Beautiful Image

by Marcel Aymé, Sophie Lewis (Translator)

Raoul Cerusier, an entirely ordinary man, seems to have changed his identity somewhere between home and the government office he is visiting to obtain a document. Between blackmailing the secretary of his former self and seducing his own wife, Raoul is confronted with the dark realisation of his true nature.

Genres: Fiction, France, Fantasy

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1941

About the author

Marcel Aymé was a French novelist, children's writer, humour writer, screenwriter and theatre playwright. His writings include The Man Who Walked Through Walls (Le Passe-Muraille), one of his most famous short stories for which there is a monument in the Montmartre Quarter of Paris.

Reviews

[Pia G.]

öncelikle kitabın konusunu inanılmaz özgün buldum. ele alınan yalnızca kimliğini kaybetmek değil, insanın kendini nasıl tanıdığına, toplumun bizi neye göre algıladığına dair bir hikâye. yüzümüz değişince her şey değişiyor; ilişkiler, saygı, sevgi, hatta insanın kendi benliğiyle kurduğu bağ bile.

kitaptaki en güzel şey, karısının onu 'o' olduğunu bilmeden yeniden sevmesiydi bence. bu detay, aşkın ve bağın yalnızca görünüşe ya da tanıdık bir yüze bağlı olmadığını, insanın birbirine gerçekten içten bağlanabileceğini gösteriyor. bu da bizi, sevgi üzerine tekrar düşünmeye zorluyor. ayrıca, toplumun bize yüklediği rollerin, görünüşün, 'imajın' ne kadar belirleyici olduğunu her sayfada hissediyoruz. ve bizi biz yapan şeyin ne olduğunu sorgularken, yüzümüzden, ismimizden, hatta geçmişimizden bağımsız olarak sevilebilmenin ya da tanınabilmenin mümkün olup olmadığını merak ediyoruz.

[Özgür Daş · Rating 4 out of 5]

Romanın kahramanı Raoul Cérusier ve çevresindeki insanların, yeni görünüşüne karşı davranış değişikliklerini ve eski görünüşüne karşı gerçek düşüncelerini çarpıcı ve ilginç bir şekilde kurgulamış Marcel Aymé. Duvargeçen'de bulunan öykülerdeki gibi yine tuhaf kişilikler mevcut kitapta.

[Géraldine · Rating 4 out of 5]

C'est l'histoire d'un père de famille idéal qui est végétarien et est surpris par sa fille ainée à manger un "biftèque" en cachette. Cet acte va provoquer des changements d'ordre moral dans toute la famille (mère, père, fils ainé, petit dernier et fille ainée) qui vont entrainer de fil en aiguille des conséquences sociales plus larges.

Comme toujours c'est à la fois naïf et bien ficelé, écrit de façon simple avec style et bourré d'humour.

[Kuro Neko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Arada okurken sıkılsam da hikaye oldukça ilginç. Ana karakterin başına gelen olaylar komik olduğu kadar aynı zamanda üzücü. Ana karakterlerin başına gelenlerden çok esas merak ettiğim eşinin yaşadıkları. Hikayenin bir de eşinin gözünden olan kısmını okumak isterdim.

[Berna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastik diyebileceğimiz roman aslında var oluşumuzun ne kadar farkında olduğumuzu çok da güzel bir dille sorguluyor. Bir gün bambaşka bir yüzle ortaya çıksak duygularımız, davranışlarımız da değişir mi, eski kimliğimize yabancılaşırmıyız? Cevaplar biraz da okuyucuda.

[Marsha · Rating 3 out of 5]

“My story is silly. But suppose my face had really changed. Suppose that, that evening, a stranger with bright, attractive eyes and the same voice as me, same clothes, same writing, and somehow knowing our most private secrets, had come and told you: ‘I am your husband.’ What would you have done?”

This is supposed to be an absurdist piece (you can tell it is because the word “absurd” appears quite a few times in the text). Contemporary readers might see this as being like an episode from “The Twilight Zone.” It’s a bit more thoughtful than either concept.

Raoul Cérusier somehow loses his face from one moment to the next, having his older, unprepossessing mug replaced by that of a handsome man in his thirties. While he does spend a little time trying to wrestle with the philosophical and religious aspect of this happenstance (how much of our personalities stem from our features, is this a miracle or not, etc.), most of the time his mind shies away from the horror of having his life stripped away from him.

Without being able to verify who he truly is, Raoul should be shut out from work, his home, his family and friends. But he’s ingenious enough to get his secretary Lucienne to take a large sum of money from the bank, pretend to be a new employee her suddenly-absent boss hires and a different man out to seduce his own wife, Renée.

The novel’s French interior doesn’t change much. Raoul spends most of his bourgeois existence traversing the same narrow plot of land he lives, works and dines out in and trying to court and sleep with a dark-complexioned woman he’s playfully nicknamed the Sarrazine. The dialogue occasionally doesn’t sound like anything a person would say. What we get here is a story of an ordinary, little man suddenly gifted with a chance for adventure and then has it just as quickly snatched away from him.

