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Jean-Luc persécuté
Trompé, méprisé, joué par sa femme Christine, Jean-Luc, paysan suisse, se met à boire. Plus tard, face au destin qui s'acharne, la folie le prend. Il commet un geste affreux, qui rend son suicide inéluctable. Ce roman à l'atmosphère épaisse compte parmi les premières réussites de Ramuz, hanté par les forces obscures, malfaisantes, de la montagne. (Présente édition parue en France en 1930.)
154 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1908
About the author
Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz
145 books33 followersC.F. Ramuz was a French-speaking Swiss writer. Born in Lausanne and educated there he moved to Paris in 1903 where he first published a collection of poems, 'Le petit village.' At the outbreak of WWI in 1914 he returned to Switzerland and devoted his life to writing which included the libretto for Igor Stravinsky's 'Histoire du Soldat' in 1918. He died near his home town. His image now appears on the 200 Swiss Franc note and his foundation awards the quintannual Grand Prix C.F. Ramuz.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 30, 2014
This is vintage Ramuz, not his best, but a fairly good sample of his style. The story couldn't be simpler: Christine married Jean-Luc because she couldn't have Augustin, but at the first opportunity, she sleeps with the man she is really attracted too. Jean-Luc finds out and leaves, but when he breaks and nearly loses a leg, she nurses him back to health with great devotion, they get back together and are very happy for a while. However, she soon resumes her affair, and Jean-Luc throws her out, keeping their son with him, since she is now pregnant with her lover's baby. From that point on, Jean-Luc's behavior becomes more and more erratic. He falls to drinking, squanders his money, and behaves irresponsibly towards his child, who drowns in a pond while looked after by a simpleton. The chapter devoted to the discovery of the toddler's body is one of the strongest in the book. As in other books of that ilk, the villagers are used as a Greek chorus, and Ramuz is very good at describing the attitudes and reactions of a variety of people on the periphery of a tragedy. He also excels at describing Jean-Luc's thought-processes from the moment he stumbles upon the discovery of his wife's infidelity to his final act of madness. In fact the second half of the book chronicles Jean-Luc's unstoppable mental collapse in a culture where loonies are tolerated and even charitably humored, but not given any treatment. This is a very good piece of regional writing, with the shift of seasons on the landscape beautifully rendered.
May 31, 2024
The first half or so of this novel is strongest; wonderful descriptions of the Swiss countryside, rural life, some finely drawn characters (Jean-Luc's mother in particular). Rather fun plot: cucked among the haystacks. It loses something about half-way, and I didn't love the final third--a little melodramatic for my taste. I'd have preferred a less extreme resolution and would have left out the barn burning, the suicide; the child's death by drowning could stay. Imagine your life going haywire this way in a village where everybody knows everybody and everything.
The best scene in the entire book was the part where Jean-Luc breaks his leg. A tree falls on him and Christine is so anguished and stays with him while the bone is being set and lies in the bed with him after. I would much rather have read a novel in which they slowly reconcile and learn to love one another again, in spite of everything. That scene is beautifully moving and perfectly rendered.
Overall, an extremely cozy read. Outstanding translation by Olivia Baes.
And please, if you're reading this, SUBSCRIBE TO DEEP VELLUM PRESS.
The best scene in the entire book was the part where Jean-Luc breaks his leg. A tree falls on him and Christine is so anguished and stays with him while the bone is being set and lies in the bed with him after. I would much rather have read a novel in which they slowly reconcile and learn to love one another again, in spite of everything. That scene is beautifully moving and perfectly rendered.
Overall, an extremely cozy read. Outstanding translation by Olivia Baes.
And please, if you're reading this, SUBSCRIBE TO DEEP VELLUM PRESS.
November 17, 2020
If you are looking for a great indie press with translated lit, I highly recommend checking out Deep Vellum. One of their latest releases, Jean-Luc Persecuted, was first published in French over a century ago and has now been translated into English for the first time.
Jean-Luc and his wife, Christine, live a fairly routine life. They have established a warm home in which to raise their young son amidst the beauty of the countryside, surrounded by neighbours and friends. Jean-Luc tends to the land and Christine tends to the house, as one might expect. Jean-Luc returns home early one day, however, to find the house empty and Christine is nowhere to be found. Puzzled, he tracks his wife’s tiny footprints through the woods, wondering where she possibly could have gone. As he finds a larger set of footprints — a man’s footprints — joining hers in the snow, the tracks lead him to an unfathomable truth: Christine is having an affair ... In simple, straightforward prose, Jean-Luc Persecuted tells a story as relevant today as it was over one hundred years ago.
Thanks to Deep Vellum for gifting me an advance copy of this book! All thoughts and opinions expressed here are entirely my own.
