas que la violence est absente ; c’est qu’elle sort de la femme presque comme une réaction au mystère de « Madame », la sublime, presque la Muse. Clara, c’est le plus court ; j’ai dû le relire, d’abord pour mieux le comprendre et en plus pour le savourer. C’est de l’écriture tendre, passionnante, à faire couler des larmes.
L’Aube est Déjà Grise unit la passion, violence, courage et tragédie de la guerre en la personne de Léa, qui, symbole de tout ceci, vit comme enterrée. La voici :
« il se noue à moi un immense chagrin alourdi de poison et de reliquats »
Je me demande si, dans l’édition qu’a lu Ilse, Sous le Pont Mirabeau se trouvait ici. D’après ce qu’elle a écrit, c’est une histoire de la guerre. La femme du prochain récit dans mon édition, Blanche, est paisible, souffrante, désespérée. Elle devrait peut-être suivre la femme de ce conte absent, mais pour moi elle nous ramène à Anna avec ses rêves.
J’ai déjà parlé du dernier récit, Champs de Lavande. Ah ! Quelle tentation que la femme ! Et qu’est-ce qu’il y a chez la femme qui crée et soutient cette majesté de l’esprit ? Est-ce que rien qu’un amour profond et loyal qui chez les hommes semble dissipé, partagé, soumis aux besoins de leur vie machinale ou guerroyeuse ? Dans ce livre cette ténacité silencieuse de la femme n’est pas liée à l’enfant qu’elle porte. C’est quoi alors ? Le mystérieux lien avec l’univers, le pacte mensuel avec la lune, une sagesse même pas reconnue? Ou le refus de la trahison, d’autrui ou de soi-même, à n’importe quel prix ?
Un tel courage doit terrifier.
Je dois dire qu’après avoir achevé ce livre je suis allée faire mon promenade quotidienne jusqu’à notre petite jetée. La marée était haute, le jour calme et chaude, la mer étincelant de reflets. Et j’ai pensé à la femme sans nom du dernier conte, et – pour la première fois de ma vie – je suis entrée dans l’eau, toute habillée, en sentant en moi toute la puissance héritée du fait simple d’être femme.
Van Gogh, Champs de Lavande.
Par où commencer ? Avant tout, ces contes sont une réalisation – en termes dramatiques - de la puissance de la femme. Celles-ci sont enfermées dans un contexte où l‘on a dû s’habituer à la violence (la Belgique en temps d’après-guerre). Malgré leur passivité – ou, plutôt, née de cette douceur, patience, acceptance - c’est la puissance. Et je dis ceci parce que le dernier conte, Champs de Lavande, nous montre l’effet de cette passivité, ou même inertie, sur l’homme. Je ne me permets pas ici d’entrer dans les détails de l’histoire, mais le conte est avant tout symbolique; le désintéressement extrême de la femme, sa volonté dont l’existence même nous est interdite, sont étalés en opposition directe non seulement à la brutalité de l’homme mais à sa manque de compréhension, son refus, sa honte de ses propres actions et de son échec.
J’ai commencé par le dernier de ces récits mais cela ne rend pas justice au développement psychologique habilement allaité par l’auteur, d’un conte au suivant.
Premier conte : Anna. Ses rêves, son rêve, qu’elle devient ; introduction aux sentiments maternels compliqués qu’introduit cet auteur comme par nécessité; aussi le premier choc de la violence qui domine ce livre. Suivi par : Un Clou, Une Rose: magnifique, tout à fait mystifiant ; en dire plus, serait de tout gâter. Pourtant c’est le conte qui est le plus difficile à lire, qui déchire, qui prévient, qui menace du terrible pouvoir, endurance et désir inexprimé de la femme.
Qu’est-ce qui va en naître ?
Dali, Geopoliticus Child
Les Jours de la Femme Louise nous permet de prendre haleine au cours d’une marche lente, maussade, ténébreuse; voyeurs, participants au sort quotidien de cette femme. Ce n’est pas que la violence est absente ; c’est qu’elle sort de la femme presque comme une réaction au mystère de « Madame », la sublime, presque la Muse. Clara, c’est le plus court ; j’ai dû le relire, d’abord pour mieux le comprendre et en plus pour le savourer. C’est de l’écriture tendre, passionnante, à faire couler des larmes.
L’Aube est Déjà Grise unit la passion, violence, courage et tragédie de la guerre en la personne de Léa, qui, symbole de tout ceci, vit comme enterrée. La voici :
« il se noue à moi un immense chagrin alourdi de poison et de reliquats »
Je me demande si, dans l’édition qu’a lu Ilse, Sous le Pont Mirabeau se trouvait ici. D’après ce qu’elle a écrit, c’est une histoire de la guerre. La femme du prochain récit dans mon édition, Blanche, est paisible, souffrante, désespérée. Elle devrait peut-être suivre la femme de ce conte absent, mais pour moi elle nous ramène à Anna avec ses rêves.
