THE CHATEAU

by William Maxwell ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

An ambient, gentle and perceptive novel provides rather full particulars of a trip to France in 1948 taken by Barbara and Harold Rhodes, a young couple, and through them suggests, questions and illuminates the anomalous position of the American abroad, the barriers- more than language- which lend their constraint and uncertainty. Well bred, inexperienced and a little unsure, the Rhodes spend two weeks in a chateau in Touraine as the paying guests of a Mme. Vienot and they are at first discouraged- particularly by the sense of isolation, alienation, even at times resentment, they feel. Her niece and nephew, Eugene and Alix, eventually prove more sympathique and they accept Eugene's invitation to share his apartment in Paris, but even there they are puzzled and often rebuffed by his variable behaviour. They have intermittent contacts with others met at the chateau, they travel- through Italy, return to Paris, and finally to America- with much that remains unspoken, unanswered.... William Maxwell, always a fastidious observer, has included much of the countryside as well as the character of the people, the fusion of past and near past (the imprint of the war) and the present, and above all the continuing fascination- and inaccessibility- of France for the American abroad. As such, it should find an appreciative audience here particularly among those who- like the Rhodes- have a sensitive ear for the finer inflections of background, opinion and feeling.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: 067976156X

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1961

Categories: FICTION