Books
by Raymond Radiguet
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The Devil in the Flesh |
17 when he wrote it, the French author was dead by 20. Set in a provincial society more concerned with appearances than morality but its core - told with economy and a total absence of sentimentality - is the tragic and seemingly real-life affaire between a teenage boy and the young wife of a soldier in the Great War. It's a story of love, obsession, desire and a heedless pursuit of the moment. The clarity, objectivity and insight would be an achievement for any writer and is stunning in the circumstances.
(Tony Pratt - bwl 103 Winter 2022) |
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