J’ai déjà parlé du dernier récit, Champs de Lavande. Ah ! Quelle tentation que la femme ! Et qu’est-ce qu’il y a chez la femme qui crée et soutient cette majesté de l’esprit ? Est-ce que rien qu’un amour profond et loyal qui chez les hommes semble dissipé, partagé, soumis aux besoins de leur vie machinale ou guerroyeuse ? Dans ce livre cette ténacité silencieuse de la femme n’est pas liée à l’enfant qu’elle porte. C’est quoi alors ? Le mystérieux lien avec l’univers, le pacte mensuel avec la lune, une sagesse même pas reconnue? Ou le refus de la trahison, d’autrui ou de soi-même, à n’importe quel prix ?
Un tel courage doit terrifier.
Je dois dire qu’après avoir achevé ce livre je suis allée faire mon promenade quotidienne jusqu’à notre petite jetée. La marée était haute, le jour calme et chaude, la mer étincelant de reflets. Et j’ai pensé à la femme sans nom du dernier conte, et – pour la première fois de ma vie – je suis entrée dans l’eau, toute habillée, en sentant en moi toute la puissance héritée du fait simple d’être femme.
Van Gogh, Champs de Lavande.
August 18, 2019
A neat collection of short stories mostly about "lonely, fantasizing women”. Three stories stood out in my reading ‘A Nail, A Rose’ which starts darkly (main character is attacked by a stranger with a hammer) and then takes a warm turn by the end, followed by perhaps the best story in the collection, "Louise" which focuses on the thoughts and fantasies of a woman who works as a maid during daytime and wanders the city at night thinking about her erstwhile lover wearing a coat borrowed from her mistress. Collection ends with "Sous le pont Mirabeau", a long, brilliantly crafted story, about a woman moving from town to town escaping the calamities of a raging second world war, which is said to be based on the writer's own experiences. Faith Evan’s translation is a joy to read. Thanks to NetGalley and Pushkin for the review copy.
May 17, 2020
The Belgian writer Madeleine Bourdouxhe has been enjoying something of a mini-revival in the last few years. In 2014, Daunt Books reissued her excellent novella, La Femme de Gilles (1937), a timeless story of the pain that desire and self-sacrificing love can inflict on a marriage. Another novella soon followed: Marie (1943), also available from Daunt, an intimate book in which we gain a deep insight into a young woman’s inner life.
A Nail, A Rose – published here in a beautiful new edition from Pushkin Press – is a collection of eight short stories written throughout Bourdouxhe’s literary career. (The earliest pieces first appeared in the 1940s, while the most recent ones came much later in the ‘80s.) As is often the case with a collection of this nature, certain stories resonate more strongly than others. Nevertheless, Bourdouxhe’s best pieces are very good indeed, particularly those based on some of her own personal experiences.
The standout story here is the novella-length Sous Le Pont Mirabeau in which a young woman attempts to journey from Belgium to France at the time of the German invasion in 1940. Like Bourdouxhe herself, the central character has just given birth to a baby girl, leaving her little option but to set out with the infant in her arms. It’s a very affecting account, threaded through with striking images of a nation at war.
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2020...
A Nail, A Rose – published here in a beautiful new edition from Pushkin Press – is a collection of eight short stories written throughout Bourdouxhe’s literary career. (The earliest pieces first appeared in the 1940s, while the most recent ones came much later in the ‘80s.) As is often the case with a collection of this nature, certain stories resonate more strongly than others. Nevertheless, Bourdouxhe’s best pieces are very good indeed, particularly those based on some of her own personal experiences.
The standout story here is the novella-length Sous Le Pont Mirabeau in which a young woman attempts to journey from Belgium to France at the time of the German invasion in 1940. Like Bourdouxhe herself, the central character has just given birth to a baby girl, leaving her little option but to set out with the infant in her arms. It’s a very affecting account, threaded through with striking images of a nation at war.
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2020...
July 9, 2019
All is pure refusal in the watching world. It is not transient: if one doesn’t preserve in oneself a fragment of space or of time, then…. […] At least everything was going to be born, and the time for words would come.
Women and their lives around the 1940s; mostly working class, mostly surrounded by structural and/or male brutality, violence of men against women, the difficulty of escaping difficult situations, the lack of possibilities for women.
Bourdouxhe's stories emit a sense of independence that strongly calls to mind Lispector's writing style rather than Jean Rhys' or Katherine Mansfield's; the short story Blanche truly reminds the reader of The Passion According to G.H..
The copy was kindly provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley.
December 8, 2021
Her eyes shone bright
her face a picture of serenity—
she made no effort to explain what she meant
but said
looking at the little girl fidgeting about in her pram:
- You mustn't waste time: this child must eat every day that God sends.
- I’ve heard somebody say just now that they’ve occupied Brussels.
- I was there yesterday morning.
O, Anna....
became so light that her body disintegrated, abandoned her
chased away, obliterated by
the notes of music falling like rain
and by....
O, René....
her beautiful hair was in perfect order
and there were no scratches on her face
there was nothing to do but leave her.
The bombers past over without firing—
how good the honey was
slipping so meltingly down the throat.
her face a picture of serenity—
she made no effort to explain what she meant
but said
looking at the little girl fidgeting about in her pram:
- You mustn't waste time: this child must eat every day that God sends.
