Women
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
The frustrated wife of a French-Tunisian plantation owner, a mysterious older woman, a world weary tomboy, an unhappy mistress, a Parisian factory worker destined for tragedy, an acrobat turned cabaret sensation – these are the women whose lives are linked by their relationship with one man – Ștefan Valeriu. Divided into four separate stories connected by one man, Women takes us from Ștefan’s amorous entanglements at an Alpine lake resort, to his life in Bucharest and Paris, as each of the women in his life opens up new worlds for him. Women is a hymn to love in all its forms, romantic or platonic, sometimes reckless, often glorious and always, ultimately, ephemeral.
Reviews:
"He wonderfully captures the atmosphere of prewar Romania in all its complexity, all the beauty and the horror… I love Sebastian for his lightness, for his wit…” -- John Banville, BBC4
‘It’s an edgy account of sexuality, desire, and the strictures of contemporary relationships... a compelling portrait of desire in its many convoluted manifestations.’ -- Kirkus Reviews, Kirkus Reviews
‘..these concise stories... showcase Sebastian’s brilliant eye for emotional detail.’ --Publishers' Weekly
‘His prose is like something Chekov might have written – the same modesty, candour, and subtleness of observation.’ -- Arthur Miller
“Nothing I have read is more affecting than Mihail Sebastian’s magnificent, haunting 1934 novel, For Two Thousand Years.” -- Phillipe Sands, The Guardian
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This skeletal novel in stories from Sebastian (For Two Thousand Years), originally published in 1933, comprises four pieces that follow the sensual and romantic adventures of Stefan Valeriu. Stefan, a young Romanian man recently out of medical school, is introduced in "Ren e, Marthe, and Odette," in which Stefan vacations alone at a resort in the French Alps. There, he meets Ren e Rey, the lustful wife of a Tunisian plantation owner; Marthe Bonneau, an elegant older woman on vacation with her son; and Odette Mignon, a quick-witted 18-year-old recent high school graduate who's also on vacation alone. Stefan falls in love with each, and each leaves him and the resort behind for their normal lives. Sebastian's observations of the complex physical and emotional details of romantic intrigue are perceptive and affectionate: "They don't need to struggle to find each other in the dark, don't lose each other, don't speak: the harmony is that of two stalks, growing, entwined." Even so, the work suffers from inconsistency, and the final three tales, all concerning love affairs in Paris, read like sketches in comparison to the opening story. Stefan, meanwhile, remains frustratingly elusive and mysterious beyond his desire for a series of women. Despite the unpolished feel, these concise stories, when at their best, showcase Sebastian's a brilliant eye for emotional detail.