What do You think about Alexis Ou Le Traité Du Vain Combat / Le Coup De Grâce (1978)?
This novel, originally published in 1929, takes the form of a letter from Alexis, a young musician, to his wife, Monique. She has just given birth to their son, yet, in his letter, he declares that he can no longer continue in his marriage, but must yield to the demands of his own sexuality, against which he had striven for some time. Yourcenar herself commented, "A shocking topic at the time and from the pen of a young woman," (Yourcenar was only twenty-four at the time). Told in a her signature classical prose style, it is reminiscent of the sort of novel written by Gide as well. In fact many critics have noted Gide's influence as being predominant, yet this is a very personal work that foreshadows her later work. She effectively explores the sense of fate driving Alexis in a world that, even now, is often less than welcoming to the searching of a man like Alexis. There are passages that highlight the lack of understanding among the general populace. However, what many might find scandalous is in this short novel handled with delicacy and decency. Seldom have I read any literature that shares so tactfully the internal feelings and yearnings of one man. The result is a gentle book, sharing honestly one life in a way that stands as a preface for the many lives that Marguerite Yourcenar would create in her subsequent novels.
—James
Why did she put poor Alexis in dreary middle Europe? The most exciting place nearby is Vienna, poor dear.I feel that Yourcenar is very good at saying things. But I'm not always convinced that what she's saying is true. Things like:"For it is difficult to live, it is even more difficult to explain one's life.""the worse of all falsehoods is the falsehood of calm.""But one might say that in a certain sense it is the living members of old families who seem to be the ghosts of the dead.""everyone around me agreed that it was possible to be happy without ceasing to be sad.""Yet that is always the case: our works represent a period of our existence we have already gone beyond at the time we write them.""But love, among children, is a part of candour. They imagine they love because they do not perceive that they desire.""Nothing is more cynical than the talk of adolescents, even and above all when it is chaste.""People who go to the theatre seek to forget themselves; those who go to a concert seek rather to find themselves.""I wept at the idea that life was so simple and would be so easy if we ourselves were only simple enough to accept it.""Everyone causes suffering when he is born, and suffers when he dies. But that life is dreadful is nothing; what is worse is that it is vain and without beauty."I seem to spend the whole time going "Yes!, yes!, YES! ... Hold on ..."
—David
A very beautiful book by Marguerite Yourcenar, which takes the form of a long letter by a husband (Alexis) to his wife Monique, telling her that he cannot go on with their marriage as he needs to respond to his homosexuality and the demand of his body! The book, published in 1929, was written by the writer in her twenties and in a time when tackling such sensitive issues and taboos like homosexuality was considered a daring work. The novel reminded me of Marcel Proust’s ‘Swann’s Way’, as it is an interior journey into the male protagonist’s past, a personal life narrative in which the Alexis goes back to his own childhood and talks about his life, family, and his attachment to his mother, his loving and tender sisters, and goes on describing his later life as a musician, his marriage to Monique, their first child, and most of all their lives as strangers. Throughout the recollection of his memories he was trying to achieve a number of things, first, as a shy person, who feels guilty, he is somehow hesitant and unconsciously lingering in explaining his problem to his beloved and respected wife, second, he tries to provide her with some explanation - which he thinks relevant- about their marital life, and third, which might be even more important is his attempt at reaching a meaning of his inner world, urges, and body, and his life in general. I appreciated most of all the detailed analysis of man’s homosexuality by a female writer, and the sensitive and elegant treatment of such a dilemma, namely, to whether on should respond to society and traditions, or listen to his/her inner biological and psychological demands and urges. That is to say, shall one live a lie in order to satisfy others or be honest to his true self, although that might hurt others unintentionally? I loved Alexis’ respect and consideration for his wife. The book enchants you from the opening pages.
—Maan Kawas
