I'm interested in reading more of Gracq's works. Balcony in the Forest had a profound impact on me. It felt like a wound you don't notice at first, but starts hurting when you lie down at night (and I say this in a good sense... ?)
That's similar to my experience. I would say that A Dark Stranger is even more dreamlike. Gerard (and Gracq's) obsessive study of Allan opens up several other veins of introspection all of which flow together to paint a really dark (but fascinating) image. I like the idea of it being an allegory for the coming WWII, but it doesn't need to be. It's just as compelling on its own. It troubles and obsesses and sticks like a splinter in the brain forcing you to consider things you don't normally consider. I think that's Julien Gracq's true talent.
This is the best review I've yet read (and there are not very many) of the English version of 'Un beau ténébreux' (I guess tenebrous is too obscure a word for a book title). Considering the world held its breath after WW2 to see if 3 would start up right after, Gracq's experience of the first interwar period served him well in (re)capturing such a mood. I've read bits of this in the original French as it's in my alma mater's library; definitely an underappreciated work and author, even in his native language.
I'm interested in reading more of Gracq's works. Balcony in the Forest had a profound impact on me. It felt like a wound you don't notice at first, but starts hurting when you lie down at night (and I say this in a good sense... ?)
Is A Dark Stranger as dreamlike as Balcony?
That's similar to my experience. I would say that A Dark Stranger is even more dreamlike. Gerard (and Gracq's) obsessive study of Allan opens up several other veins of introspection all of which flow together to paint a really dark (but fascinating) image. I like the idea of it being an allegory for the coming WWII, but it doesn't need to be. It's just as compelling on its own. It troubles and obsesses and sticks like a splinter in the brain forcing you to consider things you don't normally consider. I think that's Julien Gracq's true talent.
This is the best review I've yet read (and there are not very many) of the English version of 'Un beau ténébreux' (I guess tenebrous is too obscure a word for a book title). Considering the world held its breath after WW2 to see if 3 would start up right after, Gracq's experience of the first interwar period served him well in (re)capturing such a mood. I've read bits of this in the original French as it's in my alma mater's library; definitely an underappreciated work and author, even in his native language.