- I’ve heard somebody say just now that they’ve occupied Brussels.
- I was there yesterday morning.
O, Anna....
became so light that her body disintegrated, abandoned her
chased away, obliterated by
the notes of music falling like rain
and by....
O, René....
her beautiful hair was in perfect order
and there were no scratches on her face
there was nothing to do but leave her.
The bombers past over without firing—
how good the honey was
slipping so meltingly down the throat.
July 31, 2019
Meticulously translated from French by Faith Evans, a London-based editor, translator and literary agent, A Nail, A Rose, by Madeleine Bourdouxhe, was originally published in English in 1989 by The Women’s Press Limited. It has very recently been republished by Pushkin Press as a Pushkin Collection Title and it was an honour to be invited to read it and to share my thoughts with you all today.
Madeleine Bourdouxhe, was born in 1906, moving to Paris during the First World War. She studied Philosophy in Brussels, with her first novel published in 1937. Her work faded into relative obscurity until the 1980’s when her writings were translated, bringing her thoughts and ideas to a much wider audience. Simone de Beauvoir, the renowned French writer and feminist, described Madeline Bourdouxhe as ‘an important early feminist author‘
Most of the stories in A Nail, A Rose were written in the years following the Second World War. Inspired by what she had experienced and what she had seen, Madeleine Bourdouxhe set about writing a collection of stories, with ideas and thoughts that would capture the mind of the reader. Appealing to the early 20th-Century avant-garde movement of Surrealism and of Existentialism, a movement that thrived throughout Europe in the 1940s and 1950s, the work of this writer was quickly embraced, discussed and analysed.
Faith Evans had the opportunity of meeting Madeleine Bourdouxhe in 1988 at her home in Brussels. At this point Faith Evans had read and translated this collection and had made many assumptions about the writer, one being that her writing days were well behind her, but this was not the case. Faith Evans also began to see beneath the surface of this enigmatic writer, this writer whose work stirred up so many conversations over the years.
‘As she talked to me in 1988 I began to see why the Occupation overshadows so many of her stories and her consciousness of herself, and to have some perception of what it means when your country is overtaken by a foreign power, especially when you yourself are patriotic but not in the least nationalistic. It’s no wonder that as a writer she has always been so preoccupied with borders and frontiers, with people who take risks, people whose lives have to be lived underground. She has experienced displacement for herself.’ – Faith Evans (Translator)
A Nail, A Rose is an anthology of seven short stories and one novella, ‘Sous le pont Mirabeau’. It is this final novella that reflects one of the more personal experiences of the author when she fled the hospital where she had just given birth as the Occupying troops continued their rampage through a war-torn Europe. This collection features women and the inner turmoil they face in their day-to-day lives, each with a very unique and different story to tell.
I am not a student of philosophy. My knowledge of intellectual literature, Existentialism and Surrealism, is non-existent. I am not in a position to write about the true feelings and experiences of the women in these stories from a philosophical perspective, but what I can say is that I found reading these stories quite intriguing. I have read translated works in the past, with Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky, being one such book. There is something very fascinating about seeing the world through the eyes of these women, something very compelling about understanding the worlds they inhabited a little more.
A Nail, A Rose is a compact, yet challenging, piece of work which does require that you approach it with an open mind. It is a book that explores a variety of themes, with all focusing in on the idea of the independent woman, the strong woman.
Madeleine Bourdouxhe passed away in 1996 leaving behind a legacy of literary work that continues to invoke debate and deliberation.
I will leave you with a quote from Jonathan Coe, the Birmingham born writer/author whose work has received many prizes and awards, mainly from continental Europe.
‘Madeleine Bourdouxhe is one of the more remarkable literary discoveries of the last few years’ – Jonathan Coe
Madeleine Bourdouxhe, was born in 1906, moving to Paris during the First World War. She studied Philosophy in Brussels, with her first novel published in 1937. Her work faded into relative obscurity until the 1980’s when her writings were translated, bringing her thoughts and ideas to a much wider audience. Simone de Beauvoir, the renowned French writer and feminist, described Madeline Bourdouxhe as ‘an important early feminist author‘
Most of the stories in A Nail, A Rose were written in the years following the Second World War. Inspired by what she had experienced and what she had seen, Madeleine Bourdouxhe set about writing a collection of stories, with ideas and thoughts that would capture the mind of the reader. Appealing to the early 20th-Century avant-garde movement of Surrealism and of Existentialism, a movement that thrived throughout Europe in the 1940s and 1950s, the work of this writer was quickly embraced, discussed and analysed.
Faith Evans had the opportunity of meeting Madeleine Bourdouxhe in 1988 at her home in Brussels. At this point Faith Evans had read and translated this collection and had made many assumptions about the writer, one being that her writing days were well behind her, but this was not the case. Faith Evans also began to see beneath the surface of this enigmatic writer, this writer whose work stirred up so many conversations over the years.
