What do you think?
Rate this book
Вільшаний король
Назва «Вільшаний король» перегукується з германською міфологією і є глибоко символічною. Але сам роман наштовхує на думку про універсальніший міф, а саме міф про Людожера. Його головний герой Авель Тифож глибоко переконаний, що існує потаємна узгодженість між плином речей та його особистою долею. Він має в собі щось від чарівника й людожера, обидва ці образи глибоко притаманні французькому фольклору, а тому роман Турньє багато критиків вважають чи не найбільш значущим романом французької літератури двадцятого сторіччя.
393 pages, Hardcover
First published September 9, 1970
About the author
Michel Tournier
156 books250 followersMichel Tournier was a French writer.
His works are highly considered and have won important awards such as the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française in 1967 for Vendredi ou les limbes du Pacifique. and the Prix Goncourt for Le Roi des aulnes in 1970. His works dwell on the fantastic, his inspirations including traditional German culture, Catholicism, and the philosophies of Gaston Bachelard. He lived in Choisel and was a member of the Académie Goncourt. His autobiography has been translated and published as The Wind Spirit (Beacon Press, 1988).
His works are highly considered and have won important awards such as the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française in 1967 for Vendredi ou les limbes du Pacifique. and the Prix Goncourt for Le Roi des aulnes in 1970. His works dwell on the fantastic, his inspirations including traditional German culture, Catholicism, and the philosophies of Gaston Bachelard. He lived in Choisel and was a member of the Académie Goncourt. His autobiography has been translated and published as The Wind Spirit (Beacon Press, 1988).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 157 reviews
June 20, 2024
This dark and disturbing fairy tale is not intended for children but it is about children.
The protagonist, a maniac and pervert (he reminds me of Humbert Humbert from 'Lolita') persecuted in his native country is fascinated with the German Reich after he has been brought there as a prisoner of war. He loves the landscape, the fauna and flora and the climate of the East Prussia. He is not interested in politics and the ongoing war - his only plan is to use the circumstances in order to achieve his personal goals.
The main character believes in predestination and in signs and, indeed, there are a lot of signs and symbols for the reader to decipher in this story about the horrible deeds of horrible people in horrible times.
The protagonist, a maniac and pervert (he reminds me of Humbert Humbert from 'Lolita') persecuted in his native country is fascinated with the German Reich after he has been brought there as a prisoner of war. He loves the landscape, the fauna and flora and the climate of the East Prussia. He is not interested in politics and the ongoing war - his only plan is to use the circumstances in order to achieve his personal goals.
The main character believes in predestination and in signs and, indeed, there are a lot of signs and symbols for the reader to decipher in this story about the horrible deeds of horrible people in horrible times.
July 27, 2024
I do like my World War II fiction to be dark and disturbing rather than uplifting and sentimental, and The Ogre most definitely ticks those first two boxes. Not only is this probably the most remarkable and terrifying novel I've ever read set in Nazi Germany, it is also one of the most bold and original novels I've read for a long time. Told in the form of both journal entries—or ‘sinister writings' as they are known—and third-person narrative, it is one of acute observations; of baroque language; of stunning descriptive beauty, and refers constantly to mysticism and ancient heroes, as our protagonist of great size and strength Abel Tiffauges, who has a penchant for raw meat and blood; for excrement and naked children, goes from childhood memories as a passive car mechanic in late 30s France—he escapes jail for a possible rape because the war breaks out, to French soldier behind enemy lines, to French Nazi sympathizer in the dying days of the Third Reich. A large chunk of the novel takes place in the woodlands and countryside of East Prussia, with Tiffauges having been captured and sent to a work camp. He is one who seems to rub off well with the Nazis, and soon finds himself as assistant forester to Hermann Goering's hunting lair after being found feeding blind elks in an area Tiffauges calls his 'Canada'—there is a chilling cameo by the Reich Marshal himself, before the last third sees him arrive at the castle of Kaltenborn to take on the job—with a trusty black horse called Bluebeard and a pack of Dobermans, the rounding up and recruiting of children for SS military service. The further Tiffauges enters into this monstrous beast of a kingdom, the more he is engulfed in the idea of a master race. Despite being deemed pro-Nazi in some circles, the novel still won the Prix Goncourt in 1970. I don't really take any notice of literary prizes, but in this case I'm glad to hear it. Hell, if it were up to me, I'd have it winning the literary equivalent of The Oscars. The climactic last few pages with Russian forces closing in on Kaltenborn; seeing Tiffauges go from ogre to St. Christopher, after finding and taking care of a starving Jewish boy who had fled Auschwitz, were simply unforgettable. I haven't felt this way about a WW2 novel since reading Curzio Malaparte's masterpiece, The Skin, about five years ago.
February 26, 2024
Tournier takes his reader along in the meanders of his thoughts with this novel. I admit, personally, getting lost in all the contradictions raised, in all the inversions mentioned explicitly or not, and in all the signs and other symbols that I have no doubt not always been able to decipher, especially those that ended up annoying me. The novel's beginning is inviting, attaching the reader to its ambiguous hero, holding both the pedophile ogre and the universal mother. However, my interest withered throughout the reading, when I had the impression of receiving lessons sometimes in history and sometimes in philosophy when Tournier praised the body of boys when everything under his pen had theorized and thus justified. For me, the novel lacks unity, and if I recognize the writing qualities of its author, I would say that he sins by an excess of erudition that he never ceases to display. Therefore, I am far from the rave reviews usually made of this work and only give a relatively average note in my ranking of three stars.
December 29, 2016
A very special kind of book, there's no doubt about that. But I'm not sure what to feel about it.
The first third is a mix of diary excerpts, memories and reveries, especially about the youth of Abel Tiffauges, a crippled garageholder in Paris. It's difficult reading, but it's clear enough Tiffauges looks at reality in a very strange way, with special attention to young children (yes, indeed); he sees himself as "childbearer", and Saint Christopher his patron-saint; but a girlfriend refers to the 'oger'-myth, a humanoid monster in fairy-tales that hunts children.
Then the perspective changes: the Second World War starts and Tiffauges is prisoner of war in a camp in East-Prussia, deep in Germany. He is afforded a lot of freedom, becomes an aide of Göring and eventually ends up in a castle-school of the Hitlerjugend. In the slipstream of nazi-rigor and cruelty he can develop his special "talents". It is here the link is made with the known poem of Goethe, "the alder-king - Der Erlkönig". I'm not going to reveal the end, but in the midst of the apocalyptic sceneries of the fall of the Third Reich, Tiffauges comes to repent his sins. This part in Eastern Prussia is much easier to read, as an interesting developing story. But this also has a perverse side-effect: hunting red deers, maniacally dissecting and analysing of racial and phyiscal characteristics of children, atrociously training of the Hitlerjugend, ... at a certain point it becomes attractive! Add to this the beautiful depicting of the eastprussian landscapes (dark woods, lovely lakes and grand castles of the teutonic order), all very wagnerian and attractive.
Tournier has drawn a lot of criticism for this, as though he wanted to make nazisme likeable. I don't agree, on the contrary; he has succeeded in exhibiting the perversity in every human soul, and he clearly shows the excesses this can lead to.
In short, there is a lot in this book to make it a beautiful, but shocking work, but in the end I can not say this was pleasant to read. So a very mixed and ambiguous judgment.
The first third is a mix of diary excerpts, memories and reveries, especially about the youth of Abel Tiffauges, a crippled garageholder in Paris. It's difficult reading, but it's clear enough Tiffauges looks at reality in a very strange way, with special attention to young children (yes, indeed); he sees himself as "childbearer", and Saint Christopher his patron-saint; but a girlfriend refers to the 'oger'-myth, a humanoid monster in fairy-tales that hunts children.
Then the perspective changes: the Second World War starts and Tiffauges is prisoner of war in a camp in East-Prussia, deep in Germany. He is afforded a lot of freedom, becomes an aide of Göring and eventually ends up in a castle-school of the Hitlerjugend. In the slipstream of nazi-rigor and cruelty he can develop his special "talents". It is here the link is made with the known poem of Goethe, "the alder-king - Der Erlkönig". I'm not going to reveal the end, but in the midst of the apocalyptic sceneries of the fall of the Third Reich, Tiffauges comes to repent his sins. This part in Eastern Prussia is much easier to read, as an interesting developing story. But this also has a perverse side-effect: hunting red deers, maniacally dissecting and analysing of racial and phyiscal characteristics of children, atrociously training of the Hitlerjugend, ... at a certain point it becomes attractive! Add to this the beautiful depicting of the eastprussian landscapes (dark woods, lovely lakes and grand castles of the teutonic order), all very wagnerian and attractive.
Tournier has drawn a lot of criticism for this, as though he wanted to make nazisme likeable. I don't agree, on the contrary; he has succeeded in exhibiting the perversity in every human soul, and he clearly shows the excesses this can lead to.
In short, there is a lot in this book to make it a beautiful, but shocking work, but in the end I can not say this was pleasant to read. So a very mixed and ambiguous judgment.
April 20, 2011
At a high point in a pivotal relationship formed during his refectory days in an alien French boy's school, Abel Tiffauges is told the gruesome apocryphal story of the Baron des Adrets' newfound awareness of cadent euphoria by the obese enigma Nestor. The crescendo is reached when the latter murmurs in coda that "There's probably nothing more moving in a man's life than the accidental discovery of his own perversion." Just how much truth this observation bore is revealed to Abel many years later, when he has mutated from a bunched-up, undersized boy into a hulking giant of a man: bearing a wounded child in his massive arms, he is lapped by beatific paroxysms of phoric joy, much akin to that experienced by a pair of historic personages: St. Christopher when he similarly performed as steed for a riverine Christ, and Alfonso d'Albuquerque, a conquistador in peril of death at the hands of the boundless sea, who perched a lad atop his shoulders in the desperate hope that the youth's innocence would serve to cleanse him of sin and turn the eye of God toward him in a favorable light. Would that there were enough innocence to mount and shrive the twentieth-century, an epoch when perversion, obsession, and desire freed themselves from all restraints and ran amok amid a continent watered with blood.
The Ogre is a beautifully strange novel, alternately narrated by and about the remarkable Abel Tiffauges—a Frenchman so unlike his countrymen, a gentle giant who firmly believes himself an eternal and potent natural force, primordial in origin, descended across the mists of time from the original Abel, the nomad brother of the sedentary Cain who—in a pattern to be repeated ad nauseam throughout history's pages—was murdered by his sibling for his hateful and peregrine individuality. Tiffauges interacts with the material world only in a routine and perfunctory manner, quietly going about his solitary business while experiencing a rich and eccentric inner life, in which systems and symbols, portents and preordained fates illuminate every event in their explicatory light. Even as the apocalypse of the Second World War thunders down upon Europe and Tiffauges is swept from a Parisian suburban garage to Teutonic castles amidst the marshy forests and plains of East Prussia, he is central to this avenging maelstrom, a locus for the melancholy loam of Prussian nature, yet completely apart from it—a separate entity to the daily suffering and slaughter that plays out around him. Finding in the war the means to pursue his child-focussed obsessions, Abel calmly sets about a phoric existence, luxuriating in its anarchic bliss until the diabolical inversion that always threatens the innocent poisons the roots of all his fantasies.
