Customer Reviews

The Journal of Jules Renard

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Jules Renard was another black beast of the French literature. Names like Rimbaud, Verlaine or Baudelaire would add with the years but somehow, Renard was according his own codes, a solitaire harbinger of the French existentialism, whose influence has been exerted over Sartre, Cioran or Camus.

This work carves in relief, a smart thinker of the human condition. And his clever reflections are a must-have for all those who love the literature.

Don't miss it. A must-have.

I purchased this book based on a review in the L.A. Times. I love journals and thought it would be interesting. This turned out to be so much more. Reading here is like spending the day with a fascinating friend; entertaining, informational and comforting.

A journal of quirky, idiosyncratic, colorful, cynical, practical, mundane, poetic, flimsy, ethereal and ultimately engrossing observations and aphorisms on writing, literati, peasants, nature, animals, politics, nonentities, love and life.

I have only recently heart of Jules Renard, which is surprising for a writer who has been around as long as I have. I am 86 years old and have been a writer and lover of various writers all my life. I teach Lifewriting, in which I use a combination of autobiographical and journal writing to teach students how to turn the events of their lives into stories. Just reading bits of Renard's writing here makes me fall in love with the form all over again. What command of language, what brilliant detail, what wit, what mastery. Thank you Jules Renard and all the other brilliant writers who have come before us and shown just how beautiful words mangled with the human mind and our personal unique feelings can be. I am very much looking forward to reading even more.

Louise Cabral, author, "Islands of Recall: Write Your Life Story," [...]