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Gilles & Jeanne
Comment Jeanne d'Arc, si lucide, au bon sens si fort, a-t-elle put accepter pour compagnon ce Gilles de Rais dont la monstruosité continue à révolter et à fasciner, un demi-millénaire après son supplice ? A cette question - toujours esquivée ou laissée pendante par les historiens -, Michel Tournier tente de répondre : et si Gilles de Rais n'était devenu un monstre que sous l'influence de Jeanne ? Et s'il avait remis son âme entre ses mains pour le meilleur et pour le pire ? Pour le meilleur : libération d'Orléans, victoire de Patay, sacre de Charles VII. Pour le pire : blessure, capture, procès, condamnation par l'Eglise, bûcher. Gilles de Rais a suivi Jeanne jusqu'au bout, jusqu'à la sorcellerie, jusqu'au bûcher sur lequel il est monté neuf ans après elle.
152 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
11 people are currently reading
216 people want to read
About the author
Michel Tournier
169books256followersMichel Tournier was a French writer.
His works are highly considered and have won important awards such as the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française in 1967 for Vendredi ou les limbes du Pacifique. and the Prix Goncourt for Le Roi des aulnes in 1970. His works dwell on the fantastic, his inspirations including traditional German culture, Catholicism, and the philosophies of Gaston Bachelard. He lived in Choisel and was a member of the Académie Goncourt. His autobiography has been translated and published as The Wind Spirit (Beacon Press, 1988).
His works are highly considered and have won important awards such as the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française in 1967 for Vendredi ou les limbes du Pacifique. and the Prix Goncourt for Le Roi des aulnes in 1970. His works dwell on the fantastic, his inspirations including traditional German culture, Catholicism, and the philosophies of Gaston Bachelard. He lived in Choisel and was a member of the Académie Goncourt. His autobiography has been translated and published as The Wind Spirit (Beacon Press, 1988).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
June 3, 2009
How many times have we heard about how far literature has fallen? But to my mind, the problem facing today’s reader is one of wealth, rather than dearth. There are simply too many masterpieces out there.
As Witold Gombrowizc said, it’s a matter of numbers, and an exponential one at that. Milton was the last man to know everything, and he could (or, to be more accurate, could give the impression that he could) because “everything� at that point fit on a single shelf. Compare this to a modern day encyclopedaist like Thomas Pynchon, whose writing is so clearly constipated by the effeort to encompass that we begin to look in the other direction: towards simplicity, and the wild talents that teach us how really writing means reading deeply, rather than widely. Shakespeare knew his Ovid, but was somewhat unscholastic compared to, say, Ben Johnson. So read that one book over and over again, and if it is truly great, it will transform under your attention into not a book but The Book, which you can carry around as the butler in the Moonstone carries around Robinson Crusoe.
Modern ideas of how much we should read follow an everything or nothing model: you must know it all, or limit yourself so rigorously that your ignorance is transformed into vision, your keyhole into a room. Writers especially are cagy along these lines. I remember reading a D.H. Lawrence letter, in which he asks a friend to send him the first two volumes of a history of Egypt � only the first two, though, since he wanted to imagine the rest. The implication is that you can know too much and therebye clog the aquaduct � but then doesn't this husbanding of one’s creative garden itself comes to resemble the Causabaunish quest for the Key All Mythologies? Isn’t it, in other words, simply another form of cultivation, no more real or authentic and perhaps even damaging in the way that it can slide into fear of, rather than respect for the unknown?
To my mind, books like Gilles and Jean are the midle road between these dangers and a way to think oneself out of the deadlock of husbandry. G&J is not good: actually it’s kind of shockingly bad. But its badness is so characteristic that it cannot help but throw light on both the deficiencies and the successes of Tournier’s other books. It’s a book about vision and inversion; but unlike The Ogre, or Friday, or Gemini, it’s so locked into a sort of dialectical working out of what these ideas mean that it feels less like a novel and more like an essay � or even better, a strange, in-between genre that mixes the weaknesses of both forms without gaining any new strengths (let alone retaining their original ones). Even a sympathetic reader can’t really “get into� this world � if only because Tournier himself doesn’t seem to have committed to his investigation. In the other books I mentioned, philosophical structures were complicated and undermined by drama; at the same time, dramatic action was layered and enriched (veined, I want to say, like marble or a body) by patterns of thought. Here, on the other hand, dramatic episodes seem as trite and reductive as grammar book examples. Perhaps even this isn’t an a priori damning move; but the kicker is that, when we get to the end of the book, the ideas that it suggests seem trite and routine. Satan is a version of god. Heresy is a form of piety. All ethical values (or at least the ones T mentions here) are shadow-images of their opposites. Woo hoo. So the great French talent for clarity finally becomes the great French weakness for simplification. And absurdity. One longs for a little Picasso drawing of Alfred Jarry to crawl over and paint a moustache on the author’s “I have the impish, somewhat self-satisfied face of a baby who just shat itself� back photo.
