Novel
The Devil in the Flesh
Le Diable au corps
Raymond Radiguet · 1923
Opening lines
Je vais encourir bien des reproches. Mais qu'y puis-je?
I am going to incur a great many reproaches. But what can I do about it?
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from gutenberg.org
Synopsis
The narrator is fifteen when war breaks out. He meets Marthe, engaged to a soldier, Jacques, whom she soon marries and who goes back to the front. The boy helps her choose the furniture for her future home, then they become lovers and meet in the towns of the suburbs, in Paris and on the banks of the Marne, taking little care to hide, while Jacques fights far from them.
Context
The book was published by Grasset in March 1923, launched with an advertising campaign unusual for a novel, which presented its author as a prodigy; the critics began by taking offence. It received the Prix du Nouveau Monde in May, while veterans' associations were outraged that a soldier at the front should be made the deceived husband. The author denied that the story was drawn from his own life; it is now known that it was, to a large extent.
Who it is for
A short novel, with a brief, dry sentence; the narrator judges himself without ever apologising, which remains the difficulty of the book.
Prizes and reception
Adapted for the screen several times, the novel appeared in English under the title The Devil in the Flesh, retranslated in 2026 by Christopher Moncrieff.
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