Michel Tournier has penned a marvel here, a haunting, quirky story that lingers in the mind like a disturbing dream. The fascinating symbolism and ego-mythology of Abel's unique and contentedly lonely mind, after having spread to saturate every event and path of the story, are swiftly drawn back in a taut synthesis for the perfectly realized final pages. The dialectic between innocence as a guileless love of being, of man, of life, and its malignant inversion purity, a satanic hatred of all that innocence cherishes, holds place of primacy, along with those of freshness versus corruption, chaste desire against lust, and the boundaries of amorality. Abel imagines himself an innocent—but why then his need to be anointed by that of a child? Abel's immense capacity for sacrifice and compassion exist right alongside his utter indifference to the suffering of the majority of humanity who don't conform to his ideals; the children he so gently carries have been cruelly ripped from the arms of their parents, and a mother's tears move him no more than the death throes of the Third Reich. Unrealized guilt yet contains the potentiality for redemption that is immanent in culpability. Not until the horrific joke played out by the malignant streams of fate is revealed to him, in all the fullness of its macabre glory, does Abel finally understand the price of phoria and truly behold the Erl-King's sovereignty, the inescapable fate in store for the Ogre, whether in the pellucid realm of fairy-tale or the grim theatre of reality.
The Ogre is a beautifully strange novel, alternately narrated by and about the remarkable Abel Tiffauges—a Frenchman so unlike his countrymen, a gentle giant who firmly believes himself an eternal and potent natural force, primordial in origin, descended across the mists of time from the original Abel, the nomad brother of the sedentary Cain who—in a pattern to be repeated ad nauseam throughout history's pages—was murdered by his sibling for his hateful and peregrine individuality. Tiffauges interacts with the material world only in a routine and perfunctory manner, quietly going about his solitary business while experiencing a rich and eccentric inner life, in which systems and symbols, portents and preordained fates illuminate every event in their explicatory light. Even as the apocalypse of the Second World War thunders down upon Europe and Tiffauges is swept from a Parisian suburban garage to Teutonic castles amidst the marshy forests and plains of East Prussia, he is central to this avenging maelstrom, a locus for the melancholy loam of Prussian nature, yet completely apart from it—a separate entity to the daily suffering and slaughter that plays out around him. Finding in the war the means to pursue his child-focussed obsessions, Abel calmly sets about a phoric existence, luxuriating in its anarchic bliss until the diabolical inversion that always threatens the innocent poisons the roots of all his fantasies.
Michel Tournier has penned a marvel here, a haunting, quirky story that lingers in the mind like a disturbing dream. The fascinating symbolism and ego-mythology of Abel's unique and contentedly lonely mind, after having spread to saturate every event and path of the story, are swiftly drawn back in a taut synthesis for the perfectly realized final pages. The dialectic between innocence as a guileless love of being, of man, of life, and its malignant inversion purity, a satanic hatred of all that innocence cherishes, holds place of primacy, along with those of freshness versus corruption, chaste desire against lust, and the boundaries of amorality. Abel imagines himself an innocent—but why then his need to be anointed by that of a child? Abel's immense capacity for sacrifice and compassion exist right alongside his utter indifference to the suffering of the majority of humanity who don't conform to his ideals; the children he so gently carries have been cruelly ripped from the arms of their parents, and a mother's tears move him no more than the death throes of the Third Reich. Unrealized guilt yet contains the potentiality for redemption that is immanent in culpability. Not until the horrific joke played out by the malignant streams of fate is revealed to him, in all the fullness of its macabre glory, does Abel finally understand the price of phoria and truly behold the Erl-King's sovereignty, the inescapable fate in store for the Ogre, whether in the pellucid realm of fairy-tale or the grim theatre of reality.
November 22, 2020
Bu kitap beklediğimden çok daha zorlayıcı çıktı. Açıkcası üzerine konuşmak, birkaç kelimeyle özetlemek zor. Çok karmaşık, efsane ve destanlarla harmanlanmış ama aynı zamanda da gerçeklikten kopmamış grotesk bir hikaye.
Kitabın psikolojik, sembolik ve tarihsel olmak üzere bir çok katmanı bulunuyor. Bunlardan tarihsel kısmını Nazizme köken gösterilen, Almanya’nın şövalyelik dönemlerine uzanan tarihi, ari ırk kavramı gibi konular oluşturuyor. Ön planda Nazi-alman ırkçılığını oldukça ilginç, farklı bir bakış açısından aktarıyor. Ancak romanın temelini Tournier’nin eserlerinin çoğunda gördüğümüz semboller ve metaforlar oluşturuyor. Yakın tarihin gerçekleri mitoloji ile muazzam harmanlanmış durumda. Abel’in okuyucuyu “sol el yazıları” ile götürdüğü karanlık dünyada Habil’in kaderi ile Üçüncü Reich’in düşüşünün ilişkilendirilmesi çok etkileyici. Zaten Abel’in isminin sembolize ettikleri ile İncil’den yapılan alıntılar da bir araya geldiğinde kendi geleceğine dair ipuçları veriyor. Benim hem çok beğendiğim hem de okurken çok zorlandığım bir kitap oldu. Duygularım hala karmakarışık. Fransızların İkinci Dünya Savaşı’ndaki tutumunu; okurken insanı dehşete düşüren - hatta zaman zaman büyük tiksinti uyandıran- bir yandan da iyi ile kötünün tersine dönüşümünü, belirsiz alanlar yaparak gösteren tenobur bir “dev”in üzerinden vermesi çok yerinde. Yine de benim için oldukça zor bir okuma oldu, 379 sayfalık bir kitabı ancak 10 günde tamamlayabildim. Herkese tavsiye edebileceğim bir kitap değil. Özellikle de çocuklara dair kısımlarda - her ne kadar yarattığı belirsizlikle canavar mı kurtarıcı mı cevabını vermese de- bazıları için rahatsız edici gelebilir. Tournier’yi daha önceden okuyup sevmişseniz bu kitabını mutlaka okuyun derim. Yazarı hiç okumadıysanız önce Çalı Horozu’nu okumanız daha doğru bir tanışma olabilir.
Kitabın psikolojik, sembolik ve tarihsel olmak üzere bir çok katmanı bulunuyor. Bunlardan tarihsel kısmını Nazizme köken gösterilen, Almanya’nın şövalyelik dönemlerine uzanan tarihi, ari ırk kavramı gibi konular oluşturuyor. Ön planda Nazi-alman ırkçılığını oldukça ilginç, farklı bir bakış açısından aktarıyor. Ancak romanın temelini Tournier’nin eserlerinin çoğunda gördüğümüz semboller ve metaforlar oluşturuyor. Yakın tarihin gerçekleri mitoloji ile muazzam harmanlanmış durumda. Abel’in okuyucuyu “sol el yazıları” ile götürdüğü karanlık dünyada Habil’in kaderi ile Üçüncü Reich’in düşüşünün ilişkilendirilmesi çok etkileyici. Zaten Abel’in isminin sembolize ettikleri ile İncil’den yapılan alıntılar da bir araya geldiğinde kendi geleceğine dair ipuçları veriyor. Benim hem çok beğendiğim hem de okurken çok zorlandığım bir kitap oldu. Duygularım hala karmakarışık. Fransızların İkinci Dünya Savaşı’ndaki tutumunu; okurken insanı dehşete düşüren - hatta zaman zaman büyük tiksinti uyandıran- bir yandan da iyi ile kötünün tersine dönüşümünü, belirsiz alanlar yaparak gösteren tenobur bir “dev”in üzerinden vermesi çok yerinde. Yine de benim için oldukça zor bir okuma oldu, 379 sayfalık bir kitabı ancak 10 günde tamamlayabildim. Herkese tavsiye edebileceğim bir kitap değil. Özellikle de çocuklara dair kısımlarda - her ne kadar yarattığı belirsizlikle canavar mı kurtarıcı mı cevabını vermese de- bazıları için rahatsız edici gelebilir. Tournier’yi daha önceden okuyup sevmişseniz bu kitabını mutlaka okuyun derim. Yazarı hiç okumadıysanız önce Çalı Horozu’nu okumanız daha doğru bir tanışma olabilir.
February 26, 2024
«Немає, безперечно, нічого зворушливішого в житті людини, аніж випадкове відкриття збочення, яке їй притаманне» Нестор
Цілком несвідомо я взявся за відгук до цієї книги сидячи верхи на унітазі, але цілком свідомо, ніби присвяту автору і головному герою, я цей відгук тут і закінчу. І якщо, раптом, вас це бентежить і здається що це зайве і не стосується книги, то мушу вас попередити - «Вільшаний король» може бути не для вас. Роман Турньє сповнений відверто н��туралістичних сцен, в тому числі дефекації тварин та людей, а також сцен самоприниження і педофілічних візій головного героя. Але для тих поціновувачів літератури, хто позбавлений цнотливої гидливості «Вільшаний король» може стати справжнім відкриттям, яким став для мене.
З самого початку автор занурює нас у химерний внутрішній світ пригніченого і позбавленого ніжності чоловіка на ім���я ��вель Тифож. Його схиблена логіка диктує йому власну біографію як акт вищого провидіння, яке неодмінно веде його до персонального Вознесіння. І справді, на фоні катастрофи Другоі Світової маніакальні пориви Тіфожа знаходять своє русло і ведуть його до символічного і витребуваного ним фіналу, в якому він стає антизнаком своєї власної долі.
Слідуючи логіці головного героя я би мав розпізнати як знак долі той факт, що в 2022 я прочитав дві книги які вкрай допомогли мені розкусити міфологічний та символічний контекст закладений Турньє - «Про природу зла в мистецтві та літературі» та «Лайно. Темна матерія». Не зайвим буде перечитати і твір, до якого посилається Турньє у назві роману - поему «Вільшаний король» Гете. Справді буде легше рухатись вперед.
Цілком несвідомо я взявся за відгук до цієї книги сидячи верхи на унітазі, але цілком свідомо, ніби присвяту автору і головному герою, я цей відгук тут і закінчу. І якщо, раптом, вас це бентежить і здається що це зайве і не стосується книги, то мушу вас попередити - «Вільшаний король» може бути не для вас. Роман Турньє сповнений відверто н��туралістичних сцен, в тому числі дефекації тварин та людей, а також сцен самоприниження і педофілічних візій головного героя. Але для тих поціновувачів літератури, хто позбавлений цнотливої гидливості «Вільшаний король» може стати справжнім відкриттям, яким став для мене.