Still, on the other hand� isn’t this great? Isn’t it wonderful to come to the end of a great author’s powers and see the monuments of those failed minor works standing there with their sandwich boards, all but announcing their humanity? Doesn’t it make you breathe a sigh of relief? At the same time, doesn't it also make you wonder even more intently at those achieved and actual masterpieces (made, you now realize, by a normal, fallible human being, rather than the superhuman creator that you'd been imagining while reading only the great books) which somehow managed to gel?
Failure is good because it reveals how difficult creation is while still encouraging us to try it ourselves. Finishing a great book I inevitably ask myself, How did this happen? How do these people do what they do - more importantly, how do I do what they did, meaning how do I make something that lives and breathes outside of me, with in and to someone else? How do I avoid that kind of involution that is actually a rot, a death, and therefore something that happens to me alone without the relief of commonality that art achieves?
Great books are inevitable and enriching and complicated. Finishing them - and then putting them to good use - requires huge amounts of wrestling and re-imagining. Finishing a bad book on the other hand, especially if it's by a great author, makes me think again that anyone can do this. Which is equally important to keep in mind, right?
As Witold Gombrowizc said, it’s a matter of numbers, and an exponential one at that. Milton was the last man to know everything, and he could (or, to be more accurate, could give the impression that he could) because “everything� at that point fit on a single shelf. Compare this to a modern day encyclopedaist like Thomas Pynchon, whose writing is so clearly constipated by the effeort to encompass that we begin to look in the other direction: towards simplicity, and the wild talents that teach us how really writing means reading deeply, rather than widely. Shakespeare knew his Ovid, but was somewhat unscholastic compared to, say, Ben Johnson. So read that one book over and over again, and if it is truly great, it will transform under your attention into not a book but The Book, which you can carry around as the butler in the Moonstone carries around Robinson Crusoe.
Modern ideas of how much we should read follow an everything or nothing model: you must know it all, or limit yourself so rigorously that your ignorance is transformed into vision, your keyhole into a room. Writers especially are cagy along these lines. I remember reading a D.H. Lawrence letter, in which he asks a friend to send him the first two volumes of a history of Egypt � only the first two, though, since he wanted to imagine the rest. The implication is that you can know too much and therebye clog the aquaduct � but then doesn't this husbanding of one’s creative garden itself comes to resemble the Causabaunish quest for the Key All Mythologies? Isn’t it, in other words, simply another form of cultivation, no more real or authentic and perhaps even damaging in the way that it can slide into fear of, rather than respect for the unknown?
To my mind, books like Gilles and Jean are the midle road between these dangers and a way to think oneself out of the deadlock of husbandry. G&J is not good: actually it’s kind of shockingly bad. But its badness is so characteristic that it cannot help but throw light on both the deficiencies and the successes of Tournier’s other books. It’s a book about vision and inversion; but unlike The Ogre, or Friday, or Gemini, it’s so locked into a sort of dialectical working out of what these ideas mean that it feels less like a novel and more like an essay � or even better, a strange, in-between genre that mixes the weaknesses of both forms without gaining any new strengths (let alone retaining their original ones). Even a sympathetic reader can’t really “get into� this world � if only because Tournier himself doesn’t seem to have committed to his investigation. In the other books I mentioned, philosophical structures were complicated and undermined by drama; at the same time, dramatic action was layered and enriched (veined, I want to say, like marble or a body) by patterns of thought. Here, on the other hand, dramatic episodes seem as trite and reductive as grammar book examples. Perhaps even this isn’t an a priori damning move; but the kicker is that, when we get to the end of the book, the ideas that it suggests seem trite and routine. Satan is a version of god. Heresy is a form of piety. All ethical values (or at least the ones T mentions here) are shadow-images of their opposites. Woo hoo. So the great French talent for clarity finally becomes the great French weakness for simplification. And absurdity. One longs for a little Picasso drawing of Alfred Jarry to crawl over and paint a moustache on the author’s “I have the impish, somewhat self-satisfied face of a baby who just shat itself� back photo.
Still, on the other hand� isn’t this great? Isn’t it wonderful to come to the end of a great author’s powers and see the monuments of those failed minor works standing there with their sandwich boards, all but announcing their humanity? Doesn’t it make you breathe a sigh of relief? At the same time, doesn't it also make you wonder even more intently at those achieved and actual masterpieces (made, you now realize, by a normal, fallible human being, rather than the superhuman creator that you'd been imagining while reading only the great books) which somehow managed to gel?
