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Le Cordonnier de la rue triste
« J'ai désiré écrire un roman simple, économe de mots, se référant en priorité aux sentiments et aux personnes. Une rue étroite dans Paris aux moments sombres de son histoire. Là, une petite boutique : celle de marc le cordonnier. Il est jeune, beau, libre. Son plaisir : courir dans la ville. Survient un accident qui bouleverse sa vie entière. Une religieuse en est témoin. Elle l'assiste, le soigne, l'accompagne dans sa convalescence, puis s'éloigne. Reste l'ami de Marc, Paulo, le bizarre énergumène, moqué de tous, chiffonnier mais surtout donneur de coups de main, toujours prêt à rendre service. Et d'autres : Mme Gustave qui tient un bistrot, Lucien l'imprimeur, M. marchand au service de la police, Rosa la fille des rues... Enfin, la petite fille. Elle représente la fragilité, la douceur, la grâce, un peu de la beauté du monde. Je ne raconte pas plus. Marc le cordonnier va tenter de reconstruire sa vie, partagé entre la fierté de l'artisan, le désir du savoir, le goût de la musique. Au lecteur, à la lectrice de découvrir. Peut-être se retrouveront-ils dans ces pages. Après onze chapitres, le douzième va basculer dans notre temps, un aujourd'hui qui métamorphose la rue, transforme les êtres.Si vous qui me lisez ressentez le bonheur et la mélancolie, l'émotion et l'amour qui m'ont envahi, nous sommes les mêmes. »Robert Sabatier
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
11 people want to read
About the author
Robert Sabatier
101 books15 followersRobert Sabatier was a French poet and writer. He wrote numerous novels, essays and books of aphorisms and poems. He was elected to the Académie Goncourt in 1971, as well as to the Académie Mallarme. He is also the author of Histoire de la poésie française: La poésie du XVIIe siècle.
Among his notable works is the autobiographical series of novels "Roman d'Olivier" about growing up in the streets of a poor quarter in Paris during the 1930s. A title from the series, Les Allumettes Suédoises (The Safety Matches, also translated under the title The Match Boy), was adapted for French TV by Jacques Ertaud. According to Kirkus Reviews, the book Les Allumettes Suédoises sold 200,000 copies. Other autobiographical installments include "Olivier 1940" and "Les Trompettes Guerrières". More recent works include Diogène about the Cynic philosopher of ancient Greece.
As a poet, Sabatier was awarded Le Prix Guillaume Apollinaire in 1955. A small selection of Sabatier's poems have been published in English translations by the American poet X.J. Kennedy and others in the anthology Modern European Poetry (edited by Willis Barnstone et al., published by Bantam Books, NY, 1966). Kennedy's translations of Sabatier include the poems "Vegetal Body" and the elegiac "Mortal Landscape" where Sabatier wonders
The bird is flown, the monster not yet born
where shall we go in this demolished world?".
In an introduction to Sabatier, Barnstone states: "The poet's despair has sharp edges . . . but the bitter violence that strikes at the reader of these poems has its roots in an earlier joy that persists like a dream." Sabatier's poetry is deeply colored by memory and division: "He held the image that he loved so tight/his body itself cast two shadows."
Before his death, Sabatier was writing his memoirs.
Among his notable works is the autobiographical series of novels "Roman d'Olivier" about growing up in the streets of a poor quarter in Paris during the 1930s. A title from the series, Les Allumettes Suédoises (The Safety Matches, also translated under the title The Match Boy), was adapted for French TV by Jacques Ertaud. According to Kirkus Reviews, the book Les Allumettes Suédoises sold 200,000 copies. Other autobiographical installments include "Olivier 1940" and "Les Trompettes Guerrières". More recent works include Diogène about the Cynic philosopher of ancient Greece.
As a poet, Sabatier was awarded Le Prix Guillaume Apollinaire in 1955. A small selection of Sabatier's poems have been published in English translations by the American poet X.J. Kennedy and others in the anthology Modern European Poetry (edited by Willis Barnstone et al., published by Bantam Books, NY, 1966). Kennedy's translations of Sabatier include the poems "Vegetal Body" and the elegiac "Mortal Landscape" where Sabatier wonders
The bird is flown, the monster not yet born
where shall we go in this demolished world?".