З самого початку автор занурює нас у химерний внутрішній світ пригніченого і позбавленого ніжності чоловіка на ім���я ��вель Тифож. Його схиблена логіка диктує йому власну біографію як акт вищого провидіння, яке неодмінно веде його до персонального Вознесіння. І справді, на фоні катастрофи Другоі Світової маніакальні пориви Тіфожа знаходять своє русло і ведуть його до символічного і витребуваного ним фіналу, в якому він стає антизнаком своєї власної долі.
Слідуючи логіці головного героя я би мав розпізнати як знак долі той факт, що в 2022 я прочитав дві книги які вкрай допомогли мені розкусити міфологічний та символічний контекст закладений Турньє - «Про природу зла в мистецтві та літературі» та «Лайно. Темна матерія». Не зайвим буде перечитати і твір, до якого посилається Турньє у назві роману - поему «Вільшаний король» Гете. Справді буде легше рухатись вперед.
November 4, 2012
This earned a star from me for the research and inventive musings the author had obviously done to do pedantic exhibitions about:
1. monsters;
2. the Aristotelian concept of "potency" (which he managed to tie up with the sexual act);
3. the two types of women, the "woman-trinket" (one who can be manipulated by men) and the "woman-landscape" ( one whom a man can only visit);
4. benign inversion (evil becoming good, sort of) and the malign inversion (the reverse);
5. euphoria, phoria ("to carry"), phoric, phore, anthropophoric (the pricipal protagonist, Abel Tiffauges, likes to carry sick, young boys in his arms, experiencing euphoria in the process);
6. atmospheric saturation, e.g., when an atmosphere is saturated with beauty one feels an intoxication that has a distant affinity with phoric ecstasy (like, again, holding a wounded child in one's arms);
7. photography as the raising of an object to "imaginary power";
8. developing photo films as involving the inverse and reversible worlds;
9. the French Penal Code;
10. the use of pigeons during war, the different kinds of such pigeons;
11. the peat-bog men (carcasses of long dead men preserved in peat bogs);
12. Nazi hunting lodges, their games, animal droppings;
13. the different ways of measuring stags' antlers;
14. the dynamics of horses;
15. the origins of great East Prussian families traced way back to the Teutonic Knights;
16. human twins;
17. human hair;
18. symbols in war; and
19. different positions of boys while asleep.
I also gave it another star because although I already "knew" the overall complexion of the story and its probable trajectory (what with its dead giveaways : the "ogre" title, its first 1/3 part consisting of Tiffauges's "sinister diary", his huge body and the smallness of his penis, his obvious megalomania and pedophiliac tendencies, the war era, France and later Germany as settings) it turned out differently and quite beyond my expectations.
Apart from these, however, I felt this was just a piece of crap. Yes, I've read the other reviews, and saw its high GR ratings. But what can I possibly do when, after finishing it, I felt that the author had just taken a dump inside my brain?
1. monsters;
2. the Aristotelian concept of "potency" (which he managed to tie up with the sexual act);
3. the two types of women, the "woman-trinket" (one who can be manipulated by men) and the "woman-landscape" ( one whom a man can only visit);
4. benign inversion (evil becoming good, sort of) and the malign inversion (the reverse);
5. euphoria, phoria ("to carry"), phoric, phore, anthropophoric (the pricipal protagonist, Abel Tiffauges, likes to carry sick, young boys in his arms, experiencing euphoria in the process);
6. atmospheric saturation, e.g., when an atmosphere is saturated with beauty one feels an intoxication that has a distant affinity with phoric ecstasy (like, again, holding a wounded child in one's arms);
7. photography as the raising of an object to "imaginary power";
8. developing photo films as involving the inverse and reversible worlds;
9. the French Penal Code;
10. the use of pigeons during war, the different kinds of such pigeons;
11. the peat-bog men (carcasses of long dead men preserved in peat bogs);
12. Nazi hunting lodges, their games, animal droppings;
13. the different ways of measuring stags' antlers;
14. the dynamics of horses;
15. the origins of great East Prussian families traced way back to the Teutonic Knights;
16. human twins;
17. human hair;
18. symbols in war; and
19. different positions of boys while asleep.
I also gave it another star because although I already "knew" the overall complexion of the story and its probable trajectory (what with its dead giveaways : the "ogre" title, its first 1/3 part consisting of Tiffauges's "sinister diary", his huge body and the smallness of his penis, his obvious megalomania and pedophiliac tendencies, the war era, France and later Germany as settings) it turned out differently and quite beyond my expectations.
Apart from these, however, I felt this was just a piece of crap. Yes, I've read the other reviews, and saw its high GR ratings. But what can I possibly do when, after finishing it, I felt that the author had just taken a dump inside my brain?
December 22, 2023
When I saw the movie it all came flooding back. Like a horrible nightmare at the edge of consciousness. Nothing is truly forgotten: this book is terrible and true and fantastic.
A World War II novel, and as the war grew longer the soldiers became younger and younger, adding to the horror. The visuals of this in the movie are particularly disturbing, seeing these boy-soldiers playing at war.
(Also available in English under the title “The Erl King”).
A World War II novel, and as the war grew longer the soldiers became younger and younger, adding to the horror. The visuals of this in the movie are particularly disturbing, seeing these boy-soldiers playing at war.
(Also available in English under the title “The Erl King”).
August 29, 2020
Do you not hear what the Erlking quietly promises me?
The title of this brilliant novel comes from a poem by Goethe and traces back the love and admiration that the French novelist Michel Tournier (1924-2016) felt for Germany. His father being a renowned expert in that country’s culture, the boy learned the language at an early age. He was raised with a German model in mind and a compulsive cult for order. Published in 1970, the novel is centered in the figure of Abel Tiffauges, who we follow throughout his life. In the first part of the book, by his “Écrits sinistres” (sinister writings) a diary written with the left hand where we learn of his vices and obscure views of the world and in the second part, by a third person narrator, from 1938 to 1945. In Goethe’s poem, the ErlKing is a bleak mythical elf who is said to linger in the woods. Erlkönig means literarily Alder King (in French Le Roi des Aulnes).
Abel Tiffauges was a car mechanic who lived in the district of Champerret in Paris and believed he was a fairy tale character. He was obsessed with deciphering signs all around him. While holding an injured fellow worker in his arms, he experienced a revelation that would prove crucial in his view and understanding of life. The word phorie in French relates to the act of holding the world or a boy, as Saint Christophe (the patron saint of his school) according to legend, held once the boy Jesus in his arms and carried him to the other side of a river. With this image in mind, he patiently awaited the heroic moment that eventually would arrive.
Erklönig, Moritz von Schwind (1804-1871)
The author makes a strong case of the idea that good and evil live together in the mind of his fictional character. The paroxysm of opposites seems to haunt him in the crucial moments of his life. The ambivalence of human beings is put into question as the novel evolves. Tiffauges finds it hard to fit in his social role when the community unjustly points a finger at him. Deep inside, he expects that same society to someday redeem him.
A loner by nature, Michel Tournier lived for most of his life secluded in Chevreuse, a commune outside Paris, where he wrote in solitude. His early formation was devoted to Philosophy, an important presence in his fiction. In Le Roi des Aulnes there is no exploration or innovation of formal structures. There is however, luminous originality in the writing: superb richness of language and impeccably built prose, baroque in nature, surrounded by persuasive rhythmic vitality.
Erklönig, Julius Sergius von Klever (1850-1924)
Tournier said he lacked imagination and declared in interviews that the invented parts are minimum in the overall plan of the story. There is a strong influence of Flaubert in his writing that is reflected in specific sections of the plot. Like the 19th century novelist, he saw himself as a collector of stories from history and everyday life. Tiffauges, first a prisoner during the war and gradually engaged by the Nazi regime, is seen as an ogre by the outside world (although he considered himself righteous and noble). But is he really so evil? The question remains opened and is resolved epically in the last scene, biblical in its conception, bringing the mythical figure to human proportions in the grandiose apotheosis of the novel.
Erlkönig, poem by Goethe-music by Franz Schubert
The setting of Goethe’s poem Erlkönig composed by Franz Schubert when he was 18 years old, and performed in this historic video by the legendary Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.
ERLKÖNIG
Who rides so late where winds blow wild?
It is the father grasping his child;
He holds the boy embraced in his arm
He clasps him snugly, he keeps him warm.
"My son, why cover your face in such fear"
"O don't you see the ErlKing near?
The ErlKing with his crown and train!"
"My son, the mist is on the plain."
"Sweet lad, o come and join me, do!
Such pretty games I'll play with you;
On the shore gay flowers their colors unfold
My mother has made you a garment of gold."
"My father, my father, o can you not hear
The promise the ErlKing breathes in my ear?"
"Be calm, stay calm my child, lie low
In withered leaves the night winds blow."
"Will you, sweet lad, come along with me?
My daughters shall care for you tenderly;
In the night my daughters their revelry keep,
They'll rock you and dance you and sing you to sleep."
"My father, my father, o can you not trace
The ErlKing's daughters in that gloomy place?"
"My son, my son, I see it clear
How grey the ancient willows appear."
"I love you, your comeliness charms me, my boy
And if you're not willing, then force I'll employ!"
"Now father, o father, he's seizing my arm
The ErlKing has done me the cruelest harm!"
The father shudders, his ride is wild
In his arms he's holding the shivering child
He reaches home with toil and dread.
In his arms, the child was dead.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The title of this brilliant novel comes from a poem by Goethe and traces back the love and admiration that the French novelist Michel Tournier (1924-2016) felt for Germany. His father being a renowned expert in that country’s culture, the boy learned the language at an early age. He was raised with a German model in mind and a compulsive cult for order. Published in 1970, the novel is centered in the figure of Abel Tiffauges, who we follow throughout his life. In the first part of the book, by his “Écrits sinistres” (sinister writings) a diary written with the left hand where we learn of his vices and obscure views of the world and in the second part, by a third person narrator, from 1938 to 1945. In Goethe’s poem, the ErlKing is a bleak mythical elf who is said to linger in the woods. Erlkönig means literarily Alder King (in French Le Roi des Aulnes).
Tiffauges, vous êtes un lecteur de signes, je l'ai bien vu, et d'ailleurs vous me l'avez prouvé. Vous avez cru découvrir dans l'Allemagne le pays des essences pures où tout ce qui passe est symbole, tout ce qui se passe parabole. Et vous avez raison. D'ailleurs, un homme marqué par le destin est voué fatalement à finir en Allemagne, comme le papillon qui tournoie dans la nuit finit toujours par trouver la source de lumière qui l'enivre et le tue. Mais il vous reste beaucoup à apprendre. Jusqu'ici vous avez découvert des signes sur les choses, comme les lettres et les chiffres qu'on lit sur une borne. Ce n'est que la forme faible de l'existence symbolique. Mais n'allez pas croire que les signes soient toujours d'inoffensives et faibles abstractions.