Failure is good because it reveals how difficult creation is while still encouraging us to try it ourselves. Finishing a great book I inevitably ask myself, How did this happen? How do these people do what they do - more importantly, how do I do what they did, meaning how do I make something that lives and breathes outside of me, with in and to someone else? How do I avoid that kind of involution that is actually a rot, a death, and therefore something that happens to me alone without the relief of commonality that art achieves?
Great books are inevitable and enriching and complicated. Finishing them - and then putting them to good use - requires huge amounts of wrestling and re-imagining. Finishing a bad book on the other hand, especially if it's by a great author, makes me think again that anyone can do this. Which is equally important to keep in mind, right?
July 29, 2014
A beaten, broken man, he went on and buried himself in his fortress in Vendée. For three years he became a caterpillar. When the malign metamorphosis was complete, he emerged, an infernal angel unfurling his wings.
It was my GR friend Paquita who thrust my attentions upon Gilles de Rais. You should read her review now. /review/show... It was also happenstance which led me to this specific book a few weeks back at Harold's bookstall. It was quick and haunting read today, one draped with images of menace. The wars of religion are at hand and sorcery remains palpable. The novel then recalls the association of Joan of Arc with de Rais, the infamous serial child murderer of 15th Century France. Leading the narrative forward like Surrealist Virgils are a motley pair of intermediaries: a shocked and shuddering priest and a manipulative Italian Humanist. What unfolds is poetic if incomplete. The conflicted Italian speaks of a malign inversion but the smoke and the screams obscure the philosophy.
It was my GR friend Paquita who thrust my attentions upon Gilles de Rais. You should read her review now. /review/show... It was also happenstance which led me to this specific book a few weeks back at Harold's bookstall. It was quick and haunting read today, one draped with images of menace. The wars of religion are at hand and sorcery remains palpable. The novel then recalls the association of Joan of Arc with de Rais, the infamous serial child murderer of 15th Century France. Leading the narrative forward like Surrealist Virgils are a motley pair of intermediaries: a shocked and shuddering priest and a manipulative Italian Humanist. What unfolds is poetic if incomplete. The conflicted Italian speaks of a malign inversion but the smoke and the screams obscure the philosophy.
May 31, 2024
Gilles, dat is Gilles de Rais, die naar verluidt wel eens aan de oorsprong kan liggen van Barbe Bleue uit het gelijknamige sprookje van Charles Perrault; en Jeanne, dat is Jeanne d'Arc, la pucelle d'Orléans. Samen houden ze Orléans uit de handen van de Engelsen tijdens de honderdjarige oorlog, één van de vele succesvolle veldslagen die ze samen uitvoeren.
In zijn korte roman vertelt Tournier hoe Gilles de Rais gebroken achterblijft nadat Jeanne d'Arc sterft op de brandstapel in Rouen. Gilles trekt zich helemaal terug uit de oorlog, doet zijn uiterste best om het familiale fortuin helemaal te verkwanselen, en maakt zijn eigen hel op aarde door tientallen jongetjes vermoorden, radeloos om zijn gedode Jeanne.
Fictie en realiteit glijden makkelijk door elkaar, wanneer het over de 15e eeuw gaat. Over de persoonlijke relatie tussen Gilles en Jeanne is er vooral heel veel gespeculeerd, want er is helemaal niets van overgeleverd. Ze hebben vele malen zij aan zij gevochten, dat staat vast. En Gilles als seriemoordenaar, als kindermoordenaar, daarover woedt het debat nog (een beetje). Sommigen opperen nog wel dat het in scène zou zijn gezet door zijn vijanden, maar de consensus is dat het zich wel degelijk heeft afgespeeld.
Tournier pent het allemaal meesterlijk neer. Gilles & Jeanne is een klassieker, zoals pakweg A Man for All Seasons van Robert Bolt.
In zijn korte roman vertelt Tournier hoe Gilles de Rais gebroken achterblijft nadat Jeanne d'Arc sterft op de brandstapel in Rouen. Gilles trekt zich helemaal terug uit de oorlog, doet zijn uiterste best om het familiale fortuin helemaal te verkwanselen, en maakt zijn eigen hel op aarde door tientallen jongetjes vermoorden, radeloos om zijn gedode Jeanne.
Fictie en realiteit glijden makkelijk door elkaar, wanneer het over de 15e eeuw gaat. Over de persoonlijke relatie tussen Gilles en Jeanne is er vooral heel veel gespeculeerd, want er is helemaal niets van overgeleverd. Ze hebben vele malen zij aan zij gevochten, dat staat vast. En Gilles als seriemoordenaar, als kindermoordenaar, daarover woedt het debat nog (een beetje). Sommigen opperen nog wel dat het in scène zou zijn gezet door zijn vijanden, maar de consensus is dat het zich wel degelijk heeft afgespeeld.