Jean-Luc and his wife, Christine, live a fairly routine life. They have established a warm home in which to raise their young son amidst the beauty of the countryside, surrounded by neighbours and friends. Jean-Luc tends to the land and Christine tends to the house, as one might expect. Jean-Luc returns home early one day, however, to find the house empty and Christine is nowhere to be found. Puzzled, he tracks his wife’s tiny footprints through the woods, wondering where she possibly could have gone. As he finds a larger set of footprints — a man’s footprints — joining hers in the snow, the tracks lead him to an unfathomable truth: Christine is having an affair ... In simple, straightforward prose, Jean-Luc Persecuted tells a story as relevant today as it was over one hundred years ago.
Thanks to Deep Vellum for gifting me an advance copy of this book! All thoughts and opinions expressed here are entirely my own.
February 21, 2025
Got this book from the "lit in translation" section at one of my fav indie book stores. Loved the cover, liked the idea of reading a Swiss author, and the story sounded just tragic enough to be interesting. I didn't research Ramuz much more than to learn he wrote in French, had lived in Paris, and had met Stravinsky but I did learn that the publisher, Deep Vellum, was from an indie bookstore in Dallas which seems cool. They have a lot of works in translation from authors I've never heard of. So many books to read...
At any rate, this book-novella was just okay for me. I liked the introduction which talked about his prose style. A lot of French people, apparently criticized him for eschewing more conventional grammar and sentence structure and he felt out of place in Paris speaking his Swiss-French from near Lausanne. But he persevered and wanted to do things his way, so good for him. Reading the book, I couldn't tell exactly what this prose styling amounted to other than the profuse use of commas and piling up short clauses. The translator says something like there are commas where more properly there should be semicolons and talks about the piling up of clauses as being like the inevitable flow and push of nature like the wind or snow or whatever. Yeah okay. It read fine, pretty well.
I think what I liked best was the descriptions of nature and the small Swiss farming villages. The first half of the novel was a little interesting with the characters, but also they seem underdeveloped. There's a marriage, it falls apart, then gets back together, then falls apart. I never could get invested in the people as people, but neither did they lend themselves to strong symbols. It is said that Ramuz is an allegorical writer so that checks out, but I think the overall project of the book suffers for it. In allegory, is it a man v nature novel? It seems that nature marches on impassively as these people's relationship falls apart, misery intrudes, and melodrama heightens. The conclusion seems nothing more than that-melodrama-and the protagonist seems only to go through the motions of madness, not embodying it in any particularly engaging way. Still, it wasn't all bad, nor poorly written.
At any rate, this book-novella was just okay for me. I liked the introduction which talked about his prose style. A lot of French people, apparently criticized him for eschewing more conventional grammar and sentence structure and he felt out of place in Paris speaking his Swiss-French from near Lausanne. But he persevered and wanted to do things his way, so good for him. Reading the book, I couldn't tell exactly what this prose styling amounted to other than the profuse use of commas and piling up short clauses. The translator says something like there are commas where more properly there should be semicolons and talks about the piling up of clauses as being like the inevitable flow and push of nature like the wind or snow or whatever. Yeah okay. It read fine, pretty well.
I think what I liked best was the descriptions of nature and the small Swiss farming villages. The first half of the novel was a little interesting with the characters, but also they seem underdeveloped. There's a marriage, it falls apart, then gets back together, then falls apart. I never could get invested in the people as people, but neither did they lend themselves to strong symbols. It is said that Ramuz is an allegorical writer so that checks out, but I think the overall project of the book suffers for it. In allegory, is it a man v nature novel? It seems that nature marches on impassively as these people's relationship falls apart, misery intrudes, and melodrama heightens. The conclusion seems nothing more than that-melodrama-and the protagonist seems only to go through the motions of madness, not embodying it in any particularly engaging way. Still, it wasn't all bad, nor poorly written.
June 22, 2025
Jean-Luc est marié depuis deux ans à Christine. Ensemble, ils ont un petit garçon de 20 mois.
Jean-Luc découvre l'infidélité de son épouse, qui rejoint, dès que possible, son ancien amoureux, chez lui. Elle n'avait pas caché à Jean-Luc son amour pour cet homme, le refus catégorique de ses parents de la marier à cet homme-là, si bien que Jean-Luc, qui l'adore, est un choix de raison.
Elle est franche, il est dévasté, et quitte la maison et le village avec l'enfant pour retourner chez ses parents.
L'amoureux de Christine a un travail qui ne le rend présent au village que trois mois par an. Alors, après un temps, Christine insiste pour que son mari revienne. Il cède, l'aimant toujours et la détestant aussi.
Et puis, lors d'un abattage d'arbres en forêt, Jean-Luc est écrasé par un sapin. La jambe est cassée. Christine est réellement apeurée et ses sentiments pour Jean-Luc reviennent. Le couple vit un retour de flammes.