Raoul reveals and conceals the truth, embroideries and alters it from one person to the next. He confides in his uncle and his best friend but not his wife, secretary or would-be mistress. He slips easily into deceit but then deceit and hypocrisy aren’t new to him, since he was an adulterer before his face changed. Did his new face change his personality or simply allow him more freedom with it?

The novel ends as it began, with Raoul trying to renew unspecified papers at a government agency, thus emphasizing the conservative nature of his life. But it succeeds at engrossing the reader for this isn’t a story about a man becoming a superhero or metahuman but a mundane person, someone like you or me, suddenly thrust into extraordinary circumstances. So it rouses questions, controversy, provoking conversation and probing query. If you got a new, prettier face magically gifted to you, what would you do?

[Sara Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

故事本身很有趣，讓我能幾乎不間斷地一直往下看。講述一個人突然相貌改變後所發生的事。主角本人的小劇場非常多，但對於看習慣日系小說的人來說應該不成問題，反而會因為主角的各種OS覺得很有日常感，不因離奇的劇情而顯得超現實。但我看完之後並沒有真的感受到什麼深刻的寓意，只是看個紓壓。

[Carolyn Li · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another masterpiece by the French master writer that evokes the same captivating style and enchanting aura as his short stories in 'Le Passe-Muraille'. His wickedly funny yet profound human storytelling, in brilliant prose, seamlessly transports readers into a world of magic and intrigue. I'm utterly and completely in love with Marcel Aymé!

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

The conceit in Aymé’s book is that somewhere between leaving his office in the afternoon and attempting to obtain a B O B licence his physiognomy mysteriously morphs. As with the Kafka no one sees this happen nor does the man—one Raoul Cérusier— experience the transformation. He simply hands over his application form to be told: “This is not your photograph.” So, what would you do if your face changed like that? But his face has not simply changed—he now turns heads. This opens up a whole new world of opportunity.

Marcel Aymé is virtually unknown in the English-speaking world these days. Even in France people are only really aware of his short stories and children’s writing, a number of which are viewed as classics; the rest of his not insignificant output is now basically ignored. This is a real shame because even if this particular novel holds back it is still a fine novel. Granted there’s nothing here that’s not been covered in loads of other formats since and so, yes, its power has been diminished over time but it was nevertheless a book that took me in directions I wasn’t really prepared for. Yes, he ties everything up a little neatly but he does so in a believable manner—if, that is, you’re first of all willing to suspend disbelief and accept that a man’s face can change like this.

You can read my full review on my blog here.

[Arkadii Tkachuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Колись, дуже давно насправді, я купив цю книгу знічев'я за сміховинні гроші в букіністів на Петрівці. І буду завжди вдячний долі за таке випадкове знайомство з творчістю Марселя Еме.

Лише за другим прочитанням зрозумів, наскільки це багатошарова за смислами книга. Якщо не мати поняття про абсурдизм Камю, суть екзистенціалізму загалом, а також і характерних ознак стилю самого автора, що детерміновані його життєвою позицією в питаннях політики, релігії та ін., то левова частка закладених смислів прошмигне повз, прикрившись ширмою веселенької оповідки.
Можливо, саме через іронічність (а то й узагалі несерйозність) авторського стилю, його ім'я так мало знане, а тексти не отримують належної уваги та оцінки.
Це однозначно один із кращих романів із усієї французької літератури, принаймні для мене особисто. Без пафосу, без трагізму, без гвалтовної авторитетності думки автора у тексті розкриваються такі сторони життя тогочасного міщанського суспільства, такі універсальні сторони людської натури аж до кісток, що тільки дивуєшся, як це можна вмістити на 170 сторінках! Жодного персонажа в результаті полюбити неможливо, як і засудити; натомість зрозуміти можна всіх. І в багатьох пікантних ситуаціях, будучи відвертим, хоч не хоч, а можеш впізнати себе.

Але це не моралізаторська книга, не тлєн і бєзисходность екзистенціалізму, - а знущально життєствердна. Книга, яка, зокрема, вчить не втрачати свій шанс, у чому б він не полягав.

[Iulia Ivana · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Chipul nu este numai o oglinda reflectand gandurile si sentimentele noastre, ci reactioneaza asupra acestora si se plamadeste odata cu ele. Fiecare stie, de exemplu, cat poate datora caracterul unei femei ideii ce si-o face despre frumusetea ei. Traim aproape in permanenta cu o viziune despre noi insine. Pentru mine, daca o problema de constiinta ma face sa ezit, chipul meu imi apare ca un judecator sever, si nu iau o hotarare decat dupa ce i-am supus-o aprobarii sau, mai curand, dupa ce m-am asigurat ca-i "vine bine", cam ca o palarie noua. Cel putin asa era odinioara."