Novel
Viper in the Fist
Vipère au poing
Hervé Bazin · 1948
Synopsis
Jean Rezeau and his brothers were raised by their grandmother; at her death, their parents, whom they scarcely know, return from Asia and settle at the family estate. The mother takes everything in hand and imposes on her sons a cruel discipline of harassment, deprivation and blows, under the gaze of a self-effacing father. Jean, who narrates, nicknames her Folcoche and wages a merciless war against her with his brothers.
Context
The novel appeared with Bernard Grasset in May 1948. Largely autobiographical, it draws its material from its author's childhood and his struggle against his own mother, and was at once an immense success and a scandal. It brought its author, until then known as a poet, his first great fame, and opens a trilogy devoted to the Rezeau family. Now a classic, it is studied today in lower and upper secondary school.
Who it is for
A first-person narrative with a dark humour: the cruelty is constant, but the tone remains that of a boy recounting a battle.
Prizes and reception
Adapted for television in 1971, then for the cinema by Philippe de Broca in 2004, it appeared in English under the title Viper in the Fist.
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