THE GOUFFE CASE

by Joachim Maass ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 6, 1960

A massive dossier on a close of the century crime is compiled from the long interrogations and confrontations of the Surete's Goron into the disappearance and murder of a notarial debt collector, Gouffe-- to the trial it occasioned- and to its further investigation by the dead man's brother-in-law, Jacquemar. While on the one hand it is in the tradition of adamant realism from Zola to Simenon, it has heavier overtones of the symbolic struggle between the indulgence of the flesh and the corruption of the spirit. Some time after Gouffe's disappearance, the body of the victim is found- in a trunk, and through that trunk (purchased in England), and a photograph, the identification of Gabrielle Bompard, a shameless, vicious slut with an exceptional sensuous attraction, is reached. She is brought to trial, and after unruly demonstrations, acquitted, and with Goron's failure- Jacquemar pursues the case- and Gabrielle-to America. There she seduces him, disgusts and degrades him, and finally completes his destruction.... Weighted with words and tufted with descriptive detail, this is too cumbersome for the average American reader interested primarily in the novel of crime and punishment. It is as a study in dissolution, in the fascination of the flesh which almost approaches an exaltation of evil, that the book has its momentum.

Pub Date: March 6, 1960

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1960

Categories: FICTION