Tournier pent het allemaal meesterlijk neer. Gilles & Jeanne is een klassieker, zoals pakweg A Man for All Seasons van Robert Bolt.
May 11, 2020
după romanul lui Huysmans despre Gilles de Rais impresionant (dar și poetic), acest mic roman al lui Tournier încearcă să lege căpcăunul ucigaș de copii de Ioana d'Arc. Anume de nevoia de a decădea pentru a se purifica prin foc. Se citește repede.
November 7, 2020
3.5
Très agréablement surprise par ce petit ouvrage retraçant le destin effroyable de Gille de Rais, grand seigneur vendéen, supputant que celui-ci, devenu fou par la mort sur le bûcher de Jeanne la Pucelle, se laisse aller à des penchants meurtriers !
Très agréablement surprise par ce petit ouvrage retraçant le destin effroyable de Gille de Rais, grand seigneur vendéen, supputant que celui-ci, devenu fou par la mort sur le bûcher de Jeanne la Pucelle, se laisse aller à des penchants meurtriers !
November 28, 2023
SOAP IMPRESSION:
Still a bit too early, but could it be I’m falling in love…with (falsetto) Michel Tournier?!?
This is not as gruesome as the pub would want you to believe. Tournier has shed much Freshman chubbiness, his work in finer essentialist relief. It’s not Erl/Ogre, no, but still as menacing as I am standing outside your house at night, in the rain, holding a spork.
Still a bit too early, but could it be I’m falling in love…with (falsetto) Michel Tournier?!?
This is not as gruesome as the pub would want you to believe. Tournier has shed much Freshman chubbiness, his work in finer essentialist relief. It’s not Erl/Ogre, no, but still as menacing as I am standing outside your house at night, in the rain, holding a spork.
July 10, 2016
Loved it. A bit morbid and highly speculative, of course, but lovely nonetheless, if you're into medieval studies & themes (as I am).
January 3, 2019
A lurid Gothic fantasy of a novella. Tournier relates the dangerous tale of Gilles de Rais, history's "first serial killer". A great baron from the dark forested Vendee region in the west of France, right against the Atlantic seaboard, the Seigneur de Rais was a comrade-in-arms of none other than the sainted Joan of Arc and, as per this tale, he was a witness to her martyrdom at the stake in Rouen in 1431. His mind promptly turned inward upon itself and he spent the next decade in a bloody orgy of perversion and slaughter, conducted in a series of gloomy castles and fortresses with impossibly exotic names - Pouzauges, Tiffauges, Machecoul, Champtoce...
There is no precise accounting of the number of children he raped and tortured to death, but it is thought to be upwards of a hundred. Tournier tells this grisly story briskly and well, in a series of impressionistic episodes. I loved his atmospheric flourishes, as he is particularly strong on evoking the stormy wildness of the Vendee, rendering it almost like a fantastic landscape straight out of the Brothers Grimm. Not at all surprising that Gilles went full medieval - who wouldn't?? To be perfectly honest, Tournier's treatment of this fascinating character leaves rather more to be desired, but with prose like this, I find that I can forgive that sketchiness.
Autumn reddened the beech groves, blackened the ploughed fields and launched into the sky grey clouds that were constantly torn to tatters by the wind and rain. Gilles, escorted by a handful of men, roamed the country, accompanied by Prelati. Accustomed to the silence of sacristies, to the gloom of taverns and to the scents of ladies' chambers, the Florentine discovered the marshlands of Briere, the ocean shores and the island of Yeu. The sudden gales of the equinox took his breath away and he felt drunk with grandeur and desolation in that country where nothing smiled on the traveller. He learnt that God and the Devil whispered not only in the silence of the oratories, but that their mighty voices could also be heard in storms at sea. The time of secrecy, tears and sighs was now over, but with the tides of syzygy began the time of apocalyptic sound and fury.
There is no precise accounting of the number of children he raped and tortured to death, but it is thought to be upwards of a hundred. Tournier tells this grisly story briskly and well, in a series of impressionistic episodes. I loved his atmospheric flourishes, as he is particularly strong on evoking the stormy wildness of the Vendee, rendering it almost like a fantastic landscape straight out of the Brothers Grimm. Not at all surprising that Gilles went full medieval - who wouldn't?? To be perfectly honest, Tournier's treatment of this fascinating character leaves rather more to be desired, but with prose like this, I find that I can forgive that sketchiness.