‘As she talked to me in 1988 I began to see why the Occupation overshadows so many of her stories and her consciousness of herself, and to have some perception of what it means when your country is overtaken by a foreign power, especially when you yourself are patriotic but not in the least nationalistic. It’s no wonder that as a writer she has always been so preoccupied with borders and frontiers, with people who take risks, people whose lives have to be lived underground. She has experienced displacement for herself.’ – Faith Evans (Translator)
A Nail, A Rose is an anthology of seven short stories and one novella, ‘Sous le pont Mirabeau’. It is this final novella that reflects one of the more personal experiences of the author when she fled the hospital where she had just given birth as the Occupying troops continued their rampage through a war-torn Europe. This collection features women and the inner turmoil they face in their day-to-day lives, each with a very unique and different story to tell.
I am not a student of philosophy. My knowledge of intellectual literature, Existentialism and Surrealism, is non-existent. I am not in a position to write about the true feelings and experiences of the women in these stories from a philosophical perspective, but what I can say is that I found reading these stories quite intriguing. I have read translated works in the past, with Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky, being one such book. There is something very fascinating about seeing the world through the eyes of these women, something very compelling about understanding the worlds they inhabited a little more.
A Nail, A Rose is a compact, yet challenging, piece of work which does require that you approach it with an open mind. It is a book that explores a variety of themes, with all focusing in on the idea of the independent woman, the strong woman.
Madeleine Bourdouxhe passed away in 1996 leaving behind a legacy of literary work that continues to invoke debate and deliberation.
I will leave you with a quote from Jonathan Coe, the Birmingham born writer/author whose work has received many prizes and awards, mainly from continental Europe.
‘Madeleine Bourdouxhe is one of the more remarkable literary discoveries of the last few years’ – Jonathan Coe
June 5, 2022
A Nail, A Rose is a fascinating collection of short stories, collected from across Belgian author Madeleine Bourdouxhe’s writing life. I thoroughly enjoyed the prose style, and found that the translation has been handled wonderfully. I particularly admired the focus upon women, their inner lives, and outer mundanity of the day-to-day (something which I have been interested in for many years). Some of the stories here are truly excellent. I just wish this had been a lot longer!
October 5, 2019
I was first drawn to A Nail, A Rose by its cover and especially the image central to it. It feels so French. It also immediately gives of a 'frustrated housewife' vibe, which I found intriguing. Although you'll definitely find that vibe in the stories contained in A Nail, A Rose, I'm happy to say that Bourdouxhe goes a lot deeper. Thanks to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this collection in exchange for an honest review.
Pub. Date: 10/1/2019
Publisher: Pushkin Press; Pushkin Collections
Pushkin Press, under its 'Pushkin Collection', has been steadily providing me with some brilliant, translated fiction, much of it written by women. As Faith Evans states in her introduction to these stories, Bourdouxhe had been almost forgotten. Born in Belgium, she was deeply engaged with the oppression of the war, the occupation of France and the effects of repression on a creative mind. She was also writing for Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre's magazine Les Temps moderne. All in all, she was a fascinating woman and I find it fascinating, and saddening, how many of such people have disappeared from our awareness over time. So I'm very pleased that publishers like Pushkin Press and people like Faith Evans continue to put their time, effort and money into returning such jewels to us from the past.
A Nail, A Rose contains 7 stories, all of which are about women, but one of which is narrated by a man. Bourdouxhe looks at the interior lives of women, their secret frustrations, the blindness of those around them to their suffering, the restraints of society, the deep love and compassion they are capable of. Evans points out the lushness of Bourdouxhe's descriptions, how similar to Surrealist artists it is. There is definitely a Surrealist tinge to to Bourdouxhe's stories, whether it is the odd juxtaposition of images or the deep connection to the unconscious many of her female characters exhibit. The stories are, mostly, named after their main characters. 'Irene' is lost after the end of love and then attacked; 'Anna' feels disconnected from her life, husband and body that allow her no mental exercise; 'Louise' is a maid who dreams of understanding her mistress and the world more; 'Leah' is torn between a fantasy and reality; and 'Blanche' has shut herself off from the world around her to survive it. Meanwhile, 'Clara' is a story about silence and death and 'Rene' about an angry young man and a woman he can't impact.A standout story is 'Sous Le Pont Mirabeau', which is divided into small chapters and chronicles a chapter of Bourdouxhe's own life when, shortly after giving birth, she flees Nazi-occupied France. It is a beautiful story of motherhood, the kindness of strangers and the futility of war.
Each of Bourdouxhe's characters is a fully drawn, yet elusive portrait. They each leave a mark, have an impact, yet not even Bourdouxhe can entirely capture them, which seems on purpose. These women, who everyone seems to assume they can know, possess or overpower, are their own creatures, with thoughts often thousands of miles away. There is a dreamlike quality to Bourdouxhe's writing, which is perfectly captured by Faith Evans. Her translations follow the hazy yet insistent tone of Bourdouxhe's writing, the beauty and freedom of nature and dark night. There are some absolutely beautiful passages in A Nail, A Rose which stuck with me. I will definitely be exploring more of Bourdouxhe's oeuvre, especially as more of her works are apparently available in translation now.
