La Batarde = The Bastard (French Literature) [Paperback]

Violette Leduc (Author), Derek Coltman (Translator), Deborah Levy (Introduction), Simone de Beauvoir (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: French Literature | Publication Date: July 2003

An obsessive and revealing self-portrait of a remarkable woman humiliated by the circumstances of her birth and by her physical appearance, La Batarde relates Violette Leduc's long search for her own identity through a series of agonizing and passionate love affairs with both men and women. When first published, La Batarde earned Violette Leduc comparisons to Jean Genet for the frank depiction of her sexual escapades and immoral behavior. A confession that contains portraits of several famous French authors, this book is more than just a scintillating memoir--like that of Henry Miller, Leduc's brilliant writing style and attention to language transform this autobiography into a work of art. First published in translation by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (1965), most recent paperback by Riverhead (1997).

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

Remarkable ... filled with sudden anguished, tender phrases of sensual beauty. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"La Bâtarde is one of the most extraordinry books to have come out of France in some time." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Notoriety aside, Leduc is first and foremost a first-rate writer. " -- Women's Review of Books

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Product Details

• Paperback: 488 pages
• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press; 1 edition (July 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564782891
• ISBN-13: 978-1564782892
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #389,018 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you love relentless self-consciousness, November 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: La Bâtarde (Paperback)

Violette Leduc invented her own poetics of solitude. Her writings are the ravings of a mad schoolgirl, feverishly and sensually neurotic, and achingly romantic. As unhappy as Violette claims to be, you want to be her, to have her heights of perception, and to desire as intensely as she does. If you like it light and breezy, skip this writer. But if you like to take that queasy peek behind the mask, this is for you.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite tapestry of memories, July 30, 2000

By 

"blissengine" - See all my reviews

This review is from: La Bâtarde (Paperback)

From her early beginnings with a distant mother to her activities during World War II in the black market, Violette Leduc opens her life to us in stark detail. On her journey to find her voice and become a writer, she experiences life to its fullest and darkest extents. From her love affairs with women to her failed marriage to her adoration of a gay man, she explores her seemingly tragic life to show us the beauty in every molecule of life. Definitely not a slow read, this memoir proves Leduc's mastery of expression and whets the reader's appetite for more self-spelunking.