Autumn reddened the beech groves, blackened the ploughed fields and launched into the sky grey clouds that were constantly torn to tatters by the wind and rain. Gilles, escorted by a handful of men, roamed the country, accompanied by Prelati. Accustomed to the silence of sacristies, to the gloom of taverns and to the scents of ladies' chambers, the Florentine discovered the marshlands of Briere, the ocean shores and the island of Yeu. The sudden gales of the equinox took his breath away and he felt drunk with grandeur and desolation in that country where nothing smiled on the traveller. He learnt that God and the Devil whispered not only in the silence of the oratories, but that their mighty voices could also be heard in storms at sea. The time of secrecy, tears and sighs was now over, but with the tides of syzygy began the time of apocalyptic sound and fury.
December 12, 2017
This novella won't be for everyone, as it reads as much like lyric essay as it does fiction. To the extent that it does feel like fiction, it evokes folktale. For some, the absence of the kind of immersive world building typical of contemporary historical fiction will be a stumbling block (I can see this from some of the other reviews I'm reading here). For me, it's a brilliant artistic choice, particularly when presenting two such mythologised figures from history.
And like ancient folktales (rather than the bland moralising of more modern fairy stories), Gilles and Jeanne asks more questions than it answers. How are we supposed to read Gilles' relationship with Joan of Arc? His religious fanaticism? His alleged crimes (which this novella never disputes)? How are we meant to read this novel, the anti-hero of which is remembered as the most notorious child killer in history?
And like ancient folktales (rather than the bland moralising of more modern fairy stories), Gilles and Jeanne asks more questions than it answers. How are we supposed to read Gilles' relationship with Joan of Arc? His religious fanaticism? His alleged crimes (which this novella never disputes)? How are we meant to read this novel, the anti-hero of which is remembered as the most notorious child killer in history?
January 14, 2016
O carte care m-a cam bulversat... Îmi plac foarte mult momentele istorice transpuse în romane, iar poveştile despre Ioana d'Arc şi mai mult. Din păcate, în acest volum Ioana apare destul de puţin, la început, iar apoi ea nu apare decât invocată de către cei care i-au supravieţuit arderii pe rug.
M-a fascinat, dar şi îngrozit, în egală măsură, metamorfoza pe care o suferă Gilles de Rais, cel mai înfocat admirator şi adorator al Ioanei d'Arc, cel care a apucat s-o vadă cum arde pe rug. Pe tot parcursul cărţii, am avut senzaţia distinctă că Michel Tournier l-a creionat pe Gilles ca fiind un om bolnav mintal, un fel de nebunie periculoasă, care se învecinează cu normalitatea. Întrucât Gilles a adorat-o pe Ioana şi a urmat-o pretutindeni ca pe o sfântă, faptul că i-a văzut sfârşitul şi nu a putut face nimic ca s-o salveze l-a aruncat în ghearele unei depresii paroxistice, care îi dezvăluie în cele din urmă nebunia incipientă. Acesta începe să caute chipul Ioanei în toate chipurile de băieţi pe care le vede (nu fete, deşi Ioana fusese clar de sex feminin!), iar de aici mai încolo veţi vedea şi singuri cum se termină totul.
Cartea mi-a plăcut, este scurtă ca număr de pagini, se citeşte repede, iar în interiorul acesteia cititorul poate descoperi foarte multe idei şi meditaţii filosofice care necesită o atenţie deosebită, întrucât din astfel de idei şi meditaţii izvorăşte răul pe care omenirea nu conteneşte să-l facă. N-aş putea spune că este o lectură plăcută, mai ales dacă sunteţi slabi de înger, însă cu siguranţă este o lectură care merită tot timpul vostru, şi pe care trebuie să v-o însuşiţi neapărat!
M-a fascinat, dar şi îngrozit, în egală măsură, metamorfoza pe care o suferă Gilles de Rais, cel mai înfocat admirator şi adorator al Ioanei d'Arc, cel care a apucat s-o vadă cum arde pe rug. Pe tot parcursul cărţii, am avut senzaţia distinctă că Michel Tournier l-a creionat pe Gilles ca fiind un om bolnav mintal, un fel de nebunie periculoasă, care se învecinează cu normalitatea. Întrucât Gilles a adorat-o pe Ioana şi a urmat-o pretutindeni ca pe o sfântă, faptul că i-a văzut sfârşitul şi nu a putut face nimic ca s-o salveze l-a aruncat în ghearele unei depresii paroxistice, care îi dezvăluie în cele din urmă nebunia incipientă. Acesta începe să caute chipul Ioanei în toate chipurile de băieţi pe care le vede (nu fete, deşi Ioana fusese clar de sex feminin!), iar de aici mai încolo veţi vedea şi singuri cum se termină totul.