Bourdouxhe's stories are far from gentle and yet they seem to exist on an unconscious, almost dreamlike plane. They hold harsh truths, beautiful moments and messages worth considering. Anyone interested in exploring both writing under oppression as well as early feminist writing should absolutely give A Nail, A Rose a go.
Pub. Date: 10/1/2019
Publisher: Pushkin Press; Pushkin Collections
Pushkin Press, under its 'Pushkin Collection', has been steadily providing me with some brilliant, translated fiction, much of it written by women. As Faith Evans states in her introduction to these stories, Bourdouxhe had been almost forgotten. Born in Belgium, she was deeply engaged with the oppression of the war, the occupation of France and the effects of repression on a creative mind. She was also writing for Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre's magazine Les Temps moderne. All in all, she was a fascinating woman and I find it fascinating, and saddening, how many of such people have disappeared from our awareness over time. So I'm very pleased that publishers like Pushkin Press and people like Faith Evans continue to put their time, effort and money into returning such jewels to us from the past.
A Nail, A Rose contains 7 stories, all of which are about women, but one of which is narrated by a man. Bourdouxhe looks at the interior lives of women, their secret frustrations, the blindness of those around them to their suffering, the restraints of society, the deep love and compassion they are capable of. Evans points out the lushness of Bourdouxhe's descriptions, how similar to Surrealist artists it is. There is definitely a Surrealist tinge to to Bourdouxhe's stories, whether it is the odd juxtaposition of images or the deep connection to the unconscious many of her female characters exhibit. The stories are, mostly, named after their main characters. 'Irene' is lost after the end of love and then attacked; 'Anna' feels disconnected from her life, husband and body that allow her no mental exercise; 'Louise' is a maid who dreams of understanding her mistress and the world more; 'Leah' is torn between a fantasy and reality; and 'Blanche' has shut herself off from the world around her to survive it. Meanwhile, 'Clara' is a story about silence and death and 'Rene' about an angry young man and a woman he can't impact.A standout story is 'Sous Le Pont Mirabeau', which is divided into small chapters and chronicles a chapter of Bourdouxhe's own life when, shortly after giving birth, she flees Nazi-occupied France. It is a beautiful story of motherhood, the kindness of strangers and the futility of war.
Each of Bourdouxhe's characters is a fully drawn, yet elusive portrait. They each leave a mark, have an impact, yet not even Bourdouxhe can entirely capture them, which seems on purpose. These women, who everyone seems to assume they can know, possess or overpower, are their own creatures, with thoughts often thousands of miles away. There is a dreamlike quality to Bourdouxhe's writing, which is perfectly captured by Faith Evans. Her translations follow the hazy yet insistent tone of Bourdouxhe's writing, the beauty and freedom of nature and dark night. There are some absolutely beautiful passages in A Nail, A Rose which stuck with me. I will definitely be exploring more of Bourdouxhe's oeuvre, especially as more of her works are apparently available in translation now.
Bourdouxhe's stories are far from gentle and yet they seem to exist on an unconscious, almost dreamlike plane. They hold harsh truths, beautiful moments and messages worth considering. Anyone interested in exploring both writing under oppression as well as early feminist writing should absolutely give A Nail, A Rose a go.
September 29, 2019
Thank you to Edelweiss and Pushkin Press for the digital advanced readers copy of this edition! All my thoughts are my own.
"A Nail, A Rose" is a collection of short stories originally published between the 1940s and 1980s, and is the first volume of Bourdouxhe's work to be translated in English. This collection consists of many stories set in Brussels and France area of Europe, specifically during World War II, each story about a different person (mostly women), from a woman that gets attacked by a man on the street who soon tries to romance her, to a woman who has just had her newborn daughter trying to escape her Nazi-Occupied country.
Trigger warnings: domestic violence, violence, World War II
Reading this collection was enjoyable and thought-provoking, the stories all being different from each other while still flowing well between each story. My favourite part of Bourdouxhe's work was the way she was able to paint pictures in the reader's mind with her writing, describing big details and small ones that added extra dimension to her worlds. They were atmospheric. Although some mention more details hinting at the time periods, such as mentions of the war that is the backdrop of most of these stories, these characters and their situations could have easily happened at any moment in time, such as a woman dealing with domestic violence, or a maid beginning to crush on the woman she works for. Although I did need to re-read a few of the stories to fully understand them, I enjoyed reading about Bourdouxhe's characters and their worlds.
I think my favourite story was the last and longest one in the volume, "Sous Le Pont Mirabeau" (Translating to "Under the Mirabeau Bridge") about a woman who has just given birth to her daughter when she has to flee the Occupation, contrasting, to quote the book introduction written by translator Faith Evans, a "celebration of maternity seen in the light of the destructive futility of war." This story was based off of the author's own experience, giving birth to her child while fleeing Nazis coming to Brussels on her way to France. This story was definitely the easiest to picture, the one that sticks out in my head after reading. This story also had illustrations made for it specifically for it original publication in the 1940s by Artist Mig Quinet. I love these illustrations, their sketchy, scribble-like marks filling the page and reminding me of vintage illustrations for other books such as "Alice in Wonderland's" original works by John Tenniel.