Tiffauges, you are a sign reader, I have seen it, and by the way you have proved it to me. You thought you would discover in Germany the land of pure essences where everything that passes is a symbol, everything that happens parable. And you're right. Moreover, a man marked by fate is doomed fatally to end up in Germany, as the butterfly that spins in the night always ends up finding the source of light that intoxicates and kills him. But you still have a lot to learn. So far you have discovered signs about things, such as letters and numbers that are read on a terminal. This is only the weak form of symbolic existence. But don't think the signs are always harmless and weak abstractions.
Abel Tiffauges was a car mechanic who lived in the district of Champerret in Paris and believed he was a fairy tale character. He was obsessed with deciphering signs all around him. While holding an injured fellow worker in his arms, he experienced a revelation that would prove crucial in his view and understanding of life. The word phorie in French relates to the act of holding the world or a boy, as Saint Christophe (the patron saint of his school) according to legend, held once the boy Jesus in his arms and carried him to the other side of a river. With this image in mind, he patiently awaited the heroic moment that eventually would arrive.
Erklönig, Moritz von Schwind (1804-1871)
Car s'il y a dans la Genèse une chute de l'homme, ce n'est pas dans l'épisode de la pomme – qui marque une promotion au contraire, l'accession à la connaissance du bien et du mal – mais dans cette dislocation qui brisa en trois l'Adam originel, faisant choir de l'homme la femme, puis l'enfant, créant d'un coup ces trois malheureux, l'enfant éternel orphelin, la femme esseulée, apeurée, toujours à la recherche d'un protecteur, l'homme léger, alerte, mais comme un roi qu'on a dépouillé de tous ses attributs pour le soumettre à des travaux serviles.
For if there is a fall of man in Genesis, it is not in the episode of the apple, which marks a promotion on the contrary, the accession to the knowledge of good and evil, but in this dislocation which broke the original Adam in three, bringing down the man, the woman, then the child, suddenly creating these three unfortunates, the eternal orphaned child, the lonely, frightened woman, always in search of a protector, the light man, alert, but like a king who has been stripped of all his attributes to subject him to servile work.
The author makes a strong case of the idea that good and evil live together in the mind of his fictional character. The paroxysm of opposites seems to haunt him in the crucial moments of his life. The ambivalence of human beings is put into question as the novel evolves. Tiffauges finds it hard to fit in his social role when the community unjustly points a finger at him. Deep inside, he expects that same society to someday redeem him.
A loner by nature, Michel Tournier lived for most of his life secluded in Chevreuse, a commune outside Paris, where he wrote in solitude. His early formation was devoted to Philosophy, an important presence in his fiction. In Le Roi des Aulnes there is no exploration or innovation of formal structures. There is however, luminous originality in the writing: superb richness of language and impeccably built prose, baroque in nature, surrounded by persuasive rhythmic vitality.
Erklönig, Julius Sergius von Klever (1850-1924)
Tournier said he lacked imagination and declared in interviews that the invented parts are minimum in the overall plan of the story. There is a strong influence of Flaubert in his writing that is reflected in specific sections of the plot. Like the 19th century novelist, he saw himself as a collector of stories from history and everyday life. Tiffauges, first a prisoner during the war and gradually engaged by the Nazi regime, is seen as an ogre by the outside world (although he considered himself righteous and noble). But is he really so evil? The question remains opened and is resolved epically in the last scene, biblical in its conception, bringing the mythical figure to human proportions in the grandiose apotheosis of the novel.
Erlkönig, poem by Goethe-music by Franz Schubert
The setting of Goethe’s poem Erlkönig composed by Franz Schubert when he was 18 years old, and performed in this historic video by the legendary Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.
ERLKÖNIG
Who rides so late where winds blow wild?
It is the father grasping his child;
He holds the boy embraced in his arm
He clasps him snugly, he keeps him warm.
"My son, why cover your face in such fear"
"O don't you see the ErlKing near?
The ErlKing with his crown and train!"
"My son, the mist is on the plain."
"Sweet lad, o come and join me, do!
Such pretty games I'll play with you;
On the shore gay flowers their colors unfold
My mother has made you a garment of gold."
"My father, my father, o can you not hear
The promise the ErlKing breathes in my ear?"
"Be calm, stay calm my child, lie low
In withered leaves the night winds blow."
"Will you, sweet lad, come along with me?
My daughters shall care for you tenderly;
In the night my daughters their revelry keep,
They'll rock you and dance you and sing you to sleep."
"My father, my father, o can you not trace
The ErlKing's daughters in that gloomy place?"
"My son, my son, I see it clear
How grey the ancient willows appear."
"I love you, your comeliness charms me, my boy
And if you're not willing, then force I'll employ!"
"Now father, o father, he's seizing my arm
The ErlKing has done me the cruelest harm!"
The father shudders, his ride is wild
In his arms he's holding the shivering child
He reaches home with toil and dread.
In his arms, the child was dead.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
November 19, 2023
A fantastic, fantastical (I am obliged to use 'grotesquerie' here, so let that count), and genuinely unique take on The Final Solution (sadly, not the Pere Ubu song). Tournier is anything but reliable here, that trait being reserved solely for his ability as craftsman. Fuck; I'm seldom dumbstruck by the gewgaw of the feinting gimcrack, but the novelty of this novel is anything but some empty kickshaw. This is an amazing, if testing, parable of the War.
May 9, 2009
Since The Ogre is a book obsessed with taxonomy, heraldry, classification of all kinds, I'll start by saying that the author MIchel Tournier most reminds me of is Thomas Mann. Mann's playful, ironic fictions seem to have fallen out of use these days (I for one can't get over Guy Davenport's comparison of him to James Joyce: "Mann imposes meaning; Joyce finds it; Mann looks for weakness in strength; Joyce, for strength in weakness. Mann's novels illustrate ideas; Joyce's return ideas to their origins."); but reading The Ogre, I was reminded again of how incredibly fun it is to move around in a novel whose reserves are charged, rather than sapped, by a sense of ideal forms. At times, for all its storytelling and scene-setting and narrative capability, this book seems to be more of an ecology than even the most experimental nouveaux romans. Indeed, by the end of it, I got the sense that Tournier is not just system-obsessed, but system-haunted, and that the pages upon pages detailing the main character's private universe were put there as a way to make us see how a modern-day Crusoe (that is, a person who feels completely cut off from human connection) might go about surviving. Loneliness. This book is very lonely. It is also, I think, a testament and warning to anyone who ever spent a year and a half trying to learn Elvish (followed by Dark Elvish, Klingon, and - probably because it was the most strange and "made up sounding" of the languages that my high school offered - Russian). What happens when the world you make in your head takes over? Or, to put it more even handedly (I hope), How do we light the mental/emotional candelabra inside us without eclipsing the very real and consequential world outside us? How do we keep from destroying/being destroyed? In places, Tournier's book may be in a little too much of a hurry the answer these questions, to follow the arrow of its logic. I wanted more of the tide pools. But the last fifty pages or so are legitimately visionary and horrible, an inverted King Matt the First, and worth the momentum.
November 13, 2014
Michel Tournier's Der Erlekonig(a.k.a. The Ogre, a.k.a Le roi des aulnes) accomplishes the remarkable feat of making the reader feel even queasier than does the poem by Goethe from which it takes its name.
I still recall reading Goethe's poem in my last year of High School surrounded by old friends. The Erlekonig is the ogre of the alders lurking in the trees waiting to grab and kill children. In Goethe's poem a child is riding with his father who is driving his horse at a furious gallop hoping to reach home before the dreaded Erlkonig takes the child. Alas it is not to be. The boy dies in the last stanza leaving my friends and I in the class horrified. Goethe indeed created a masterpiece of terror.
Tournier's version of the tale is even more unsettling to the reader. His protagonist is a socially awkward, automobile mechanic who seems to be of rather sub-par intelligence. His name is Able Tiffauges (which is the name of the property of Gilles de Rais the supposed historical model for Blue-Beard). Tiffauges unlike most Catholic men who arew instructed follow in the footsteps of St. Joseph, Tiffauges Saint Christopher as his role model. His great dream is to be a porter of male children. At this point, the reader becomes quite worried, sensing that Tiffauages is a very strange person who could quickly develop into a predatory paedophile. What happens is indeed quite horrible.
Tiffauges enrols in the French army during WWII, is taken prisoner, changes sides and is transferred to the Eastern Front. He is assigned the job of kidnapping Lithuanian boys to be trained as soldiers to be used against the rapidly advancing Russian army. The dimwitted
Tiffauges initially believes that the boys are being trained for an elite officers corps. When he realizes the truth, it is of course too late. Tiffauges tries to redeem himself by saving one of the boys from being killed. He picks a particularly nice Jewish lad and flees. Tiffauges and the boy are soon caught. Tiffauges is killed.
(In the view of some, the author leaves the issue of the boy's survival open although from my view the text suggest that the boy dies as well. The other opinion would have to be based on an interview with the author or same other statement outside of the book itself.)
However the last page is interpreted Der Erlekonig is a profoundly unsettling book. The reader feels ill from the experience of having spent so much time inside the unhealthy mind of Tiffauges. Nonetheless, Tournier's novel is a tour de force. He convinces us that the child-eating ogre of the alders is indeed a reality in our unhappy world.
I still recall reading Goethe's poem in my last year of High School surrounded by old friends. The Erlekonig is the ogre of the alders lurking in the trees waiting to grab and kill children. In Goethe's poem a child is riding with his father who is driving his horse at a furious gallop hoping to reach home before the dreaded Erlkonig takes the child. Alas it is not to be. The boy dies in the last stanza leaving my friends and I in the class horrified. Goethe indeed created a masterpiece of terror.
Tournier's version of the tale is even more unsettling to the reader. His protagonist is a socially awkward, automobile mechanic who seems to be of rather sub-par intelligence. His name is Able Tiffauges (which is the name of the property of Gilles de Rais the supposed historical model for Blue-Beard). Tiffauges unlike most Catholic men who arew instructed follow in the footsteps of St. Joseph, Tiffauges Saint Christopher as his role model. His great dream is to be a porter of male children. At this point, the reader becomes quite worried, sensing that Tiffauages is a very strange person who could quickly develop into a predatory paedophile. What happens is indeed quite horrible.
