Customer Reviews

Fancy Goods; Open All Night (New Directions Books)

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Other reviewers have accurately described this: it's a relatively slight, though densely written, series of vignettes, each dedicated to a different idealized woman. It's tough, however, from the English translation to tell how much of this is the work of Morand. Ezra Pound took incredible liberties with his translation, sometimes to quite interesting and idiosyncratic effects, and Proust's introduction is a valuable essay on its own. This isn't the sort of book that will keep you wildly captivated; but it is an excellent piece for any library.

the brief stories in this work, translated by ezra pound, are lovely and tender descriptions of individuals and nights of activities. i'm not sure if it's morand's work, or pound's translation, but they are exquisitely beautiful.

I realize that Morand is considered one of the most brilliant French writers during the high modern period, but this is really pretty thin stuff. I don't know if Gide will ever be taken so seriously again (as he was a couple of decades ago), but his reputation will come to no harm when read alongside Morand. Oh well, there's still some Genet I haven't looked at yet