'Twenty-One Days of a Neurasthenic' by Octave Mirbeau
This week, French Books UK is taking you on a little twenty-one-day journey back to the 19th century in charming company of Octave Mirbeau.
Octave who ? Mirbeau. Could stand for :
Moustached (as you may have noticed)
Immense literary production (art essays, novels, theatre plays, travel literature...)
Recognised throughout Europe (and translated in 30 languages)
Belle Epoque
Engaged writer (in the Dreyfus Affair in particular)
Avant-garde artist (at the cutting edge of 19th century expressionism and impressionism)
Unclassifiable (considered after his death as literarily and politically incorrect by the ruling class, he is now enjoying a new posthumous fame)
Now, what's Twenty-one Days of a Neurasthenic about ?
Here's the plot, as presented by publisher Dalkey Archive Press : "Driven mad by modern life, Georges Vasseur leaves for a rest cure, where he encounters corrupt politicians, amnesiac coquettes, cheerfully sadistic killers, imperialist generals, and quack psychiatrists. Hypocrites are eternal, and not much has changed since Mirbeau wrote this acid portrait of his era."
Justin Vicari has offered this original novel, published in 1901, a modern translation. It is available here !
More by Octave Mirbeau
3 additional books that should tickle your literary fancy:
Published by Dedalus.
"First published in Paris's scandal-soaked fin de siecle by a French anarchist with a taste for exposing political corruption and a unique slant on sadism, Torture Garden has always been a distinctly underground favourite until now.That's unlikely to remain so, not so much because of Mirbeau's political attitudes - which have a stunningly modern staccato brashness - but because of his distinctly kinky eroticism. The story takes us from the backstabbing Parisian chattering classes to the hidden pleasures and pains of a Chinese torture garden. Mirbeau asks which of the two societies is really the more civilised, but even modern readers will find themselves reeling at the extent to which he clearly loves to wallow in decadence."
Review from The Scotsman
Published by Dedalus.
"The Diary of a Chambermaid was written as a satire of Parisian society in the wake of the Dreyfus Affair.Mirbeau brings a journalist's analytical eye to Celestine's adventures as she loses her innocence and becomes as corrupt and depraved as the men who exploited her. Since its publication in 1900 it has never ceased to shock and fascinate its readers and has been made into a film by Jean Renoir in 1946 and Luis Bunuel in 1964."
With beautiful illustrations by great artsit Pierre Bonnard,
Published by HarperCollins.
This one is a curious yet precious literary object. Novel, diary, travel account, fantasy ? The author doesn't know himself. The drive from France to Belgium, to the Netherlands and to Germany, gives Mirbeau the opportunity to comment on the different cultures. Among other things, he criticises the colonial abuses in Belgian Congo, evokes Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Claude Monet, shares colourful thoughts on mathematics and metaphysics.