Au retour de l'amoureux au village, Christine trompe à nouveau son mari. Il la met dehors, bien qu'enceinte, fermement décidé à mettre un terme à leur histoire, plaçant son énergie et son moral dans son enfant.
Un jour, une rumeur lui arrive : l'enfant ne serait pas le sien. Le doute s'infiltre et le ronge. Jean-Luc à un comportement changeant. Il se désintéresse de son fils, vend sa meilleure vache, boit. Et puis, son fils se noie dans l'étang.
Christine hérite d'une maison au village et met au monde son enfant.
Jean-Luc est dans le déni de la mort de son fils. Il transporte, surveille, parle à un enfant imaginaire ; on le surveille de loin car, même s'il est fou, il n'est pas méchant.
Lorsque l'enfant imaginaire disparait, Jean-Luc le cherche sans cesse, puis comprend : c'est le retour de Christine au village, son bonheur affiché avec son nouveau-né bien vivant, qui a fait "disparaitre" son petit à lui. Alors il va lui demander de partir. Elle ne veut pas.
Alors il guette l'occasion de l'enfermer dans le fenil des alpages, où elle est seule avec son enfant, et y met le feu.
Et son enfant imaginaire revient, il joue avec lui, heureux.
Poursuivi par les gendarmes, Jean-Luc préfère se jeter dans un abîme que de se rendre.
Une histoire de folie tragique et triste.
Jean-Luc découvre l'infidélité de son épouse, qui rejoint, dès que possible, son ancien amoureux, chez lui. Elle n'avait pas caché à Jean-Luc son amour pour cet homme, le refus catégorique de ses parents de la marier à cet homme-là, si bien que Jean-Luc, qui l'adore, est un choix de raison.
Elle est franche, il est dévasté, et quitte la maison et le village avec l'enfant pour retourner chez ses parents.
L'amoureux de Christine a un travail qui ne le rend présent au village que trois mois par an. Alors, après un temps, Christine insiste pour que son mari revienne. Il cède, l'aimant toujours et la détestant aussi.
Et puis, lors d'un abattage d'arbres en forêt, Jean-Luc est écrasé par un sapin. La jambe est cassée. Christine est réellement apeurée et ses sentiments pour Jean-Luc reviennent. Le couple vit un retour de flammes.
Au retour de l'amoureux au village, Christine trompe à nouveau son mari. Il la met dehors, bien qu'enceinte, fermement décidé à mettre un terme à leur histoire, plaçant son énergie et son moral dans son enfant.
Un jour, une rumeur lui arrive : l'enfant ne serait pas le sien. Le doute s'infiltre et le ronge. Jean-Luc à un comportement changeant. Il se désintéresse de son fils, vend sa meilleure vache, boit. Et puis, son fils se noie dans l'étang.
Christine hérite d'une maison au village et met au monde son enfant.
Jean-Luc est dans le déni de la mort de son fils. Il transporte, surveille, parle à un enfant imaginaire ; on le surveille de loin car, même s'il est fou, il n'est pas méchant.
Lorsque l'enfant imaginaire disparait, Jean-Luc le cherche sans cesse, puis comprend : c'est le retour de Christine au village, son bonheur affiché avec son nouveau-né bien vivant, qui a fait "disparaitre" son petit à lui. Alors il va lui demander de partir. Elle ne veut pas.
Alors il guette l'occasion de l'enfermer dans le fenil des alpages, où elle est seule avec son enfant, et y met le feu.
Et son enfant imaginaire revient, il joue avec lui, heureux.
Poursuivi par les gendarmes, Jean-Luc préfère se jeter dans un abîme que de se rendre.
Une histoire de folie tragique et triste.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 21, 2025
Rating: 3* of five
The Publisher Says: A novel of love, betrayal, madness, and downfall from an iconic Swiss writer of the early 20th century.
Jean-Luc Persecuted follows the ill-fated life of an unhappily married man. When Jean-Luc’s wife pursues an affair and leaves him with their child, Jean-Luc’s behavior becomes more and more erratic. He falls to drinking, behaving recklessly, and squandering his money.
The narrative follows the explosive downfall of a lone man and his unstoppable mental collapse, surrounded by villagers unable to effect real change. This novel, never before translated, exemplifies the earthy, realistic, often allegorical style of iconic Swiss writer Ramuz.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: A short work...under two hundred pages...by a (male) writer of whom the publisher asserts, "Ramuz pioneered a common Swiss literary identity, writing books about mountaineers, farmers, or villagers engaging in often tragic struggles against catastrophe." Not being Swiss, I can't comment on that; I'll note that Swiss literary identity follows linguistic lines if his eponymous foundation's standards of awards for meritorious Swiss literary work IN FRENCH are to be believed. (Also, we're due another awardee by his foundation this year as they're made every five years. I've never heard of any past winners.)