Cartea mi-a plăcut, este scurtă ca număr de pagini, se citeşte repede, iar în interiorul acesteia cititorul poate descoperi foarte multe idei şi meditaţii filosofice care necesită o atenţie deosebită, întrucât din astfel de idei şi meditaţii izvorăşte răul pe care omenirea nu conteneşte să-l facă. N-aş putea spune că este o lectură plăcută, mai ales dacă sunteţi slabi de înger, însă cu siguranţă este o lectură care merită tot timpul vostru, şi pe care trebuie să v-o însuşiţi neapărat!
Read
July 30, 2014I like "Vendredi", "Gaspard, Melchior et Balthazar". They are good books. But I have a problem with Tournier. I had found "the ogre" (le roi des Aulnes) ambiguous. With this little book so innocent, that becomes unbearable. However the starting idea was interesting. It's the opposition between a pure and innocent Jeanne and Gilles absolute evil.
And if in fact the question is : was it Jeann who had generated Gilles? Is the good at the origin of evil?
ԳéپԲ.
The attraction without hope of Gilles for Jeanne, her purity and her innocence would have consequence for him in making dreadful crimes.
But the pedophilic atmosphere is unhealthy, even stifling.
I refuse to support it.
And if in fact the question is : was it Jeann who had generated Gilles? Is the good at the origin of evil?
ԳéپԲ.
The attraction without hope of Gilles for Jeanne, her purity and her innocence would have consequence for him in making dreadful crimes.
But the pedophilic atmosphere is unhealthy, even stifling.
I refuse to support it.
July 31, 2015
I had to constantly ask myself - why was this written? and why am I wasting my time reading it? Thankfully it is short but that doesn't excuse the rationale as to why it was written. The true story is bleak and this adds nothing to that. Go for a walk, talk to the cat anything but don't waste your time.
August 1, 2011
Plus satanique que ça, tu meurs.
December 29, 2019
"Si Jeanne n'est ni une fille, ni un garçon, c'est clair, n'est-ce pas, c'est qu'elle est un ange."
(If Jeanne is neither a girl nor a boy, it's clear, isn't it, that she is an angel.)
Squeeze in this short read before the new year, I said. It will be worth it, I said.
And so it was, even if I'm still processing all that layered moodiness.
One of the many lingering historical questions is how Gilles de Rais, companion-in-arms to Jeanne d'Arc, could also come to be a notorious child killer and likely source of the Bluebeard legend.In Gilles & Jeanne, Michel Tournier offers an unsettling gothic take into how Jeanne's martyrdom pushed him to darkness.Its brevity and narrative style recalls fairy tales, with a nod to the period's transition between the late middle ages and early Renaissance. Equal parts gripping and disturbing, that conciseness leaves as much room for speculation and interpretation as for a range of emotions.Sadness, disgust—and dare i say pity culminating in unexpected tears—could be as much a testament to the writer's talent as to the charged context. As in any era rooted in religious faith, the duality stands out:spiritual and material, light and dark, masculine and feminine.
"Il trouve en la Pucelle l'ennivrante et dangereuse fusion de la sainteté et de la guerre."
(He finds in the Maid the intoxicating and dangerous fusion of holiness and war.)
(If Jeanne is neither a girl nor a boy, it's clear, isn't it, that she is an angel.)
Squeeze in this short read before the new year, I said. It will be worth it, I said.
And so it was, even if I'm still processing all that layered moodiness.
One of the many lingering historical questions is how Gilles de Rais, companion-in-arms to Jeanne d'Arc, could also come to be a notorious child killer and likely source of the Bluebeard legend.In Gilles & Jeanne, Michel Tournier offers an unsettling gothic take into how Jeanne's martyrdom pushed him to darkness.Its brevity and narrative style recalls fairy tales, with a nod to the period's transition between the late middle ages and early Renaissance. Equal parts gripping and disturbing, that conciseness leaves as much room for speculation and interpretation as for a range of emotions.Sadness, disgust—and dare i say pity culminating in unexpected tears—could be as much a testament to the writer's talent as to the charged context. As in any era rooted in religious faith, the duality stands out:spiritual and material, light and dark, masculine and feminine.
"Il trouve en la Pucelle l'ennivrante et dangereuse fusion de la sainteté et de la guerre."
(He finds in the Maid the intoxicating and dangerous fusion of holiness and war.)
November 19, 2017
A ficitional book about Gilles de Rais who was sentenced to death by hanging and burning in 1440 for the murder of countless children. Gilles had a distinguished military career amd had fought with Jeanne d'Arc, the Maid of Orleans.
Michel Tournier's book postulates that Gilles's admiration for Jeanne and the emotional impact of the execution of Jeanne d'Arc is the impetus to Gilles' future actions. This short novel is well writeen. Michel Tournier chooses his words carefully to give the reader enough information regarding Gilles, the assault, murder and disposal of his victims, without going into specific details. It is left to the imagination of the reader to fill in the blanks.