I also found the introduction, written by Faith Evans, to be a great addition to this edition of "A Nail, A Rose," because it went in detail about Bourdouxhe's life, especially during World War II, since Evans had spoken to the author as well as translated her work, written in the late 1980s. It added extra context to the author's work.
Overall, I think this collection of short stories felt like finding a bunch of little gems, and I loved reading them. I did need to re-read some stories more than once to fully understand them, which is why I haven't ranked this book higher, but the illustrations are nostalgic and beautiful, and the atmospheric writing, quiet but strong, is the highlight of this edition. the Pushkin Press 2019 edition of "A Nail, A Rose" is available on October 1, 2019.
You can also read my review on my book blog: https://emmasbooksreviews.blogspot.co...
"A Nail, A Rose" is a collection of short stories originally published between the 1940s and 1980s, and is the first volume of Bourdouxhe's work to be translated in English. This collection consists of many stories set in Brussels and France area of Europe, specifically during World War II, each story about a different person (mostly women), from a woman that gets attacked by a man on the street who soon tries to romance her, to a woman who has just had her newborn daughter trying to escape her Nazi-Occupied country.
Trigger warnings: domestic violence, violence, World War II
Reading this collection was enjoyable and thought-provoking, the stories all being different from each other while still flowing well between each story. My favourite part of Bourdouxhe's work was the way she was able to paint pictures in the reader's mind with her writing, describing big details and small ones that added extra dimension to her worlds. They were atmospheric. Although some mention more details hinting at the time periods, such as mentions of the war that is the backdrop of most of these stories, these characters and their situations could have easily happened at any moment in time, such as a woman dealing with domestic violence, or a maid beginning to crush on the woman she works for. Although I did need to re-read a few of the stories to fully understand them, I enjoyed reading about Bourdouxhe's characters and their worlds.
I think my favourite story was the last and longest one in the volume, "Sous Le Pont Mirabeau" (Translating to "Under the Mirabeau Bridge") about a woman who has just given birth to her daughter when she has to flee the Occupation, contrasting, to quote the book introduction written by translator Faith Evans, a "celebration of maternity seen in the light of the destructive futility of war." This story was based off of the author's own experience, giving birth to her child while fleeing Nazis coming to Brussels on her way to France. This story was definitely the easiest to picture, the one that sticks out in my head after reading. This story also had illustrations made for it specifically for it original publication in the 1940s by Artist Mig Quinet. I love these illustrations, their sketchy, scribble-like marks filling the page and reminding me of vintage illustrations for other books such as "Alice in Wonderland's" original works by John Tenniel.
I also found the introduction, written by Faith Evans, to be a great addition to this edition of "A Nail, A Rose," because it went in detail about Bourdouxhe's life, especially during World War II, since Evans had spoken to the author as well as translated her work, written in the late 1980s. It added extra context to the author's work.
Overall, I think this collection of short stories felt like finding a bunch of little gems, and I loved reading them. I did need to re-read some stories more than once to fully understand them, which is why I haven't ranked this book higher, but the illustrations are nostalgic and beautiful, and the atmospheric writing, quiet but strong, is the highlight of this edition. the Pushkin Press 2019 edition of "A Nail, A Rose" is available on October 1, 2019.
You can also read my review on my book blog: https://emmasbooksreviews.blogspot.co...
September 22, 2019
It's been a heck of a long time since I read a book from this author – way back then there was not even any Internet to ask how to pronounce her surname. But this small selection shows her to have been quite masterful at the short form – giving what was for their time quite daring looks at female characters whom feminism hadn't quite reached.
Two very different openers have two very different plots – a woman meets a man when he accosts her one night, and a woman wants to go dancing but her petrol station owner of a husband dislikes the idea immensely – but several common elements – nails, al fresco sex, women taking their mind on flights of fancy (whether backwards or to a different future), and women looking at physical damage in the mirror. The third heroine looks at her reflection not once but twice, but this woman, whether through the woman she is a servant to or through a man she fancies, is definitely seeking affirmation. It's a sign of this author's message that she doesn't seek it within herself. I felt the next piece, the first one could call long, a slip up, featuring a woman who doesn't look in the mirror, but splits her attention between many workers – one, an arbitrator over some sort of factory-based union-caused issue, others, well, not. She does do what the first woman does, in that she thinks back to a past romance – here in the first person for the first time in the book. What impression is also given is that there must not have been that many women writing about such violence as calmly as Bourdouxhe in the 1940s. And if the longest piece so far seems like a step away from the established norm I've identified, the shortest does too, although the least said about that one the better. 'Blanche' gets us back on an even keel, although her brand of melancholia is hardly even. Towards the end we also see a man's point of view – needless to say, he doesn't really understand the other gender – and a novella treats us to a young mother and her newborn, on a trek through France fleeing the encroaching Nazi soldiers.
All told, this is well worth trying – it's not the brightest book, but it does in its darkness have a depth, and it all comes from an author with a particular message, and many methods to get it across. Oh, and it seems that this is that very book I read way back when – so little of her output got published, and it seems a one-in-three chance that this was my first revisit to this author. Re-reading such rich short stories over a much shorter gap would still not be a problem.
