DUO & LE TOUTOUNIER

by Colette ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 21, 1975

Two novels""--two novellas really--published five years apart (1934-1939) while filling in only a few days in the life of Alice. Both are translated by Colette cicerone Margaret Crosland. When first met, Alice has been married for ten years to Michel who has just turned up the incriminating evidence of her infidelity. Michel is fretful and self-indulgent; she's conciliatory, albeit irritated. Finally out of spite rather than the wretchedness he affects, he walks into the river. After his funeral she returns to the childhood home she shared with her sisters where le toutounier, an old sofa, is redolent not only of morocco but also of their shared past representing, as it still does, a lien and a refuge. Everywhere there is the creature comfort domesticity of flowers and good foods and hot-water bottles to take the chill off the business of living. And while this is not important Colette, who can mistake the graceful inflection--let alone the anticipatory rustle of new tissue paper.

Pub Date: July 21, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Bobbs-Merrill

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1975

Categories: FICTION