This is reflective of modern times, where the public absorbs the information provided by mass media and passes personal judgement and opinions on individuals convicted of cimes. While the stories of where the missing children were last seen and his own confession points to Gilles de Rais as being a sexual predator and murder, there were no bodies or physical evidence of his crimes. The accusations could have been made by rival lords that wanted his lands, and he could have confessed to avoid excommunication by the Church. Only Gilles de Rais and the missing children will know the truth.
Michel Tournier's book postulates that Gilles's admiration for Jeanne and the emotional impact of the execution of Jeanne d'Arc is the impetus to Gilles' future actions. This short novel is well writeen. Michel Tournier chooses his words carefully to give the reader enough information regarding Gilles, the assault, murder and disposal of his victims, without going into specific details. It is left to the imagination of the reader to fill in the blanks.
This is reflective of modern times, where the public absorbs the information provided by mass media and passes personal judgement and opinions on individuals convicted of cimes. While the stories of where the missing children were last seen and his own confession points to Gilles de Rais as being a sexual predator and murder, there were no bodies or physical evidence of his crimes. The accusations could have been made by rival lords that wanted his lands, and he could have confessed to avoid excommunication by the Church. Only Gilles de Rais and the missing children will know the truth.
January 10, 2024
"Into the crypt of Rays!"
Ja, förutom att jag lyssnat på Celtic Frosts klassiska dänga otaliga gånger är mina kunskaper om Gilles De Rais (och för all del Jeanne D´Arc) rudimentära. Men om vi får tro den här skönlitterära skildringen så blir sorgen och ilskan över att Jeanne bränns på bål det som får ädlingen Gilles De Rais att utvecklas från en from kristen till en mörk ängel. En mörk ängel med förkärlek för barnamord, våldtäkt, nekrofili och tortyr.
Jag känner kanske att en fackbok om någon av dessa två personer hade varit att föredra. Romanen är ganska kort -något jag brukar uppskatta � men faktum är att på detta utrymme lyckas inte författaren göra ”monstret Gilles De Rais begriplig� som baksidestexten hävdar.
Ja, förutom att jag lyssnat på Celtic Frosts klassiska dänga otaliga gånger är mina kunskaper om Gilles De Rais (och för all del Jeanne D´Arc) rudimentära. Men om vi får tro den här skönlitterära skildringen så blir sorgen och ilskan över att Jeanne bränns på bål det som får ädlingen Gilles De Rais att utvecklas från en from kristen till en mörk ängel. En mörk ängel med förkärlek för barnamord, våldtäkt, nekrofili och tortyr.
Jag känner kanske att en fackbok om någon av dessa två personer hade varit att föredra. Romanen är ganska kort -något jag brukar uppskatta � men faktum är att på detta utrymme lyckas inte författaren göra ”monstret Gilles De Rais begriplig� som baksidestexten hävdar.
March 13, 2024
Mon amour pour Jeanne d'Arc m'a poussé vers ce livre.
Jeanne n'est finalement que peu présente, elle sert de tremplin pour mettre en avant son compagnon Gilles de Rais et expliquer sa descente aux Enfers suite à la condamnation de la Pucelle d'Orléans.
Je ne connaissais pas cet homme qui inspira le personnage de Barbe bleue et j'ai adoré le découvrir au fil des pages de l'oeuvre de Michel Tournier, l'envie mystique de rapprocher la clarté de Jeanne à la noirceur et aux horreurs des délits commis par Gilles, justifiés par sa folie suite à la perte de Jeanne. Une figure historique inappréciable mais que j'ai adoré découvrir.
Jeanne n'est finalement que peu présente, elle sert de tremplin pour mettre en avant son compagnon Gilles de Rais et expliquer sa descente aux Enfers suite à la condamnation de la Pucelle d'Orléans.
Je ne connaissais pas cet homme qui inspira le personnage de Barbe bleue et j'ai adoré le découvrir au fil des pages de l'oeuvre de Michel Tournier, l'envie mystique de rapprocher la clarté de Jeanne à la noirceur et aux horreurs des délits commis par Gilles, justifiés par sa folie suite à la perte de Jeanne. Une figure historique inappréciable mais que j'ai adoré découvrir.
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November 29, 2018The forward page that the translator provided about the background history of Jeanne d'Arc and Gilles de Rais was very informative and interesting. The entire book was not at all boring but very hard to understand and appreciate to me. Maybe because I haven't read this author's books deeply enough? I have read other book by this author before, like, Friday... . But, maybe I read books because i want to know what is, has happened in the world, and want to know about the life i do not live, and this author writes books in other purpose.
