Novel
The Diary of a Chambermaid
Le Journal d'une femme de chambre
Octave Mirbeau · 1900
Opening lines
Aujourd'hui, 14 septembre, à trois heures de l'après-midi, par un temps doux, gris et pluvieux, je suis entrée dans ma nouvelle place.
Today, 14 September, at three in the afternoon, in mild, grey and rainy weather, I took up my new place.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from gutenberg.org
Synopsis
Célestine, a chambermaid, keeps her diary from the time she enters the service of the Lanlaires, in their house at Le Mesnil-Roy, in Normandy. She has served in many Paris households and, between scenes from her new post, tells what she has seen of the vices and hypocrisies of her former employers. At Le Mesnil-Roy, a neighbour, Captain Mauger, courts her; Joseph, the gardener-coachman, a fierce antisemite about whom rumour of a crime circulates, intrigues her.
Context
A first version appeared as a serial in L'Écho de Paris, from 20 October 1891 to 26 April 1892. The author thoroughly reworked it for La Revue blanche, which published it from 15 January to 1 June 1900, and set the action at the time of the Dreyfus affair; the volume appeared from Charpentier et Fasquelle in July 1900. The book presents itself as the diary of a Célestine R. and makes domestic service a modern slavery, in which the servants themselves share the prejudices of those who exploit them.
Who it is for
A diary in which memories of past positions constantly interrupt the narrative of the present; the tone is crude, the satire merciless.
Prizes and reception
Translated into English under the title The Diary of a Chambermaid, the novel was adapted for the screen by Renoir, Buñuel and Jacquot.
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