Tiffauges enrols in the French army during WWII, is taken prisoner, changes sides and is transferred to the Eastern Front. He is assigned the job of kidnapping Lithuanian boys to be trained as soldiers to be used against the rapidly advancing Russian army. The dimwitted
Tiffauges initially believes that the boys are being trained for an elite officers corps. When he realizes the truth, it is of course too late. Tiffauges tries to redeem himself by saving one of the boys from being killed. He picks a particularly nice Jewish lad and flees. Tiffauges and the boy are soon caught. Tiffauges is killed.
(In the view of some, the author leaves the issue of the boy's survival open although from my view the text suggest that the boy dies as well. The other opinion would have to be based on an interview with the author or same other statement outside of the book itself.)
However the last page is interpreted Der Erlekonig is a profoundly unsettling book. The reader feels ill from the experience of having spent so much time inside the unhealthy mind of Tiffauges. Nonetheless, Tournier's novel is a tour de force. He convinces us that the child-eating ogre of the alders is indeed a reality in our unhappy world.
July 13, 2007
The "ogre" of the title is Abel Tiffauges, a French mechanic who first appears a kind of autistic naif, strange rather than frightening in his obsessions (or perversions). It begins in France, 1938, in the years before Hitler's invasion — then as the war progresses, the setting moves eastward, into a winter-world of horror, and ultimately, transcendence — which I admit doesn't tell you much. It's an unusual, demanding novel; to my mind, a work of genius, unlike anything I've ever read, including the other great, equally odd novels of Tournier: Gemini; Friday; The Four Wise Men.
Not a book for the weak-hearted.
Not a book for the weak-hearted.
August 7, 2017
Un viaggio del delirio tra Francia e III Reich che diviene simbolico…
libro affascinante, molto complesso e difficile da riassumere in poche parole. E' un'opera potente, epica e carica di simboli, ma anche realistica, acre e grottesca. Tournier costruisce un protagonista unico, Abel Tiffauges, ossessionato da simboli e predestinazioni, attirato dai bambini di cui vuole farsi "forico" (portatore, nel senso di Cristoforo), in cui la follia disadattata viene magistralmente fatta "percolare" dall'autore tra le righe e le pagine. Le riflessioni sui meccanismi simbolici sono molto fini, quasi filosofiche nel maneggiare una materia spesso orribile e inumana (dai soprusi al collegio fino all'incontro con Goring, per arrivare al castello della HitlerJugend). Potrebbe sembrare un libro pesante, ma Tournier è un grande scrittore, perchè la lettura rimane agevole, anche se molto densa, tra echi di Celine e di Camus, veramente un grande libro!
libro affascinante, molto complesso e difficile da riassumere in poche parole. E' un'opera potente, epica e carica di simboli, ma anche realistica, acre e grottesca. Tournier costruisce un protagonista unico, Abel Tiffauges, ossessionato da simboli e predestinazioni, attirato dai bambini di cui vuole farsi "forico" (portatore, nel senso di Cristoforo), in cui la follia disadattata viene magistralmente fatta "percolare" dall'autore tra le righe e le pagine. Le riflessioni sui meccanismi simbolici sono molto fini, quasi filosofiche nel maneggiare una materia spesso orribile e inumana (dai soprusi al collegio fino all'incontro con Goring, per arrivare al castello della HitlerJugend). Potrebbe sembrare un libro pesante, ma Tournier è un grande scrittore, perchè la lettura rimane agevole, anche se molto densa, tra echi di Celine e di Camus, veramente un grande libro!
August 15, 2013
-Incomodidad y fascinación casi malsana por momentos.-
Género. Novela.
Lo que nos cuenta. Abel Tiffagues es una persona extraña que oscila entre momentos de preclara lucidez y otros de obtusa reinterpretación de la realidad, fruto tal vez de alguna patología, al que su comportamiento lleva a enfrentar importantes problemas con la justicia francesa cuya resolución se ve alterada por la invasión alemana del país en 1941. Novela también conocida como "El ogro".
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Novela.
Lo que nos cuenta. Abel Tiffagues es una persona extraña que oscila entre momentos de preclara lucidez y otros de obtusa reinterpretación de la realidad, fruto tal vez de alguna patología, al que su comportamiento lleva a enfrentar importantes problemas con la justicia francesa cuya resolución se ve alterada por la invasión alemana del país en 1941. Novela también conocida como "El ogro".
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
February 10, 2022
An original, interesting, tragic novel about the odd, strange, gentle Abel Tiffauges’s life, with the first third of the book about his school years and working as a garage mechanic in Paris. The last two thirds set mainly in Germany during World War Two. Abel nearly goes to court trial for the rape of a young girl, with the charges dropped due to the advent of the Second World War. Abel finds himself a German prisoner of war. Abel sees himself as a monster with obscure powers. As a prisoner of war in Germany, he becomes a ranger on the estate of Hermann Goering. Later he joins the SS, stealing children for the Nazis.
I particularly liked the last two thirds of the novel. The first third is not as easily comprehensible as it mainly consists of Abel’s disjointed diary notes.
This book was first published in France in 1970.
I particularly liked the last two thirds of the novel. The first third is not as easily comprehensible as it mainly consists of Abel’s disjointed diary notes.
This book was first published in France in 1970.
Read
September 1, 2012Michel Tournier writes
There’s probably nothing more moving in a man’s life than the accidental discovery of his own perversion.
and:
The very perfection of its functioning and the terrible energy that went into it were enough to exclude him forever, but he knew no machinery is safe from a piece of grit, and that fate was on his side.
and:
The moth flies on wings of love toward the electric light bulb. And when he gets there, close to it, as near as he can be to that which attracts him irresistibly, he doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t know what to do with it. For indeed what can a moth do with an electric lightbulb?
.
There’s probably nothing more moving in a man’s life than the accidental discovery of his own perversion.
and:
The very perfection of its functioning and the terrible energy that went into it were enough to exclude him forever, but he knew no machinery is safe from a piece of grit, and that fate was on his side.
and:
The moth flies on wings of love toward the electric light bulb. And when he gets there, close to it, as near as he can be to that which attracts him irresistibly, he doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t know what to do with it. For indeed what can a moth do with an electric lightbulb?
.
February 24, 2016
Yazarın ilk okuduğum kitabı. Mitolojinin gerçekliğe yedirilmesi çok güzeldi. 2. Dünya Savaşı Nazi Almanyası etkilerini Goethe'nin Kızılağaçlar Kralı şiirinin verdiği esinle erkekte annelik güdülerini anlatmak... Bence hissedilmesi gereken bir deneyim. Başka türlü bakmak isteyenler için.
March 12, 2013
If you wish to be an ogre, then it is very important that you not only be bullied mercilessly, but that you react by choosing someone completely unsuitable as a role model. This is what happens to Abel Tiffauges, the son of an auto mechanic, who despite his height is treated like dirt at a Catholic school and ends by inheriting his father's garage.
Along the way, he develops some strange ideas regarding children. While he is not a pederast and never even attempts to initiate any overt molestation. Yet he is falsely accused by a little girl to whom he has given rides in his car of rape. Just when he is about to be adjudged as guilty of crime, a sympathetic judge frees him providing he joins the army. It is only days before the German invasion of France, and the Phony War is about to turn into a real shooting war.
Before long, Abel is captured by the Germans and sent to a prison camp in East Prussia, where he develops a reputation as a trusted, hard-working prisoner. Because of his ability with motor vehicles, he is transferred to Goering's giant hunting lodge at Rominten, and from there to the napola of Kaltenborn, where he becomes an assistant to a racial theorist named Otto Blaettchen.
These napolas are short for National Political Academies, where German youth are trained to become SS officers. As always, Tiffauges enters into the spirit of the institution and even takes over Blaettchen's position when the latter is transferred to the Eastern Front. In the end, Tiffauges is so successful in finding prototypically Aryan-looking recruits that he develops a fearsome reputation in the Prussian hinterland:
What eventually happens, of course, is that the Russians invade on their way to take Berlin. The ending of Michel Tournier's The Ogre is exceedingly strange, and not altogether successful.
The book does, however, show how one on the borders of evil can still be strangely innocent, while contributing to the overall evils of National Socialism.
The Ogre is probably one of the best French novels of the second half of the Twentieth Century. Tournier succeeds in keeping the reader enthralled from the first page to the last.
Along the way, he develops some strange ideas regarding children. While he is not a pederast and never even attempts to initiate any overt molestation. Yet he is falsely accused by a little girl to whom he has given rides in his car of rape. Just when he is about to be adjudged as guilty of crime, a sympathetic judge frees him providing he joins the army. It is only days before the German invasion of France, and the Phony War is about to turn into a real shooting war.
Before long, Abel is captured by the Germans and sent to a prison camp in East Prussia, where he develops a reputation as a trusted, hard-working prisoner. Because of his ability with motor vehicles, he is transferred to Goering's giant hunting lodge at Rominten, and from there to the napola of Kaltenborn, where he becomes an assistant to a racial theorist named Otto Blaettchen.
These napolas are short for National Political Academies, where German youth are trained to become SS officers. As always, Tiffauges enters into the spirit of the institution and even takes over Blaettchen's position when the latter is transferred to the Eastern Front. In the end, Tiffauges is so successful in finding prototypically Aryan-looking recruits that he develops a fearsome reputation in the Prussian hinterland:
This warning is addressed to all mothers in the areas of Gehlenburg, Sensburg, Loetzen and Lyck!At the napola, the boys (and girls) are raised in a military discipline heavily laden with the ersatz symbolism of a quasi-fictitious Teutonic past.
BEWARE OF THE OGRE OF KALTENBORN!
He is after your children. He roves through our country stealing children. If you have any, never forget the Ogre—he never forgets them! Don't let them go out alone. Teach them to run away and hide if they see a giant on a blue horse with a pack of black hounds. If he comes to see you, don't yield to his threats, don't be taken in by his promises. All mothers should be guided by one certainty: If the Ogre takes your child, you will NEVER see him again!
What eventually happens, of course, is that the Russians invade on their way to take Berlin. The ending of Michel Tournier's The Ogre is exceedingly strange, and not altogether successful.
The book does, however, show how one on the borders of evil can still be strangely innocent, while contributing to the overall evils of National Socialism.
The Ogre is probably one of the best French novels of the second half of the Twentieth Century. Tournier succeeds in keeping the reader enthralled from the first page to the last.
March 2, 2019
One of the weirdest books I have ever read. Très bizarre!
October 5, 2024
Найвідоміший твір Мішеля Турньє за який автора було удостоєно Гонкурівською премією, а згодом екранізовано.
Зірочку ставлю за стиль написання - досить легкий для сприйняття, хоч і в більшості це був суцільний текст і мінімум діалогів. Ще одну зірочку - за досить таки цікаві філософські ідеї.
Далі - це був повний крінж і треш.
