In The Absence of Men

Besson, Philippe, trans Frank Wynne

ISBN 10: 0434009695 / ISBN 13: 9780434009695

Published by William Heinemann, 2002

About this Item

dustjacket: slightly scuffed consistent with display
pages browning, particularly at edges, speckled.

Seller Inventory # 3004

Bibliographic Details

• Title: In The Absence of Men
• Publisher: William Heinemann
• Publication Date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0434009695
• ISBN 13: 9780434009695
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dimensions: 13.2W x 19.1H x 1.8D centimeters 13.2 centimeters width by 19.1 centimeters height by 1.8 centimeters depth
• Weight: 242 grams

About this title

Synopsis

A magical first novel by a talented young French author recreates Proust’s upper-middle-class Paris during WWI.

Few established novelists would dare to write a novel in which Proust appears as a character. Fewer still would have the nerve to invent love letters written by Proust to a 16-year-old boy. For a first novelist to set himself this challenge and succeed is remarkable.

Paris 1916. Vincent is 16 and approaching manhood very much “in the absence of men” with every able-bodied young man away at the front. In his relationship with the soldier-son of one of his parent’s servants, he explores his sexuality. His platonic relationship with the middle-aged Jewish writer Marcel Proust stimulates an intelligence and sophistication remarkable in an adolescent. With both he enters a world of love, both erotic and platonic. The book is as remarkable an act of homage to a great writer as Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Seas was to Charlotte Bronte.

About the Author

Philippe Besson lives in France. This is his first novel.