Novel
Memoirs from Elsinore
Mémoires d'Elseneur
Franz Hellens · 1954
Synopsis
Théophile, the son of a veterinary surgeon, is an odd child, inclined to cruelty. His father dies when he is seven; sent to board with the Jesuits of Antwerp, he sees his mother living with Uncle Victor, whom he suspects of having killed his father with her complicity. The novel follows in three parts the life of this narrator, from childhood to a long sea voyage on a Polish cargo ship, then his return home, through adventures that are sometimes down-to-earth, sometimes extravagant.
Context
The novel was published by Albin Michel in 1954, when the author was living in Paris; its first part, notes the review Textyles, is nourished by autobiographical echoes. Britannica sees in it the major work of the end of his career, which counts more than one hundred and twenty books, and the publisher of the 2000 English translation, Peter Lang, sees an example of his “fantastic realism”. It is the only one of his books translated into English.
Who it is for
A long novel in three parts, written in French, in the first person; translated into English in 2000 by Howard Curtis.
Prizes and reception
A book that Britannica places at the summit of its author's last years; the only one translated into English.
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