The Vagabond [Paperback]

Colette (Author), Enid McLeod (Translator), Judith Thurman (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 2001

Thirty-three years-old and recently divorced, Renée Néré has begun a new life on her own, supporting herself as a music-hall artist. Maxime, a rich and idle bachelor, intrudes on her independent existence and offers his love and the comforts of marriage. A provincial tour puts distance between them and enables Renée, in a moving series of leters and meditations, to resolve alone the struggle between her need to be loved and her need to have a life and work of her own.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The paradoxes of great literature are those of human nature, and Colette is nothing if not human . . . Accessible and elusive; greedy and austere; courageous and timid; subversive and complacent; scorchingly honest and sublimely mendacious; an inspired consoler and an existential pessimist--these are the qualities of the artist and the woman. Its is time to rediscover them." --From the Introduction

"The Vagabond, one of the first and best feminist novels ever written, is that rare thing: a great book which is also inspiring." --Erica Jong

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 2nd edition (September 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374528047
• ISBN-13: 978-0374528041
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #683,568 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Colette breaks free of Willy in great triumph!, February 21, 2005

By 

Susan J. Bybee (Asan, South Korea) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Vagabond (Paperback)

Colette's beginning as a writer is one of the strangest in literature. In her early 20s, she married a no-talent hack named "Willy" (that was how he signed his pieces) and wrote a series of novels about a young girl named Claudine. Willy took these pieces and published them under his pen name, giving his young wife no credit.

In her early to mid 30s, Colette grew weary of Willy, and turned her back on him to embark on a career as a dance hall performer. This is the setting for THE VAGABOND, Colette's first post-Willy novel, and the first to bear her own name.

The main character, Renee Nere, has been touring for 3 years, and although she's sometimes lonely, is enjoying her freedom and self-sufficiency. She's also suffering from what we'd refer to nowadays as Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Her marriage to her philandering and abusive husband was so wretched, that when she meets another man who loves her, the slighest familiar gesture or word will trigger memories that incite revulsion.

THE VAGABOND is a gem of a novel that beautifully shows off Colette's gift for prose as well as her wonderful descriptions of life backstage as part of a touring group. If that isn't enough, she is also very gifted at revealing the psychological insights of her character. The introduction by Judith Thurman is well-done, and both the introduction and the novel left me wanting more Colette.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps Colette's greatest . . ., December 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Vagabond (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) (Paperback)

Gigi may be the best known of her works, but 'The Vagabond' stands out in pure beauty from the rest. The plot (an actress on the stage who faces public scorn and problems in love) seems to be most autobiographical, and narrator and main character, Renee Nere, is a delight. Both beautiful and painful in spots, this book deserves to be read, as well as its sequel, 'The Shackle.'

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Vagabond inspired me to become a writer, August 13, 2005

By 

Colette M. Shaw "Author" (Upstate, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Vagabond (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) (Paperback)

The Vagabond was my first delicious introduction to Colette, and the first book to make me weep openly. I related strongly to Renée, a professional woman who clung desperately to her independence while falling hopelessly for a man who relentlessly tugged at her vulnerability. Renée's confusion about whether love and happiness could coexist kept me captive in suspense until the very last (and infinitely satisfying) page.