Absinthe - Hardcover

Bataille, Christophe

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810160420 ISBN 13: 9780810160422

Publisher: Marlboro Press, 1999

Synopsis

Absinthe is the story of Jean Mardet. In his house, a house noted on no official register, in his cellar, among his alembics and flagons, Jean, now known as Jose--priest, magician, sage--celebrates his curious mass, surrounded by his flock, distibuting his wonderful and bitter drink. And to a young boy in the village, Jose seems a wizard, and something more--revealing to the young boy the mysteries of absinthe and mesmerizing the youth with the fabulous stories and emotions that the drink inspires, until March 17, 1915. That day absinthe is outlawed in his country and Jose disappears, taking with him the secrets of his art and of his past. But a boy of nine has discovered the astonishing powers of absinthe, the green enchantress: he has daydreamed amid the chaos of the stills and has learned well at the hand of the old distiller. And in the mysteries of the green liquer has discovered his own past and future.

About this title

About the Author

Christophe Bataille lives in France. His first novel, Annam, was published to critical acclaim when Bataille was only twenty-one years old and won for its author France's prestigious Prix du Premier Roman. Of his three previous novels, Annam and Hourmaster have been translated into English by the poet Richard Howard, who is also known for his translations of Camus, Foucault, Barthes, and others.

Reviews

Absinthe ($22.95; May; 80 pp.; 0-8101-6042-0): A limpid novella (really only a long story) from the miniaturist master whose earlier fictions include Annam (1996) and Hourmaster (1998). Set in Provence around the time of WW1, it's the story of the reclusive Jean Mardet's obsession with the narcotic liquor he distills from indigenous plants, and the effect of his creation as perceived by a disapproving government (``the consumption of absinthe is developing among the population a spirit of rebellion''). A splendid little allegory of the conflict between folkways and modern societywith an exactly appropriate bitter aftertaste. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Between the award-winning Annam (1996) and the spell-binding Hourmaster , Bataille wrote this equally small-scale novel. It is a memory piece wrapped in the background story of its mysterious protagonist. In the central narrative, a man recalls his boyhood in Provence before and during World War I. Especially he recalls visiting Jose, a huge man who lived high in the mountains and who distilled absinthe, the green liqueur prepared from poisonous wormwood and famous for its extraordinary effects on drinkers. Eventually the boy seemed bound to be Jose's apprentice and the inheritor of his secret recipe. But in 1915 the French government banned absinthe, and in 1916 Jose, his stock, and his secrets disappeared. Years later, the narrator found a manuscript by his mother that disclosed Jose's earlier life, which included marriage and two sons; from it the framing story has been fashioned. Even more than Annam and Hourmaster, this is a story to turn in the light of reflection like a glass of cordial in lamplight. Ray Olson

Edition details

• Publisher: Marlboro Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0810160420
• ISBN 13: 9780810160422
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 71