La Rebelle: Roman français

by Marcelle Tinayre

Marguerite Suzanne Marcelle Chasteau, épouse Marcelle Tinayre, née à Tulle le 8 octobre 1870 et morte à Grosrouvre le 23 août 1948, est une femme de lettres française, auteur de nombreux romans d'inspiration catholique.Extrait :La pluie et le soleil brillaient ensemble sur les ardoises grises du Sénat. Rue de Médicis, l’asphalte miroitait ; les arbres nus secouaient des gouttes cristallines. Une vitre, au dernier étage d’une maison, s’alluma. L’averse, inégale et fraîche, dans le crépuscule d’argent, était déjà printanière. Josanne, brune, svelte et vive, avec sa robe de drap noir, sa toque noire, sa cravate de tulle blanc, semblait la première hirondelle de ce printemps qui allait venir. Elle tenait sa jupe de la main gauche et, de la main droite, son parapluie ouvert. L’étoffe souple, tirée, tendue de côté, moulait la jolie taille et les jolies hanches. Le volant du jupon, en taffetas plissé, découvrait les minces bottines. Toute la personne de Josanne avait un air de hardiesse défensive, la libre allure qui révèle la fille émancipée ou la femme sans époux, — seule dans la rue, seule dans la vie… Pourtant, les yeux de Josanne, le sourire de Josanne, sous la voilette, étaient tristes et tendres, un peu languissants. L’amour avait touché ces yeux et ce sourire. Un jeune homme qui flânait tourna la tête : « Gentille… oh ! gentille !… » Un monsieur mûr suivit la passante : il parlait d’un petit dîner « chez Foyot, d’une soirée… à l’Odéon… Puis, il expliqua ses convoitises. Josanne, sans fureur, répondit : — Imbécile !…

260 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1905

About the author

Marcelle Tinayre, née Marguerite Suzanne Marcelle Chasteau, est une femme de lettres française, auteur de nombreux romans d'inspiration catholique.

Reviews

[Francesca · Rating 5 out of 5]

bellissimo romanzo di inizio 900 dove la presa di coscienza da parte delle donne inizia a concretizzarsi sempre di piú. l’autrice per i suoi tempi è molto attuale, attraverso il romanzo tocca temi come l’aborto, la violenza, la carità…. la protagonista forma il suo essere e tira le somme dopo ogni incontro sulla donna che vuole diventare. non rinuncia all’amore, ha un figlio fuori dal matrimonio e non vuole rinunciare alla sua indipendenza. libro d’ispirazione, attraverso i dialoghi riesce a far circolare le idee del tempo, lo consiglio.

[Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled across "La Rebelle" while helping a student find one of the stories in "The Canterbury Tales" on Project Gutenberg. The title, which was on the front page of the website, immediately caught my eye. Clicking on it was the best choice I could have made, as this novel quickly became one of my favorites. Tinayre's prose, despite coming from a poorly translated ebook, was captivating. The novel also features this theme of what it means to be a feminist prevailing throughout the novel, as the main character, Josanne, creates her own definition of feminism and identity as a woman, mother, and wife. Josanne's personal journey and growth were equally as eye-catching.

I read it over the course of ten or so planning periods, with me then discussing the novel with my students throughout the two or so weeks it took me to finish it. I cannot recommend this enough. Fans of Edith Wharton should definitely give "La Rebelle" a read.

[Pascale · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love discovering books that once had an audience, but then went out of print for decades. This one really deserved to come back in circulation, if only as a document.
Trapped in a disappointing marriage to an invalid who nonetheless insists on his "conjugal rights" whenever he has a reprieve, Josanne works for a living. A junior on the staff of the magazine "Le Monde Féminin", she has the opportunity of reviewing a book called "La Travailleuse", which strikes her as honest and sympathetic towards women. This book helps her at a crucial juncture in her life, when her lover Maurice Nattier is about to leave her. Far from being an "easy" woman, Josanne only fell for Maurice because she needed a little sunshine in her otherwise drab and dreary life. Maurice is the father of her only child, Claude, and he means everything to her. When the cad ditches her to marry the woman of his mother's choice, Josanne clings to the correspondence initiated by the author of "La Travailleuse", Noël Delysle. After the death of her husband, Josanne and Delysle become close friends, and predictably fall in love. Josanne feels compelled to confess to him Claude's true paternity, a secret she kept from her husband. In spite of all his high principles and enlightened views on gender equality, Delysle has a very hard time accepting that the fact that his future bride was an unfaithful wife. Desperately jealous of her former lover, Delysle struggles to accept little Claude, until the boy falls gravely ill and nearly dies. After this shared ordeal, Josanne and Delysle become true soulmates and sail together towards a glorious future.
So ends this novel which is part roman à thèse and part melodrama with a happy conclusion. If it is no great masterpiece, it presents an interesting portrayal of a man whose lofty ideals of equality between men and women nearly disintegrate when he is confronted to reality. Although he has had many flings himself, Delysle holds Josanne to higher standards and comes close to wrecking his own happiness because of his emotions, propped by centuries of male prejudices against women's sexuality. And therein lies one of the ironies of this novel, which is that the male character is rather more interesting than the "rebelle" of the title.

[Niniane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vaut surtout pour la découverte de l'autrice et de son style (de très belles descriptions par ailleurs).

Pour le reste, l'histoire d'amour est très (trop à mon goût) mélodramatique. Et la "Rebelle" ne l'est que peu, que ce soit pour l'époque ou par rapport à nos standards actuels.

Restent néanmoins des propos intéressants sur l'hypocrisie des hommes, le désir féminin, le travail des femmes et leur indépendance croissante.