Two very different openers have two very different plots – a woman meets a man when he accosts her one night, and a woman wants to go dancing but her petrol station owner of a husband dislikes the idea immensely – but several common elements – nails, al fresco sex, women taking their mind on flights of fancy (whether backwards or to a different future), and women looking at physical damage in the mirror. The third heroine looks at her reflection not once but twice, but this woman, whether through the woman she is a servant to or through a man she fancies, is definitely seeking affirmation. It's a sign of this author's message that she doesn't seek it within herself. I felt the next piece, the first one could call long, a slip up, featuring a woman who doesn't look in the mirror, but splits her attention between many workers – one, an arbitrator over some sort of factory-based union-caused issue, others, well, not. She does do what the first woman does, in that she thinks back to a past romance – here in the first person for the first time in the book. What impression is also given is that there must not have been that many women writing about such violence as calmly as Bourdouxhe in the 1940s. And if the longest piece so far seems like a step away from the established norm I've identified, the shortest does too, although the least said about that one the better. 'Blanche' gets us back on an even keel, although her brand of melancholia is hardly even. Towards the end we also see a man's point of view – needless to say, he doesn't really understand the other gender – and a novella treats us to a young mother and her newborn, on a trek through France fleeing the encroaching Nazi soldiers.
All told, this is well worth trying – it's not the brightest book, but it does in its darkness have a depth, and it all comes from an author with a particular message, and many methods to get it across. Oh, and it seems that this is that very book I read way back when – so little of her output got published, and it seems a one-in-three chance that this was my first revisit to this author. Re-reading such rich short stories over a much shorter gap would still not be a problem.
August 5, 2019
I’ve never considered myself a short story person, but I think I might need to reconsider. I really enjoyed this collection and the incredible women I met within it.
‘A Nail, A Rose’: This started the collection and felt completely timeless – not what I expected for a collection written in post-WWII Belgium and France. I found Irene, and weirdly her assailant, compelling and I wanted more of their story. The longing in this one is palpable.
‘Anna’ is a bit trippy and ‘Blanche’ was good; there is a scene doing the dishes like nothing I’ve ever imagined.
‘Louise’ is probably my fave of the stories. A short but effective meditation on dissatisfaction, on class, and on the relationship (both real and imagined) between a woman and her employer.
‘Leah’ is an interesting one. It took me awhile to get a handle on what was going on and then I was completely hooked. I loved Leah – character and story.
‘Clara’, a deaf woman, contemplates… and commits (?) suicide. Beautifully written and not unrelatable… but dark. Very dark.
‘René’: I’ve got very mixed feelings about this one. Aside from Leah, he’s the only character who commits violence… And, he commits it all over an innocent woman. Why did Bourdouxhe write this? Why do I have to read it? The woman’s passive resistance is the best part of the narrative; a bit of what Anna and Leah must have looked like from the outside/aggressor’s eyes. And, perhaps that is the point.
‘Sous le pont Mirabeau’ is so, so good. Following a mother and newborn fleeing from the Nazis across Belgium and France. Their struggles and those faced by those they come across. I didn’t know where this was going and I was so afraid for mother and child… but I’m so grateful it went to an unexpected and beautiful place instead. This is a marvelous way to end the edition.
My thanks to the publisher, author and netgalley for the eBook ARC for review.
‘A Nail, A Rose’: This started the collection and felt completely timeless – not what I expected for a collection written in post-WWII Belgium and France. I found Irene, and weirdly her assailant, compelling and I wanted more of their story. The longing in this one is palpable.
‘Anna’ is a bit trippy and ‘Blanche’ was good; there is a scene doing the dishes like nothing I’ve ever imagined.
‘Louise’ is probably my fave of the stories. A short but effective meditation on dissatisfaction, on class, and on the relationship (both real and imagined) between a woman and her employer.
‘Leah’ is an interesting one. It took me awhile to get a handle on what was going on and then I was completely hooked. I loved Leah – character and story.
‘Clara’, a deaf woman, contemplates… and commits (?) suicide. Beautifully written and not unrelatable… but dark. Very dark.
‘René’: I’ve got very mixed feelings about this one. Aside from Leah, he’s the only character who commits violence… And, he commits it all over an innocent woman. Why did Bourdouxhe write this? Why do I have to read it? The woman’s passive resistance is the best part of the narrative; a bit of what Anna and Leah must have looked like from the outside/aggressor’s eyes. And, perhaps that is the point.
‘Sous le pont Mirabeau’ is so, so good. Following a mother and newborn fleeing from the Nazis across Belgium and France. Their struggles and those faced by those they come across. I didn’t know where this was going and I was so afraid for mother and child… but I’m so grateful it went to an unexpected and beautiful place instead. This is a marvelous way to end the edition.
My thanks to the publisher, author and netgalley for the eBook ARC for review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 12, 2019
I was looking forward to reading this book with much anticipation and was really happy when NetGalley kindly sent me a copy. But about a few pages in, I lost my way. And somehow I could not quite find it back again. I got lost in the maze of wordy passages and descriptions and it was difficult to tell who was saying what. Was it a monologue? Was it a dialogue?