In an introduction to Sabatier, Barnstone states: "The poet's despair has sharp edges . . . but the bitter violence that strikes at the reader of these poems has its roots in an earlier joy that persists like a dream." Sabatier's poetry is deeply colored by memory and division: "He held the image that he loved so tight/his body itself cast two shadows."
Before his death, Sabatier was writing his memoirs.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 9, 2019
At first, I was put off by the twee sentimentality and the continual interjections of the coy narrator, who suggested that he might be one of the inhabitants of “la rue triste”. Yet although this short novel is not a page turner, it sucks the reader into the evocative atmosphere of a 1940s Parisian street where life goes on despite the Occupation. The last novel of the prolific French author Robert Sabatier, written in his eighties, this seems to draw on his own memories of growing up in Paris, orphaned young, apprenticed to the printing trade, drawn to literature and poetry, largely self-taught and ending up a writer.
Perhaps there is something of himself in the central character Marc, an unusually handsome boy who becomes a skilful cobbler, but loses the use of his legs as a result of an accident when pursuing his passion for running. This tragic event is somehow lightened not only by Marc’s spirit, but also the help given by an assortment of local characters: Jack-of-all- trades Paulo, resembling a comic strip character but with a talent for inventions, not least a workable wheel chair for Marc; Madame Gustave, the kindly manageress of a local bistro who keeps Marc supplied with food, or Rosa la Rose, the tart with a heart.
Every now and again, events begin to take a dramatic turn, but tend to subside like small waves on a beach. What makes this book worth reading is the poetic style, with occasional insights, such as how attempts to reconstruct the past often lack something “impalpable”, like “un reflet dans un miroir déformant”, whereas the strongest witness comes from the first-hand experience of writers like “Erich Maria Remarque”, author of “All quiet on the Western Front”. More than sixty years later, with an old man’s perspective, Marc observes with irony the individuals walking along “la rue triste” like automatons, a mobile phone to one ear, as preoccupied as if their lives depended on the call”. The gift of a TV from a grateful customer introduces him to the ludicrous world of shows in which the audience laugh at the presenter’s inane comments, and applaud not only the rights answers to simple questions but even seem to applaud themselves, like so many “performing seals”.
The novel is like an adult fairy tale, just about saved from mawkishness by some sharp dialogues and ironic humour. It also reminds me of the highly regarded “Stoner”, in its ability to capture the thoughts of “ordinary” people, and what it means to be alive.
Perhaps there is something of himself in the central character Marc, an unusually handsome boy who becomes a skilful cobbler, but loses the use of his legs as a result of an accident when pursuing his passion for running. This tragic event is somehow lightened not only by Marc’s spirit, but also the help given by an assortment of local characters: Jack-of-all- trades Paulo, resembling a comic strip character but with a talent for inventions, not least a workable wheel chair for Marc; Madame Gustave, the kindly manageress of a local bistro who keeps Marc supplied with food, or Rosa la Rose, the tart with a heart.
Every now and again, events begin to take a dramatic turn, but tend to subside like small waves on a beach. What makes this book worth reading is the poetic style, with occasional insights, such as how attempts to reconstruct the past often lack something “impalpable”, like “un reflet dans un miroir déformant”, whereas the strongest witness comes from the first-hand experience of writers like “Erich Maria Remarque”, author of “All quiet on the Western Front”. More than sixty years later, with an old man’s perspective, Marc observes with irony the individuals walking along “la rue triste” like automatons, a mobile phone to one ear, as preoccupied as if their lives depended on the call”. The gift of a TV from a grateful customer introduces him to the ludicrous world of shows in which the audience laugh at the presenter’s inane comments, and applaud not only the rights answers to simple questions but even seem to applaud themselves, like so many “performing seals”.
The novel is like an adult fairy tale, just about saved from mawkishness by some sharp dialogues and ironic humour. It also reminds me of the highly regarded “Stoner”, in its ability to capture the thoughts of “ordinary” people, and what it means to be alive.
October 2, 2025
Un récit intense qui m’a emporté loin, au plus près du personnage principal. J’ai partagé ses frustrations, ses peurs, ses doutes… son histoire m’a émue. Très beau livre.
August 17, 2016
Even niet zo'n dikke pil van 500 bladzijden, maar een 'poche' van 150 pagina's, met een mooi verhaal over vriendschap.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews