Martereau (French Literature) - Softcover

Sarraute, Nathalie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1564783480 ISBN 13: 9781564783486

Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press, 2004

Synopsis

Martereau is narrated by a tubercular young man driven by a compulsion to discover what lies behind faades, especially in relation to the adults around him. He's particularly interested in Martereau, his uncle's devoted friend and business associate. All in all, Martereau seems like a trustworthy, benign, self-sufficient man, but under the narrator's intense scrutiny--and Martereau's suspect behavior concerning a shady real-estate deal--his motives seem much more complex and seedy. In a subtle, skillful way, Nathalie Sarraute explores the difference between those who are wealthy and those who pretend to be so, and the manipulative way in which some people get ahead in the world.

About this title

About the Author:

Nathalie Sarraute (1900 99) was a French novelist, essayist, dramatist, and critic. Her works have been translated into more than thirty languages.

Review:

"Mme. Sarraute is fascinating because, while she seems to be entirely concerned with little truths about small personalities, she has a firm grip on a very large truth--the accepted description of man as a 'social animal' means not that he loves his fellows but only that he can't do without them. The thoroughness with which Mme. Sarraute pursues this single theme, delineating the constant fluctuations of feeling in a small group in close emotional quarters, is compelling."

About this edition

• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1564783480
• ISBN 13: 9781564783486
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 250