Marie is young, intelligent, detached and possibly beautiful. She is also vaguely dissatisfied. Her claustrophobic world revolves around her husband, her domestic routine and the Latin grinds she gives. Clearly mutually fond, Marie and Jean tread warily around each other. She is aware of his sexual indiscretions, he fears her moods. Although performing the motions of intimacy, she is at her happiest when living in her mind. A chance encounter with a younger man reminds her she is alive. Bourdouxhe's exquisite study of bored yearning and intensely psychological emotional ambivalence was first published in Brussels in 1943 but this, the first English translation, appeared only last year. Bourdouxhe (1906-96) explores her apathetic central character's consciousness with astonishing precision. This extraordinarily disciplined, elegant performance is an unsung masterwork of European literature.
Eileen Battersby