June 21, 2023
Faltou um pouco de força no fim. Os crimes de Gilles são contados em cenas indiretas, no tribunal; lembra o recurso usado no teatro grego para cenas violentas. Algo raro de se ver num escritor do séc. XX. Embora seja uma decisão compreensível tratar pedofilia e morte de crianças de uma forma mais sutil. Merecia umas 30 páginas a mais.
April 2, 2022
Povestea Ioanei d’Arc și a lui Gilles de Rais - o carte care captivează de la primele pagini, am citit-o dintr-o răsuflare.
Michel Tournier este un adevărat maestru al cuvântului, încă un scriitor excepțional demn de Nobel dar neprețuit la justa valoare�
Michel Tournier este un adevărat maestru al cuvântului, încă un scriitor excepțional demn de Nobel dar neprețuit la justa valoare�
March 30, 2018
4.25/5
November 1, 2021
Je me demande toujours comment mes ancêtres ont survécu à ces temps obscurs où la vie était régie par la violence et le crime.
January 20, 2022
Worse book ever. We needed to read this for school ( I’m a 16 year old! ). It’s about nothing else then the rape and murder of children, don’t waste your time on it.
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February 11, 20221001 böcker
Sid 42, mening 1:
”Man kastar åt dem en näve mynt som de slåss om.�
Sid 42, mening 1:
”Man kastar åt dem en näve mynt som de slåss om.�
October 20, 2023
An essay about good in evil and the evil in good. A nice starting point for personal reflections, but merely a shallow mystical reverie of Tournier.
Not his best book.
Not his best book.
March 6, 2018
God, I thought it will never end!
March 8, 2016
The contrast between Jeanne d'Arc and isn't a novel subject for authors. There's, for instance, Lampo's , plenty of cultural references and even an opera.
Tournier's take on it is an interesting character sketch of de Rais, his demonic delusions and his obsession with Jeanne.
Tournier has done extensive research into the court case and the figure of de Rais and he tells his story with great clarity. However, I didn't feel like he could conjure up the historical setting in great detail. The tidbits of everyday life, of 15th century reality remained vague and blurred. It gave the story the feel of a gruesome fairytale set in some far off land, instead of something that happened in 15th century France.
Something that might have contributed to that is that at times I felt that the language, especially the dialogue, was stilted. Though I don't know whether that's the Dutch translation, or if that's also the case in the French original.
So while this isn't a traditional historical fiction book in which you can get a glimps of the period, it is an interesting read for those interested in Jeanne d'Arc and her companions, as well as those looking for a bit of horror (no explicitly graphic content though).
Tournier's take on it is an interesting character sketch of de Rais, his demonic delusions and his obsession with Jeanne.
Tournier has done extensive research into the court case and the figure of de Rais and he tells his story with great clarity. However, I didn't feel like he could conjure up the historical setting in great detail. The tidbits of everyday life, of 15th century reality remained vague and blurred. It gave the story the feel of a gruesome fairytale set in some far off land, instead of something that happened in 15th century France.
Something that might have contributed to that is that at times I felt that the language, especially the dialogue, was stilted. Though I don't know whether that's the Dutch translation, or if that's also the case in the French original.
So while this isn't a traditional historical fiction book in which you can get a glimps of the period, it is an interesting read for those interested in Jeanne d'Arc and her companions, as well as those looking for a bit of horror (no explicitly graphic content though).
June 1, 2014
Un libricino in cui si parla brevemente della figura di Giovanna d’Arco, del suo arrivo alla corte e della tortura a cui stata sottoposta. Il Maresciallo di Francia Gilles De Rais, innamoratosi di lei dal primo istante, è il protagonista del libro. Dopo la perdita dell’amata è alla ricerca di un essere dalle sembianze di Jeanne. La sua attrazione è volta ai ragazzi e per un assurdo meccanismo, nella disperata ricerca di un avvicinamento a Jeanne, nel desiderio di una medesima tortura, diviene un essere disumanamente spregevole.
May 18, 2018
When the saint maiden Jeanne of Arc is unfairly accused of witchcraft and burnt at the stake, her lesser, weaker, darker half, Gilles of Rais, loses himself to despair and decides to become the worst of sinners in her name. The book's main themes are duality and inversion: the fires of hell lead to heaven. The devil is nothing more than a distorted image of God. The pure maiden's comrade-in-arms is an insane murderer. In short, Gilles and Jeanne. It was, perhaps, one of the most disturbing books I have ever read.
November 8, 2010
After reading La-Bas by Huysmans, I was intrigued by the strange relationship between Jeanne d'Arc and Gilles de Rais, so I thought that this novel might be perfect. Sparse in a way that barred me from pulling me in- it read more like a narrative encyclopedia entry. I thought it was a strange choice to leave the reader not knowing the crimes de Rais committed until they were enumerated by the court. This novel was lacking the depth and even information that I was looking for.
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