I'm sure it went over fine a hundred fifteen years ago but it's pretty misogynistic and deeply appalling on any modern level of consideration for its rank abusive character behavior. I rate it as high as I do because it's good to see how far we've come, and it's good to have proof...this was unexceptionable when it came out this century!...that this progress is speeding up.
The Publisher Says: A novel of love, betrayal, madness, and downfall from an iconic Swiss writer of the early 20th century.
Jean-Luc Persecuted follows the ill-fated life of an unhappily married man. When Jean-Luc’s wife pursues an affair and leaves him with their child, Jean-Luc’s behavior becomes more and more erratic. He falls to drinking, behaving recklessly, and squandering his money.
The narrative follows the explosive downfall of a lone man and his unstoppable mental collapse, surrounded by villagers unable to effect real change. This novel, never before translated, exemplifies the earthy, realistic, often allegorical style of iconic Swiss writer Ramuz.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: A short work...under two hundred pages...by a (male) writer of whom the publisher asserts, "Ramuz pioneered a common Swiss literary identity, writing books about mountaineers, farmers, or villagers engaging in often tragic struggles against catastrophe." Not being Swiss, I can't comment on that; I'll note that Swiss literary identity follows linguistic lines if his eponymous foundation's standards of awards for meritorious Swiss literary work IN FRENCH are to be believed. (Also, we're due another awardee by his foundation this year as they're made every five years. I've never heard of any past winners.)
I'm sure it went over fine a hundred fifteen years ago but it's pretty misogynistic and deeply appalling on any modern level of consideration for its rank abusive character behavior. I rate it as high as I do because it's good to see how far we've come, and it's good to have proof...this was unexceptionable when it came out this century!...that this progress is speeding up.
August 7, 2021
Charles Ferdinand Ramuz è un autore svizzero del cantone francese di Vaud, molto prolifico, autore di più di 22 romanzi, alcuni dei quali la casa editrice Jaca Book pubblicò negli anni ’80. Leggendo la sua biografia si evince che la sua lingua, molto legata al francese parlato in Svizzera, ha suscita qualche difficoltà nei traduttori. Non penso però che questo sia il motivo della scarsa diffusione dei suoi lavori. Io ho letto con piacere questo libro che ha veramente dei motivi importanti su cui soffermarsi. Innanzitutto un ambiente montano in cui i contadini lavorano e vivono con le caratteristiche e le tradizioni di una economia di sussistenza. Poi ci sono i valori, su cui si fonda questa società e cui è legata ma se si capovolgono e non li si riconoscono più come tali, tutto cambia. Così il nostro povero Jean-Luc non riesce più ad integrarsi nella società in cui vive perché intorno a lui non c’è più l’ordine costituito ma tutto è disordine. Solo con la sua pazzia Jean Luc pensa di poter ancora vivere nella comunità. Ahimè questo non sarà possibile. Però in questo libro sussiste un pensiero, una morale che io non sono in grado di decifrare così chiaramente. Jean-Luc con la sua pazzia sembra un vendicatore quasi messianico della società, dei mali e dei malvagi. I suoi gesti poi sono descritti con una lentezza e abbondanza di particolari che non sempre si armonizzano con il resto delle descrizioni. Forse è proprio questa la caratteristica dello stile di Ramuz: il volerci lasciare un messaggio attraverso la visione del particolare rispetto all’universale.
February 7, 2023
Jean-Luc est un villageois gentil, un père de famille aimant, un imbécile heureux. Mais Ramuz a décidé de rendre sa vie difficile.
C'est une descente en enfer agréable à lire, et on s'attache à ce pauvre Jean-Luc.
En revanche, le patois, bien que participant à l'ambiance pesante du roman, rend l'histoire difficile à suivre.
Pauvre Jean-Luc.
C'est une descente en enfer agréable à lire, et on s'attache à ce pauvre Jean-Luc.
En revanche, le patois, bien que participant à l'ambiance pesante du roman, rend l'histoire difficile à suivre.
Pauvre Jean-Luc.
June 28, 2026
3.75
Not the type of book I'd usually read plot-wise, but having enjoyed previous Ramuz works I gave it a shot, and I ended up enjoying it. Ramuz's prose is of course great, and the story of Jean-Luc is well told. Overall a solid book.
Not the type of book I'd usually read plot-wise, but having enjoyed previous Ramuz works I gave it a shot, and I ended up enjoying it. Ramuz's prose is of course great, and the story of Jean-Luc is well told. Overall a solid book.
September 27, 2022
Ended up getting this from a mystery book thanks to Deep Vellum!! The description of scenery and characters is very well thought and I was surprised that I enjoyed this book :)
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews