The Shackle

by Colette

Renee Nere is now 36 - it is three years after she leaves Max and she sees him again with his wife and young child.

He doesn't even recognize her, and she in turn feels nothing for him. Renee is now living as an independent woman on a small income from an inheritance. She has left the music hall and is thinking once again of writing seriously. This time, however, she falls in love with her friend May's lover Jean. Renee is resigned to putting on the shackle when she becomes his mistress. It is the shackle you wear when you fall in love, and cannot extract yourself emotionally.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Feminism, France, French Literature, 20th Century, Literature

168 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1913

About the author

Colette was the pen name of the French novelist and actress Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette. She is best known, at least in the English-speaking world, for her novella Gigi, which provided the plot for a famous Lerner & Loewe musical film and stage musical. She started her writing career penning the influential Claudine novels of books. The novel Chéri is often cited as her masterpiece.

Reviews

[Georgia Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can read this as a warning to stay away from much younger lovers or as a reminder that our lovers are human beings, too, not only the providers of our pleasure.

For anyone who likes the early novels of Jean Rhys, this has the period appeal plus more lasting joy.

[jolene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though I've never met Colette in person, she's with me in really weird subliminal ways, I talk to her in my head

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's impossible to discuss why I didn't like this book without revealing something of the last two chapters.

On the one hand, this book is full of beautiful writing that reminds me of some of the best passages of "Break of Day". There are some very well-realized characters as well... May, Masseau, even Jean. But who is this Renée?

She certainly isn't the protagonist of The Vagabond, the novel to which this is the sequel. Colette would have her readers believe that the Renée who couldn't stop traveling who couldn't be fully self-actualized human being without some engagement within the world has suddenly acquired an inheritance and all desire to engage with the world outside the front door magically dissipates? Because she meets the right domineering man? And she'll take love advice from opium addicts financially dependent on that brute?

This is not Renée Nérée, but an impostor.

The connection to The Vagabond here seems primarily commercial. The narrative sweep of The Shackle is much smaller and, with the exception of the last few chapters, is more of a vignette along the lines of many of her short stories albeit expanded and expounded upon. There isn't any need for The Vagabond to have transpired before it. The cameo from Brague is a minor detail and the memories of Maxime hardly betray any believable character evolution between the books.

The Shackle is beautifully written and badly realized.

Edit/Postscript: The obvious rejoinder is that Jean is Henri and this is merely Colette's usual autobiographical fictionalization. But in the years that elapsed in Colette's life between the two books, a hell of a lot transpired whereas there is little in the way of tracing Renée's intra- and inter-textual personal development as a literary character.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times this read more like a Francoise Sagan than a Colette. Beautifully observed as ever but lack a little of the lightness of touch of the best of her work.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

More thoughts to come...

Not as compelling as The Claudine stories but I appreciated the style and the way she dissects the flawed self of her character Renée, whose perceptiveness and analysis always keeps her one step ahead of any eventuality, so that nothing appears to happen spontaneously.

Renée is 36, single (has been mariired) and has come into an inheritance that makes her financially dependent, so she is trying on that lifestyle after having been an actress in the theatre. She likes to observe people around her and when we meet her she has just observed a man walking the Promenade des Anglais in Nice with his wife and child, a man who has not noticed her at all, a man she rejected a couple of years before, his presence and ignorance of her elicits pangs of rejection and jealousy and disturbs her. It is a foreshadow of much of what will follow, as she fails to find the contentment she seeks.

She resists that which she seeks, refuses that which is already written and despite asserting her independence finds herself falling for the man she had been trying to convince herself she had no feeling for.

I will be intrigued to read what Vivian Gornick has to say about reading this in the 60's in her new Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-Reader, which is the reason I picked up The Shackle to read. Well that and because I think Colette herself is such an intriguing character.

[Kallie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel is delicious (sensual pleasure) and merciless (games women and men who are sexually attracted play). From what other reviewers say, maybe I enjoy it so much because I have not read Vagabond. But that will be next.

To me, Renee is lost. There is no real resting place for her outside of sensual pleasure. I haven't read the Thurman bio for quite some time (wish I still had that), but I don't remember Colette being really content with anyone or anything that is completely hers. She's a hungry ghost sort of person, probably not a great friend but a person with an unsparing eye. The sensual detail of her writing, which is exceptional, is what redeems that. And she is one of the few writers who can describe beauty in a person, in this case her lover, without sounding trite or at all predictable. Women rarely do this, or maybe I need to read more French women writers (who?). Well, I just answered my own question by remembering Duras. But both of these women wrote so long ago . . .

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adooooooore all Colette's writing...this is no exception.

[vania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un viaggio nella mente e nel cuore di una donna.
Di tutte le donne, forse?
E' bellissimo.

[hajar’ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I HATED IT .

[jojo · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with a lot of her work, the plot is deceptively simple but holds a lot of insight into human feeling. It's a rather sad book, dealing with a stage where a woman is leaving youth behind, and becoming rootless.

The 'captor' of the book, Jean, is also leaving behind the irresponsibility of youth. He could have been written as just another tediously handsome twink, but Colette writes him subtly and with sympathy. Both characters have flaws which seem organic parts of their characters.

It looks like a rather silly romance novel from the blurb; don't let that put you off. It's more than the sum of its parts, with real believable feelings and a natural world that's just as important as the characters.

It feels far more deeply felt and vulnerable than her short stories. and also somewhat crueller. There is also a sense of action and involvement that isn't on her later recollections. It's quite claustrophobic at times, being a novel with only four characters at most.

I love all her work, but this one has a lot of her best ingredients in one place!

What I love most about this book is the beautiful prose. It's precise but poetic, and has odd-but-illuminating metaphors and comparisions that make everyday experiences fresh and new.

[Emily Davis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm sure, once upon a time, this was a very exciting forthright sort of book to read. But now it doesn't read quite as free and cool as it probably once did.
For me, I could not get over the fact that the love interest of this book hits his girlfriend. (We learn this very early on, so I don't think this spoils anything.) We never see him hit the protagonist but we know he hit his previous partner. And the protagonist knows he hit his previous partner and she maybe finds this charming?!?!? I can't. Like, every sentence of this book I was like, "Girl. No. He hit her. No. This isn't a fun journey on a boat with a charming man. That guy hits his girlfriend. Nope. Get off that boat."
It was just not in the least bit sexy and I feel fairly certain it was supposed to be. For me? No. Nope. Ew. No.
I mean, I suppose it is very old school French but...
Get back on the stage, girl! Lounging around waiting for that mistress-beater is no kind of life!

Anyway - I did manage to read the whole thing when I was sure I was going to abandon it because the quality of the writing was somehow compelling but I nearly abandoned it many times.

[jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

After retiring from the stage, 36 year old Renee finds herself a friendless 'old maid'. She is neither rich nor poor, ugly nor beautiful, just someone who is accustomed to picking up and moving to a new city and hotel with no one to meet her there. She falls in with a group in Nice that consists of a pretty young woman, the lover who beats her and his opium-addicted weirdo friend. When the young lover begins paying attention to Renee she tries to resist but he arouses the long-dormant need to belong.

Colette has a reputation for writing about sex, or sensuality, but her writing has just a normal tone for the modern reader. She doesn't focus on sex, at least in this book or the previous work I've read, but it isn't ignored either. Her characters aren't prim and awkward towards each other but instead expect sex and living together to be a part of a relationship. As this book was written 100 years ago and lacks a moral character, it must have drawn attention to the female author, but Colette's talent is in the emotional inner dialogue of Renee, who has been alone for so long.

[Megan Chance · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Shackle is the sequel to The Vagabond, and it follows Renee Nere as she struggles to reconcile her need for independence and self-sufficiency with the demands of a passionate love affair. Colette's writing is so deceptively, beautifully simple that she pulls you in before you've quite realized it. It is also beautifully on-point emotionally. I loved this one.

[Gina Rheault · Rating 1 out of 5]

Circa 1900, naughty ladies and lace in a foofy hotel in Nice, difficult to read first person meanderings. Twenty pages in, a big question: Do I really care??? The answer, a resounding NO. And thus, abandoned, like Fifty Shades of Gray to which it is sometimes compared. Not interesting to me. Others may differ.

[ifjuly · Rating 4 out of 5]

this had a lot of live up to, being the sequel to the vagabond, which is one of my very favorite colette books (yes, better than the claudine books), one i have a personal, not critic-eyeballing attachment to. and still given that, it was quite good.

[EV · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't enjoy this one much. My copy's title is translated as The Captive. I'm guessing it's the same book based on the synopsis. I didn't realize that it was a sequel, so perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I had read the 1st one.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this book follows The Vagabond by Colette -This time she falls for a man who belongs to someone else- she tries to distance herself from him but they meet again. as always a complex passionate tale of love and life i never tire of Colette-

[Dina Rahajaharison · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Je veille, comme peuvent le faire toutes celles qui, neuves ou blasées, commencent ou recommencent leur vie, anxieuses contre le flanc d'un homme endormi."

[Angela Natividad · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is probably my least favourite Colette novel, if only because it glories in the ruin of the proud vagabond she so painstakingly built in its predecessor.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as The Vagabond, but still loved studying her writing!

[Hristo Poparov]

facts

[Rafaela Vianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Demorei muito pra ler esse, por causa do mito em torno de “ah, é a Colette dando passos para trás, nesse a Renée casa e isso desmente toda a trajetória de libertação de La Vagabonde.”
Pois me surpreendeu muito positivamente. Claro que, em se tratando da Colette, não ia ser uma simples adesão ao casamento como instituição. Não se trata da “negação” das “conquistas de liberdade” de La Vagabonde, mas um outro lado do pêndulo do amor/erotismo/desejo, cujo movimento é a própria obra de Colette.
Amar é se colocar em risco. Renée sabe disso e oscila entre o seu desejo por fluidez/liberdade/arte/vida/mundo e o desejo erótico/romântico, que não deixa de ser uma das faces do primeiro. Ela sabe que amar é se perder, então foge do amor. Ela tende a ser, no amor, o que o outro quer dela: uma prisão que ela mesma constrói para si — e que não é a “social” da “mulher presa pela casamento”, embora, por vezes, se confunda com ela. Aqui, acho que ela ama alguém livre como ela, sem a crueldade infiel de Taillandy, sem a possessividade de Max. Jean é um espelho do que Renée poderia ser se fosse homem: ele pode continuar a ser vagabond e amá-la. Ela, não. Precisa, mudada, tornar-se sua “seconde”.
O casamento não é um final feliz, não por não ser feliz, mas por não ser um final: não acreditamos em Renée quando ela diz que seus dias de vagante terminaram — as oscilações, o movimento são a personagem.
Só em uma leitura muito superficial pode ser visto como negação do “grande texto feminista” que é La Vagabonde. Primeiro que La Vagabonde não é tão “revolucionário para a época” como se pensa. Em um momento em que as mulheres tinham alguns direitos sociais — sobretudo essas, francesas brancas de classe média na belle époque —, a questão da obra da Colette é: como se relacionar com homens, como se eles fossem iguais? O que fazer com essas tensões do desejo, do amor e, claro, do dinheiro, da posição social?

[vetathebooksurfer · Rating 4 out of 5]

«Преграда»
«Странница» заканчивается на определенно пафосной ноте. Но, как часто бывает, пафос проходит, начинаются трудовые будни. Рене уже немолода, теряет друзей, бежит от профессии. И сейчас мы видим ее, проживающую в номерах, ввязанной в какой-то клубок токсичных отношений – короче, она живет в одном доме с Сидом и Нэнси того времени. Эта пара опиумных наркоманов то ссорятся, то мирятся, то берут еще одного друга на прогулки, и Рене все никак не может с ними расстаться – ведь на сцене она больше не нужна, ее заменили. Она чувствует, что вот этот клубок – лучшее, что она может требовать от жизни.

А теперь следите за руками: как в прошлой части Рене всеми силами убегала от любовной зависимости, так в этой части она становится даже не любовницей, а любовницей в квадрате.

Рене смирилась. Они только спят, больше их ничего не связывает. У Рене были причины так поступить. Но я не чувствую за этим силы, я чувствую отчаяние. Даже если в итоге она берет верх, вся эта история выглядит как падение.

Рекомендовать этот сборник я буду с большой осторожностью, поскольку это – очень тягучая проза. Колетт потрясающе передаёт одиночества среди себе подобных, – поскольку героиня даже шашни завести не может, так сильно она исстрадалась. Закулисные перипетии описаны точно, как Рене, ничего лишнего не прося, на ровном месте у подруги любовника увела – еще круче! Если вы общались с токсичной парой – вы непременно узнаете их на страницах. Но накал драмы здесь достигается за счет личных любовных переживаний. К сожалению, это мне не близко.

[Ravi Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third of three books by Colette I have read in succession and the best of the three too. I had to reach the end of the book before I felt I was really drawn in, compelled to read by the interaction of the two main characters. Chapters 11 and 13 (the last few chapters) I found very touching, very poignant. Some quotes are as follows:

''I have often seen you with eyes that are suddenly empty; eyes paler and blanker than a vast stretch of sea without ships.''

''When I leave it, I shall go off to seek some other known setting, where the spire of a church, the silhouette of a mountain-not even as much as that; a noisy street, the welcoming face of a hotel proprietor who will call me by my name-will give me, for an hour, the illusion, not of arriving, but of coming home.''

''Once again I have consumed the night in contemplating you, you who were my pride, my succulent and unloved prey.''

And many more insightful gems into the workings and breakup of a relationship. It reminded me of Evelyn Waugh and his writing, the emphasis on dialogue, the unsaid in a conversation and how it tortures us, shows and can be captured in literature.

All in all, a great writer and a fantastic read. Much recommended.

[Eva Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

a little excruciating, though I should read the book that precedes it, to get to know Renee a little better, for she's quite a desperate sadsack in this story. I know that's mostly the point - the melancholy, the feeling of being abandoned and directionless, but I just wished she'd kept on her own more instead of entering this fruitless affair that unfortunately is the dominant plot.

Ah, well.. easy breezy read, no harm done (except for a lingering melancholy (so French!) and a terrible feeling of regret and embarrassment for Renee. And a lesson learned to not fall for charmless men out of desperation, loneliness and fear of aging.

[Krikri Leigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

The descriptions are beautiful and the prose elegant, but this isn't exactly an enjoyable story. All of the characters are basically terrible people who seem to be pretty out of touch with reality. My reaction to the ending was just "...okay."

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

La prose de ce roman est grandiose. L'intrigue est simple et à la fois si complexe... La passion, l'amour, la haine et le dégoût; puis la docilité.
Les personnages ont beaucoup de profondeur, est Renée, la protagoniste, incarne merveilleusement bien la version féminine du poète maudit.

[Lionelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Biensur une grande qualité d'écriture. Le retournement de situation entre le début et la fin du roman est bien amené. Le titre du livre se justifie. Cependant la vie oisive des personnages m'a fortement ennuyé.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3,5

[Steve Velasco · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing book i very liked