Madame De piques the interest immediately with its strange title. Although it was first published in 1951, the omission of the proper noun and its replacement with a blank space alerts readers to a device used to hint at a real-life subject (i.e. a roman à clef) while at the same time suggesting a universal type. Madame De _____ could actually be someone the reader knows (or knows of) but she could also be ‘a typical woman’. Either way, it is hard to escape the conclusion that the author despised Madame De . The characterisation is much kinder to her husband.

I like to think that De Vilmorin set her tale in the past and wrote in the style of 19th century French fiction because she was pleased that women such as Madame De no longer existed. I have recently bought Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved and Died in the 1940s by Anne Sebba and although I’ve only read a couple of chapters, the book shows that reality of life under Nazi Occupation meant that there were grave risks for weak-willed women dependent on men for their sense of self. Then again, the 21st century is replete with celebrity airheads who marry foolish rich men, and maybe De Vilmorin was satirising the behaviour of collaborators.

An idle woman with no children, Madame De is preoccupied with being elegant because that is the mark of merit in the circle of society to which Mme De belonged. She sets the fashion and others follow. Balzac wrote many stories about women such as her, often in contrast to women who used their wit and intelligence to achieve something worthwhile despite the patriarchal society they lived in.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2017/02/16/madame-de-by-louise-de-vilmorin-translated-b... ( )

Quand un bijou est racheté 4 fois par le même bijoutier et que l'acheteur est toujours le même, il y a anguille sous roche ! Ou comment des cœurs en diamants feront le malheur de Mme de . Se lit d'une traite. ( )