I like the themes that Bourdouxhe has portrayed; themes of oppression, suppression, and the patriarchy. My favourite story was the last one in the collection - Sous le Pont Mirabeau. There was kindness, gentleness, and warmth in this story, which is ironically about the Second World War. But the warm welcome that the young mother and her baby received everywhere, even from soldiers, was quite touching.
I enjoyed the book in parts. I just wish more of the stories had the clarity of Sous le Pont Mirabeau.
Thank you to NetGalley for the copy!
I like the themes that Bourdouxhe has portrayed; themes of oppression, suppression, and the patriarchy. My favourite story was the last one in the collection - Sous le Pont Mirabeau. There was kindness, gentleness, and warmth in this story, which is ironically about the Second World War. But the warm welcome that the young mother and her baby received everywhere, even from soldiers, was quite touching.
I enjoyed the book in parts. I just wish more of the stories had the clarity of Sous le Pont Mirabeau.
Thank you to NetGalley for the copy!
June 30, 2020
Madeleine Bourdouxhe's books are probably my favorite literary discovery (Pushkin Press have other gems in their collection). I haven't come across another author who can describe the inner workings of the female mind better than Bourdouxhe. Most of the heroines in this collection of short stories are confined and suffocated by their mundane domestic lives but finding ways to survive with quiet strength.
The story that I am still trying to decipher is Rene - told from the point of view of a male hairdresser who takes out his anger towards the opposite sex on a beautiful stranger. Her non-response to his aggression further fuels his rage and for some reason he can't stop going back to the image of his victim.
In the introduction, the translator mentions that Bourdouxhe asked her "Did you notice that all my stories are about women - except for one?" I am not quite sure I fully understand the significance of it but I know for sure I will keep thinking about it for a long time.
The story that I am still trying to decipher is Rene - told from the point of view of a male hairdresser who takes out his anger towards the opposite sex on a beautiful stranger. Her non-response to his aggression further fuels his rage and for some reason he can't stop going back to the image of his victim.
In the introduction, the translator mentions that Bourdouxhe asked her "Did you notice that all my stories are about women - except for one?" I am not quite sure I fully understand the significance of it but I know for sure I will keep thinking about it for a long time.
January 31, 2025
This fell a bit flat for me. I was really hoping for something more.
These are slice of life stories. Focusing on women in France, many are very dark and the men are all mostly awful. I enjoyed the overall writing style but I don't think any of these stories will really stick with me for too long. I do love that each story focuses on different "working women" a gas station attendant, a housekeeper, a hair washer. All had a bit of darkness and violence to them. But the bleakness really wasn't working for me, could be a me problem, but even when the story wasn't overly bleak it just was not sticking in my memory, and I was not thinking about the women after I put the book down.
These are slice of life stories. Focusing on women in France, many are very dark and the men are all mostly awful. I enjoyed the overall writing style but I don't think any of these stories will really stick with me for too long. I do love that each story focuses on different "working women" a gas station attendant, a housekeeper, a hair washer. All had a bit of darkness and violence to them. But the bleakness really wasn't working for me, could be a me problem, but even when the story wasn't overly bleak it just was not sticking in my memory, and I was not thinking about the women after I put the book down.
May 2, 2024
I’m not a fan of short stories as I struggle to jump into new lives and worlds in rapid succession. However, the simplicity of these short stories and the theme of the regular woman felt like they weee connected in a way. Aside from two stories ( one being a novella) the stories in this collection are very short and each word is chosen with care to contribute to the narrative. This writing is excellently translated by Faith Evans, who truly helps makes the writing by Madeline Bourdouxhe so beautiful. I had a little trouble with the longer stores but by the conclusion I understood why a longer path was needed.
3.75⭐️
3.75⭐️
August 25, 2019
A fascinating collection of unique short stories exploring many facets of womanhood. Some stories will definitely stick with me for longer than others: the character Blanche had a particularly haunting inner monologue.
I highly recommend this publication. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I highly recommend this publication. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
January 6, 2023
I enjoyed this book - the introduction by Faith Evans was very helpful. The disparity in power between the male and female characters in these stories is upsetting - but reflective of the time and circumstances - Europe during and just after the Second World War. The last story, Sous le pont Mirabeau is a wonderful depiction of the urgency and danger of this period of time.
August 12, 2019
I discovered an new to me amazing author. All these stories are excellent, well written and engrossing.
I look forward to reading other works by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
I look forward to reading other works by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
January 27, 2024
There were many stories I liked, and some I did not. Ultimately, this is definitely a novel that those who know me best would say suits me very well…Character-driven and observant. Heartbreaking and astute.
April 22, 2024
This is a timeless read. I feel as though I could return to this and find myself reflected in one of Bourdouxe’s women. She has managed to endow each with a unique facet of womanhood. This author needs to be talked about more!
July 11, 2025
Beautiful and haunting. The embedded horror of the backdrop to many of these stories bleeds through the pages yet tenacity and hope binds them tight. A rare civilian insight to humanity’s darkest hours.
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