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Marguerite
Yourcenar is the latest act added to my repertoire. I'd never heard of
her before this year, I'm ashamed to say, despite the very large book
list suggested by my university. To be fair, she is French, and not all
of her works have been translated; given that her exposure to me might've
been limited to a class in French literature only. But given the expense
of college a course of French literature was not something I could afford.
So you'll have to be happy with the limited knowledge I've gained now.
Which, though not considerable,
is still not that bad. That's because her work is self-evident: She spares
you nothing, nothing at all, in her vision and voice. Yet she has a talent
of baring not much of herself in that she identifies with her characters
to the extent that she is her characters. She is detached, though she
is them. Their voice is not her own, it is theirs uniquely. The authorial
intrusion so common in contemporary literature is distinctively lacking
and in that way, it's very nice for the reader.
What's particular about her
writing is her unsentimentality. More than any Stanley Kubrick film, during
which characters are seen in all their unloveliness, with no one left
to care for, she offers characters just as they are: flawed, bitchy, judgmental
and stupid. It is perhaps that she's saying what we're all thinking, all
the nasty thoughts we have about each other and the highmindedness we
have of ourselves. We're crappy and tragic, the whole lot of us. And it's
our own fault.
Marquerite Yourcenar wrote
her entire life, beginning as a young teen and continuing up to a grand
old age. Her most famous work, Memoirs of Hadrian, was written
in her forties, and is a more considered, thoughtful work. It's slow and
meditative, but accomplishes a historical accuracy that's almost uncanny.
Coup de Grace, on the other hand, was written in her late twenties
and though also historically accurate in every sense, contains within
it the furtive impatience of youth, the demands of responsibility and
judgment, and the wonder - and uselessness - of it all.
Would I call her a nihilist?
No, she's nothing like that. She just calls 'em like she sees 'em. Her
voice is so distinctive, I recommend her highly. Just be prepared to think
while you're reading.
Authors you might also enjoy:
Anthony Burgess (particularly A Clockwork Orange) and Lorrie Moore
(particularly Birds of America). You will also enjoy Samuel Johnson,
those his works of straight fiction are limited
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