В центрі сюжету Авель Тифож - середньостатистичний чоловік, працює в автомайстерні, нічим не примітний, обожнює їсти сире м'ясо і пити молоко. Авель живе досить таки самітницьким, звичайним життям, водночас переживаючи насичене ексцентричне внутрішнє життя. До нього приходить в певний момент розуміння, що в нього є вища місія, певне призначення, він вірить в знаки. Він відкриває в собі ейфоричні почуття від прямого ко��такту з маленькими дітьми. Від ідеї "ейфорії" він переходить до "форії", до ідеї "носіння" - тут слід зазнанчити легенду про велетня, що переносив через річку Христа. Авель відчуває "форичний екстаз" від додаткової ваги, відчуття польоту, легкості, радості спричинене носінням дитини. Отут і починаються зародки його перверзії, він починає сталкерити дітей в школах, фотографувати їх, записувати їхні крики, голоса і прослуховувати їх потім.
Після певного випадку Авеля замість тюрми відправляють на війну, де після купи різних перипетій йому таки вдає��ься здійснити свою місію Людожера. Війна стає засобом втілити в життя всі його нав'язливі ідеї щодо обсесії дітьми. Він ототожнює себе з Вільшаним королем з балади Гете "...де ми бачимо, як батько втікає верхи на коні через поле, ховаючи під плащем свого малого сина, якого Вільшаний Король намагається звабити, і зрештою забирає його силоміць."
Головний герой фактично є латентним педофілом, сталкером та психопатом-маньяком:
- "Посадити дітей у клітки... Моя душа людожера лише зраділа б, побачивши їх там."
- "...хлопʼяче виховання, яке я здобув у Сен-Кристофі, зробило для мене дитину дівочого племені terra incognita, яку я палко прагну дослідити."
- "Не наділений деспотичною силою, яка б дала мені змогу привласнювати дітей, якими я би хотів заволодіти, я намагаюся зловити їх у фотографічну пастку..."
- "...я тримаю на руках поранену дитину, й мене огортає форичний екстаз."
- "Я розпорядився напхати матрац, ковдру та подушку волоссям, яке залишилося після великої стрижки... Яку незвичайну, яку чарівну ніч провів я, лежачи в гніздечку цієї вовни... Запах дитячого поту вдарив мені в голову, і я поринув у щасливе сп"яніння. Я плакав від радости."
- "На відміну від сідниць дорослих людей, цих бугрів мертвого тіла, жирових відкладень, сумних, як верблюжі горби, сіднички дітей є живими й тремтливими, іноді вони здаються худими й запалими, але вже через мить усміхненими й наївно оптимістичними, виразними як обличчя."
Також в Авеля якийсь фетиш до дефекації, що прослідковується впродовж всієї книги:
- "... ми носимо у своєму тілі екзальтований образ землі...Лайно - не що інше, як земля просякнута енергією живого організму...Унітаз може нагородити нас справді царською насолодою, завдяки тиші та спокою..."
- "Запор - головна причина депресії... Людина найбільше переживає, коли перетворюється на мішок із лайном, що ходить на двох ногах. У цьому їй може допомогти лише щасливе й регулярне випорожнення."
- "Щовечора після другого наказу гасити світло -...- він вирушав до нужника й сидів там якомога довше, бо для нього це були найкращі хвилини дня, які вимагали самоти, зосереджености й душевного спокою..."
- "...вся сутність коня в його крупі, й це перетворювало його на Генія Дефекації, Анусного Янгола... такою істотою є Кентавр, у якому людина тілесно злита з Анусним Янголом, де круп вершника й круп коня утворюють один круп, й обоє здобувають у винагороду духм'яні золоті яблука."
І в мене питання, що курив автор коли писав цей твір? Місцями це просто надзвичайно турбуюче та огидно.
Зірочку ставлю за стиль написання - досить легкий для сприйняття, хоч і в більшості це був суцільний текст і мінімум діалогів. Ще одну зірочку - за досить таки цікаві філософські ідеї.
Далі - це був повний крінж і треш.
В центрі сюжету Авель Тифож - середньостатистичний чоловік, працює в автомайстерні, нічим не примітний, обожнює їсти сире м'ясо і пити молоко. Авель живе досить таки самітницьким, звичайним життям, водночас переживаючи насичене ексцентричне внутрішнє життя. До нього приходить в певний момент розуміння, що в нього є вища місія, певне призначення, він вірить в знаки. Він відкриває в собі ейфоричні почуття від прямого ко��такту з маленькими дітьми. Від ідеї "ейфорії" він переходить до "форії", до ідеї "носіння" - тут слід зазнанчити легенду про велетня, що переносив через річку Христа. Авель відчуває "форичний екстаз" від додаткової ваги, відчуття польоту, легкості, радості спричинене носінням дитини. Отут і починаються зародки його перверзії, він починає сталкерити дітей в школах, фотографувати їх, записувати їхні крики, голоса і прослуховувати їх потім.
Після певного випадку Авеля замість тюрми відправляють на війну, де після купи різних перипетій йому таки вдає��ься здійснити свою місію Людожера. Війна стає засобом втілити в життя всі його нав'язливі ідеї щодо обсесії дітьми. Він ототожнює себе з Вільшаним королем з балади Гете "...де ми бачимо, як батько втікає верхи на коні через поле, ховаючи під плащем свого малого сина, якого Вільшаний Король намагається звабити, і зрештою забирає його силоміць."
Головний герой фактично є латентним педофілом, сталкером та психопатом-маньяком:
- "Посадити дітей у клітки... Моя душа людожера лише зраділа б, побачивши їх там."
- "...хлопʼяче виховання, яке я здобув у Сен-Кристофі, зробило для мене дитину дівочого племені terra incognita, яку я палко прагну дослідити."
- "Не наділений деспотичною силою, яка б дала мені змогу привласнювати дітей, якими я би хотів заволодіти, я намагаюся зловити їх у фотографічну пастку..."
- "...я тримаю на руках поранену дитину, й мене огортає форичний екстаз."
- "Я розпорядився напхати матрац, ковдру та подушку волоссям, яке залишилося після великої стрижки... Яку незвичайну, яку чарівну ніч провів я, лежачи в гніздечку цієї вовни... Запах дитячого поту вдарив мені в голову, і я поринув у щасливе сп"яніння. Я плакав від радости."
- "На відміну від сідниць дорослих людей, цих бугрів мертвого тіла, жирових відкладень, сумних, як верблюжі горби, сіднички дітей є живими й тремтливими, іноді вони здаються худими й запалими, але вже через мить усміхненими й наївно оптимістичними, виразними як обличчя."
Також в Авеля якийсь фетиш до дефекації, що прослідковується впродовж всієї книги:
- "... ми носимо у своєму тілі екзальтований образ землі...Лайно - не що інше, як земля просякнута енергією живого організму...Унітаз може нагородити нас справді царською насолодою, завдяки тиші та спокою..."
- "Запор - головна причина депресії... Людина найбільше переживає, коли перетворюється на мішок із лайном, що ходить на двох ногах. У цьому їй може допомогти лише щасливе й регулярне випорожнення."
- "Щовечора після другого наказу гасити світло -...- він вирушав до нужника й сидів там якомога довше, бо для нього це були найкращі хвилини дня, які вимагали самоти, зосереджености й душевного спокою..."
- "...вся сутність коня в його крупі, й це перетворювало його на Генія Дефекації, Анусного Янгола... такою істотою є Кентавр, у якому людина тілесно злита з Анусним Янголом, де круп вершника й круп коня утворюють один круп, й обоє здобувають у винагороду духм'яні золоті яблука."
І в мене питання, що курив автор коли писав цей твір? Місцями це просто надзвичайно турбуюче та огидно.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 8, 2023
İkinci Dünya Savaşı’na çok ilginç noktalardan yaklaşan, okuduğum en değişik metinlerden biri Kızılağaçlar Kralı. 1930’ların sonunda, Fransa’da araba tamirciliği yapan karakterin sevgilisinden ayrılmasının üzerine, yatılı okulda travmalarla geçen yıllarını anımsamasıyla başlıyor kitap. Bu açıdan ‘sıradan’ bir hayat süren biri gibi dursa da aslında zamanın dışında yaşayan tenobur bir dev de olan karakterin hezeyanlarını okuyoruz Abel Tiffauges’in Ürkünç Yazıları başlıklı ilk bölümde. İçsel monolog halinde yazılmış bu ilk bölüm romanın en yavaş ilerleyen kısmı. Fakat bu bölümde yazarın, kendini toplumun dışına itilmiş hisseden karakterin içindeki çatışmalarla beraber ortaya koyduğu siyasi düzen, savaş ve politika eleştirileri çok etkileyiciydi. Sonraki bölümlerde ise karakterimiz kendini İkinci Dünya Savaşı’nın ortasına buluyor ve üzerine onlarca eser okuduğumuz konuya bambaşka gözlerle bakıyoruz bu kez. Tournier, insanın içindeki iyi-kötü çatışmasını, dinler tarihi, mitler ve efsanelerle de paralellik kurarak dünya tarihine yansıtıyor ve özellikle masumiyet, cinsel sapkınlıklar gibi temaların etrafında dolaşarak grotesk bir tarzda savaşı ele alıyor. Bir yandan savaş esnasında karakterin başından geçenlere tanıklık ederken diğer yandan “Yeryüzünde her şeyin simge ve alegori olduğunu anlamak için gereken tek şey sonsuz bir dikkat yeteneği” diyen yazarın din ve mitolojik hikayelerden esinlenerek kullandığı simge ve sembollerle aktardığı dünya tarihi, İkinci Dünya Savaşı özelinde savaş, masumiyet ve iyilik-kötülük üzerine dertlerini çözmeye çalışıyoruz (s.105). Travmaları ve içindeki iyi-kötü çatışmasıyla insan ve bu açıdan insanın tarihe yön verici rolü üzerine fikirleri çok etkileyiciydi. Biraz üzerine kafa yormayı gerektiren ama farklı metinlerden hoşlananlara, sembolik anlatım sevenlere ya da çok farklı bir İkinci Dünya Savaşı romanı okumak isteyenlere öneririm. Ne kadar sevdim sorusunun cevabı hâlâ net değil benim için. Ancak Tournier uzun süredir merak ettiğim bir yazardı, hem bu sebeple hem de gerçekten farklı bir metin olduğu ve üzerine bu kadar yazılmış çizilmiş bir konuya dahi daha önce hiç bakmadığım bir açıdan bakıp, bambaşka yollardan düşünmemi sağladığı için okuduğuma memnunum.
July 6, 2021
Tämä oli monella tasolla hyvin häiritsevä kirja, ja horjuin tähtimäärän kaksi ja neljä välillä - ei siis niin, että kolme olisi ollut vaihtoehto, vain nämä kaksi äärempää päätä. Kirjassa seurataan omalaatuisen autonkorjaamonpitäjän Abel Tiffaugesin tarinaa, joka on joko yksinkertainen, lasten parasta ajatteleva jättiläinen tai sitten pedofiili lapsenraiskaaja - tämä ensimmäisen jakson epäselvyys heittää varjon koko kirjan ylle.
Toinen maailmansota pelastaa Tiffaugesin kuolemantuomiolta ja vie hänet Itä-Preussiin, missä hän päätyy Göringin metsästysoppaaksi ja lopulta Kalterbornin linnaan nuorten saksalaispoikien hoivaajaksi.Koko maailma näyttää olevan Tiffaugesille vain merkkien ja merkitysten kokoelma, ja iso mies löytää roolinsa ja osaamisensa saksalaiskoneiston toimivana osana.
Lopussa kun Saksan tappio on vääjäämätön, kaikki Tiffaugesin linnassa tekemä peilautuu tuhoamisleirien praktiikkaan. Kantajan osaksi tulee viedä hento juutalaispoika turvaan Kalterbornista, ottaa harteilleen koko se raskas taakka, jonka hän on teoillaan luonut.
Toinen maailmansota pelastaa Tiffaugesin kuolemantuomiolta ja vie hänet Itä-Preussiin, missä hän päätyy Göringin metsästysoppaaksi ja lopulta Kalterbornin linnaan nuorten saksalaispoikien hoivaajaksi.Koko maailma näyttää olevan Tiffaugesille vain merkkien ja merkitysten kokoelma, ja iso mies löytää roolinsa ja osaamisensa saksalaiskoneiston toimivana osana.
Lopussa kun Saksan tappio on vääjäämätön, kaikki Tiffaugesin linnassa tekemä peilautuu tuhoamisleirien praktiikkaan. Kantajan osaksi tulee viedä hento juutalaispoika turvaan Kalterbornista, ottaa harteilleen koko se raskas taakka, jonka hän on teoillaan luonut.
Read
September 5, 2019Nem tudom csillagozni.
Bevallom, olvasás közben többször éreztem, hogy ez túl beteg és félreteszem…de jobban hajtott a kíváncsiság, és a végén azért értelmet kapott minden.
Örülök, hogy elolvastam egyszer, de többször biztosan nem fogom kézbe venni.
A.T beteg… a korszak, amelyben él, beteg … de egy gyermek megváltást hozhat… hosszú ideig fog gondolkodnivalót adni ez a könyv.
Bevallom, olvasás közben többször éreztem, hogy ez túl beteg és félreteszem…de jobban hajtott a kíváncsiság, és a végén azért értelmet kapott minden.
Örülök, hogy elolvastam egyszer, de többször biztosan nem fogom kézbe venni.
A.T beteg… a korszak, amelyben él, beteg … de egy gyermek megváltást hozhat… hosszú ideig fog gondolkodnivalót adni ez a könyv.
October 16, 2020
At the end of this story one mystery lingers: Did something magical happen? “If you answer yes,” the book seems to say, “humans are inescapably haunted. If you answer no, people may be safe, but the cost will come elsewhere.” Either way I now see clearly why Prussia suddenly vanished.
What instigates the mystery is the protagonist. Abel Tiffauge is a fairly normal French guy despite thinking of himself as an “ogre” with his over-muscled shoulders. But what’s normal is relative. Who among us hasn’t experienced this: You’re listening to someone you’ve known just a little while. Every sentence he utters makes perfect sense, but you gradually realize that the more he talks, the crazier he sounds. Some strange force subverts the logic of his discourse, and you end up staring, not hearing. Tiffauge has that effect
Our ogre’s conversational detours, however, dazzle rather than annoy. At times he gets caught up in his private notion of the phoric, referring to things that carry. Cars fascinate him because they carry people – anthropophoria. And people carry objects and other people, in their arms and on their shoulders. Ancient spirits might carry things, too, if they existed. Or as another example, purity in Tiffauge’s mind becomes opposed to innocence. Then come his ideas about symbols. What moral status do they possess? Are they able to act own their own? Exceptional meanings, for this man, affect the ordinary incidents of life.
The story and its musings take Tiffauge from the Paris garage he owns to German Prussia during World War II. Once there “the violent bear it away,” as Flannery O’Connor, quoting the Bible, once expressed it. Tiffauge’s changed environment eerily resembles The Erl-King, a mythic 19th century poem by Prussia’s own Goethe. Tiffauge’s passions soon become entwined with Prussia’s destiny. As the war reaches its climax and the Russian Army pours over Germany’s borders, we learn who Tiffauge takes himself to be and what he intends.
This novel ranks high for its originality and style. Because the particulars of the story also appeal to my own tastes, I give The Ogre the highest rating. Indeed, this book won France’s top literary award in 1970 – that’s one of the reasons I ordered it. Barbara Bray has done a fine translation which reads smoothly in English. This provocative tale never actually insists anything mystical took place within its ken. Yet on the whole a phoric spirit enfolds the plot.
What instigates the mystery is the protagonist. Abel Tiffauge is a fairly normal French guy despite thinking of himself as an “ogre” with his over-muscled shoulders. But what’s normal is relative. Who among us hasn’t experienced this: You’re listening to someone you’ve known just a little while. Every sentence he utters makes perfect sense, but you gradually realize that the more he talks, the crazier he sounds. Some strange force subverts the logic of his discourse, and you end up staring, not hearing. Tiffauge has that effect
Our ogre’s conversational detours, however, dazzle rather than annoy. At times he gets caught up in his private notion of the phoric, referring to things that carry. Cars fascinate him because they carry people – anthropophoria. And people carry objects and other people, in their arms and on their shoulders. Ancient spirits might carry things, too, if they existed. Or as another example, purity in Tiffauge’s mind becomes opposed to innocence. Then come his ideas about symbols. What moral status do they possess? Are they able to act own their own? Exceptional meanings, for this man, affect the ordinary incidents of life.
The story and its musings take Tiffauge from the Paris garage he owns to German Prussia during World War II. Once there “the violent bear it away,” as Flannery O’Connor, quoting the Bible, once expressed it. Tiffauge’s changed environment eerily resembles The Erl-King, a mythic 19th century poem by Prussia’s own Goethe. Tiffauge’s passions soon become entwined with Prussia’s destiny. As the war reaches its climax and the Russian Army pours over Germany’s borders, we learn who Tiffauge takes himself to be and what he intends.
This novel ranks high for its originality and style. Because the particulars of the story also appeal to my own tastes, I give The Ogre the highest rating. Indeed, this book won France’s top literary award in 1970 – that’s one of the reasons I ordered it. Barbara Bray has done a fine translation which reads smoothly in English. This provocative tale never actually insists anything mystical took place within its ken. Yet on the whole a phoric spirit enfolds the plot.
November 2, 2014
Like some others said: a beautiful and strange novel. I first read this book in the early 1990’s, and wanted to know if I would still find it as powerful and haunting some twenty years later (I did). Three comments though. One: the parts about the woods and the “hyperborean light” of the East Prussian heath are what’s it all about (the stuff about France is –in my opinion- a sort of very long though enjoyable prelude). The final two stages (Rominten and Kaltenborn) of Abel Tiffauges’ long eastward trip towards the burning villages of the collapsing Third Reich will definitely not leave you unmoved. Two: I found the ending of the book (the last twenty pages or so) slightly over the top and a bit hurried. Three: the book could have used some editing, it wouldn’t have been too bad if some of the more pretentious bits would have been cut. Tournier sometimes just rambles on and on and on about Tiffauges puzzling hang-ups. I’m sure the book would still do just fine with about thirty or forty pages less. Still, all in all, a wonderful book, which made me think of some of Anselm Kiefer’s early paintings repeatedly, and a worthwhile companion (though not a real rival) to that other dark and surreal World War 2 masterpiece: Curzio Malaparte’s “Kaputt”.
June 22, 2016
This is the weirdest WWII book I've read yet.
The Erl-King deals with the question of what happens to the sinister in times of war: people who likely, and in this case definitely, would have ended up in the penal system - what happens when they slip through the net and into a society of upheaval.
At least, I think that's what it was mostly about?
Over the Erl King's six uneven sections we follow the life of Abel Tiffaugues, switching sporadically between his whimsical narrative and the third person. Abel's a bemusing character: all at once gentle giant and a self-declared, unyielding predator.
And he preys, for the most part, on young children.
Much of the novel is about Abel justifying his pedophilia: from disturbing episodes of power-play in his catholic school to bizarre analogies to the ‘Euphoric’ tales of St. Christopher. Although there is never any explicit sexual abuse, the devoted attention he bestows on children is oftentimes incredibly disturbing:
And the means to which he acquires said children only highlights his blinkered devotion.
Offsetting the dramatic themes of Abel’s predatory nature and his interactions with the Nazis are splendid naturalist passages set in Reichsjägerhof Rominten, a gorgeous hunting lodge in Prussia surrounded by forests and deer.
Tournier’s eye and ear for the outdoors infuses the book and, alongside Tiffauger’s musings, the narrative often feels like it's wallowing in hedonism. .
Abel’s perversions extend to animals too: I’ve honestly never read so much praise about pigeons. There’s also some really great moments with his horse BlueBeard. He goes into some detail about horses defecating and how they're really elegant about it and so they're basically Anal Angels.
ANAL ANGELS.
Abel is riding one through town and it takes a poo and he vividly describes the back arching, the bum clenching, the sound of it plooping into the street and imagines that it is him doing it. And is proud.
The blurb doesn’t prepare you for THAT, does it?
The Erl-King is a solid 3-stars despite the intrigue. For one it was a chore to read, never being quite beautiful or odd enough that I could forgive the meandering plot. It’s a very long book in which only a few key events happen. The language is flowery and full of hidden meaning, I imagine much of it lost in translation. For example the first section of the book is penned by Abel’s left hand, his right being injured, and is called ‘Sinister Writings of Tiffauges’, at least my rudimentary French allowed me to catch that one but how many others were missed?
I’m also not really sure what this book is meant to be and who it’s for. It’s not necessarily a war story, if anything the war allows Abel to prey on his desires unbounded. If it had stayed with Abel’s narrative for the entire book one could argue that it is a character study but of course it does not.
Like Abel himself, the book doesn’t quite fall into any bin.
I’m not sure if it’s worth reading, but if you can try it in the original French.
The Erl-King deals with the question of what happens to the sinister in times of war: people who likely, and in this case definitely, would have ended up in the penal system - what happens when they slip through the net and into a society of upheaval.
At least, I think that's what it was mostly about?
Over the Erl King's six uneven sections we follow the life of Abel Tiffaugues, switching sporadically between his whimsical narrative and the third person. Abel's a bemusing character: all at once gentle giant and a self-declared, unyielding predator.
And he preys, for the most part, on young children.
Much of the novel is about Abel justifying his pedophilia: from disturbing episodes of power-play in his catholic school to bizarre analogies to the ‘Euphoric’ tales of St. Christopher. Although there is never any explicit sexual abuse, the devoted attention he bestows on children is oftentimes incredibly disturbing:
The honey secreted in their ears is as golden as bees’, but tastes so quintessentially bitter it would repel anyone but me.
And the means to which he acquires said children only highlights his blinkered devotion.
Offsetting the dramatic themes of Abel’s predatory nature and his interactions with the Nazis are splendid naturalist passages set in Reichsjägerhof Rominten, a gorgeous hunting lodge in Prussia surrounded by forests and deer.
Tournier’s eye and ear for the outdoors infuses the book and, alongside Tiffauger’s musings, the narrative often feels like it's wallowing in hedonism. .
Abel’s perversions extend to animals too: I’ve honestly never read so much praise about pigeons. There’s also some really great moments with his horse BlueBeard. He goes into some detail about horses defecating and how they're really elegant about it and so they're basically Anal Angels.
ANAL ANGELS.
Abel is riding one through town and it takes a poo and he vividly describes the back arching, the bum clenching, the sound of it plooping into the street and imagines that it is him doing it. And is proud.
The blurb doesn’t prepare you for THAT, does it?
The Erl-King is a solid 3-stars despite the intrigue. For one it was a chore to read, never being quite beautiful or odd enough that I could forgive the meandering plot. It’s a very long book in which only a few key events happen. The language is flowery and full of hidden meaning, I imagine much of it lost in translation. For example the first section of the book is penned by Abel’s left hand, his right being injured, and is called ‘Sinister Writings of Tiffauges’, at least my rudimentary French allowed me to catch that one but how many others were missed?
I’m also not really sure what this book is meant to be and who it’s for. It’s not necessarily a war story, if anything the war allows Abel to prey on his desires unbounded. If it had stayed with Abel’s narrative for the entire book one could argue that it is a character study but of course it does not.
Like Abel himself, the book doesn’t quite fall into any bin.
I’m not sure if it’s worth reading, but if you can try it in the original French.
May 9, 2012
Disturbing an powerful, the Ogre takes the reader through the scary psychology of totalitarian thinking by exploring the mind of a Nazi scientist during WWII.
When Michel Tournier is mentioned to someone, you often hear comments like: "Isn't that the author who could only write about human sexual perversions?", but if you examine his work more deeply, you'll see that there is a lot more to his writing than that.
"The Ogre" is Tournier’s second novel. It begins by telling us the story of a French mechanic named Abel Tiffauges, living during the end of 1930's, who one day injures his right hand. This random occurrence sets the character on a disturbing journey the reader gets to witness in horrid fascination.
This intriguing novel is divided into six segments, from which the first (and the longest) is the most fascinating. It deals with this multi-dimensional character's past and present through one year's worth of diary entries- which he starts writing with his left hand after the previously mentioned accident. By the end of the segment this strange character of Abel Tiffauges with his peculiar habits and personality feels extremely real and deep, hence securing the feeling of reality for the whole artistically written book. The segment ends as Tiffauges stops writing after the beginning of the war between France and Germany.
The first segment is followed by three weaker segments which, unlike the first one, are told in a traditional third-person narrating and are filled with surprisingly unlikely coincidences and contrived events as they depict Tiffauges' journey through Nazi-Germany, first as a French soldier, then as a prisoner of war, and finally a ranger.
Then the novel improves again as it gets to its fifth segment, which almost raises to the level of the first one. It shows us an intriguing transformation process as, again by ridiculously unbelievable coincidences, Tiffauges ends up becoming an SS-officer and an instructor in a Hitler-Jugend training facility.
Step by step this at first reluctant character grows more and more fascinated with antisemitism and the complex eugenic assumptions about racial differences. The segment is dark and unsettling, as it describes a transformation in which Tiffauges gets divided psychologically and ultimately can't separate reality from what he's been taught. The reader goes through the same process. Tournier has an uncanny ability to take a reader’s mind and mold momentarily through the viewpoint of what you would assume would be completely unrelatable characters.
In the sixth and final segment the reader gets to witness Tiffauges's journey through chaos as he experiences an enlightenment that leads to his understanding of his own inner evil and eventually carries him into self-destruction. This process is unevenly illuminated and it occurs suddenly, seemingly not leading towards any sorts of conclusions. The ending of the book is blurry, and it leaves the reader frustrated but intrigued with issues unfinished and not dealt with.
In the end "The Ogre" is a book that I recommend to anyone, even though many people will probably not like it as much as I did. And I did. A lot. Despite all my criticism about the structure and pacing.
When Michel Tournier is mentioned to someone, you often hear comments like: "Isn't that the author who could only write about human sexual perversions?", but if you examine his work more deeply, you'll see that there is a lot more to his writing than that.
"The Ogre" is Tournier’s second novel. It begins by telling us the story of a French mechanic named Abel Tiffauges, living during the end of 1930's, who one day injures his right hand. This random occurrence sets the character on a disturbing journey the reader gets to witness in horrid fascination.
This intriguing novel is divided into six segments, from which the first (and the longest) is the most fascinating. It deals with this multi-dimensional character's past and present through one year's worth of diary entries- which he starts writing with his left hand after the previously mentioned accident. By the end of the segment this strange character of Abel Tiffauges with his peculiar habits and personality feels extremely real and deep, hence securing the feeling of reality for the whole artistically written book. The segment ends as Tiffauges stops writing after the beginning of the war between France and Germany.
The first segment is followed by three weaker segments which, unlike the first one, are told in a traditional third-person narrating and are filled with surprisingly unlikely coincidences and contrived events as they depict Tiffauges' journey through Nazi-Germany, first as a French soldier, then as a prisoner of war, and finally a ranger.
Then the novel improves again as it gets to its fifth segment, which almost raises to the level of the first one. It shows us an intriguing transformation process as, again by ridiculously unbelievable coincidences, Tiffauges ends up becoming an SS-officer and an instructor in a Hitler-Jugend training facility.
Step by step this at first reluctant character grows more and more fascinated with antisemitism and the complex eugenic assumptions about racial differences. The segment is dark and unsettling, as it describes a transformation in which Tiffauges gets divided psychologically and ultimately can't separate reality from what he's been taught. The reader goes through the same process. Tournier has an uncanny ability to take a reader’s mind and mold momentarily through the viewpoint of what you would assume would be completely unrelatable characters.
In the sixth and final segment the reader gets to witness Tiffauges's journey through chaos as he experiences an enlightenment that leads to his understanding of his own inner evil and eventually carries him into self-destruction. This process is unevenly illuminated and it occurs suddenly, seemingly not leading towards any sorts of conclusions. The ending of the book is blurry, and it leaves the reader frustrated but intrigued with issues unfinished and not dealt with.
In the end "The Ogre" is a book that I recommend to anyone, even though many people will probably not like it as much as I did. And I did. A lot. Despite all my criticism about the structure and pacing.
October 17, 2012
Dopada mi se kako su Svetlana i Franja Termacic preveli Turnijeov roman. Posebno je zanimljivo kako su resili nedoumicu oko naziva.
U francuskom originalu, roman je nazvan "Le roi des aulnes", doslovno prevedeno - Kralj jovà.
Posto su Termacici smatrali da takav naziv zvuci prilicno nespretno,
odlucili su se za Kralja Vilovnjaka i tako ucinili jasnom aluziju na Geteovu pesmu koja se pominje u romanu.
Dalje, "Le roi des aulnes" je francuski prevod pomenute Geteove pesme "Der Erlkönig".
Aleksa Santic je pesmu nazvao Bauk.
Rec bauk, koja je hipokoristik za medveda (Srpski mitoloski recnik) nije pak adekvatna skandinavsko-germanskom Erlkönigu.
Naposletku, Danilo Kis je, na predlog Termacica, preveo pesmu, okrunivsi Kralja Vilovnjaka i ne izneverivsi Geteov duh.
Kralj Vilovnjak
J. V. Gete
Ko jaše kroz vetar ogrnut tminom?
To je otac sa svojim sinom;
Čvrsto dečaka stiska na grudi,
Grli ga brižno, štiti ga od studi.
Sine, zašto skrivaš lice iza šaka? –
Zar ne vidiš, oče, Kralja-Vilovnjaka?
Vilovnjaka sa plaštom i s krunom ko plamen? –
To je, sine, samo magle pramen. –
“Milo dete, kreni sa mnom i ne strepi!
Igraću se s tobom igara lepih;
Na sprudu šareno cveće cvati,
Odežde od zlata ima moja mati.”
Zar ne čuješ, oče, Vilovnjak me zove,
Tiho obećava mnoge igre nove? –
Smiri se, sine, spokojan budi:
To kroz mrtvo lišće vetar bludi. –
“Dečače, k meni korake usmeri,
Lepo će te moje dočekati kćeri;
Moje kćeri vode noćnu igru svoju,
Tebe uljuljkuju, igraju ti, poju.”
Oče, zar ne vidiš kćeri Vilovnjaka
Onamo u predelima mraka? –
Vidim, sine, pogled me ne vara:
Srebrnim sjajem svetli vrba stara. –
“Volim te, zanet sam tvojim lepim stasom;
Ne kreneš li milom, oteću te, časom.”
Oče, oče, sad me zgrabio iz mraka!
Boli me zagrljaj Kralja-Vilovnjaka!
Oca prože jeza, pa jurnu još jače,
A u naručju mu dete rida, plače;
U dvorište s mukom i skršan ulete,
A u zagrljaju već mu mrtvo dete.
Roman opor.
Prva glava je pisana u prvom licu (Zlokobni Zapisi Abela Tifoza), kasnija poglavlja vodi pero sveznajuceg pripovedaca da bi se, povremeno, opet uplele lucidne i opskurne stranice Zlokobnih Zapisa.
Fina recenica, krhka, veoma lepo izvajana. Cesto veoma duboka, mudra uz opulentni zacin tifozevskog cinizma.
Upravo taj tifozevski cinizam ovo delo cini posebnim!
U Tifozu slutim tamu, gustu i grimiznu, kao kada se kroz zdenac meka predvecerja sluti kisa koja tinja i pucketa nad zemljom.
U ovom romanu ima necega duboko potresnog. Iskonskog.
Svakako neceg dragog a izgubljenog.
Kao kada se pod cipkom na klaviru cuva talir il' pero, nekakav spomen, celov na rubu maramice.
Uplitanje rata (Drugi svetski rat) unosi teskobu medju redove.
Bol koja ogrce svet dok gorko mirise paralizovana misao, to usahlo meso.
Tifoz, s pocetka introvertan, u trenu kada dobija golubove na cuvanje, razodeva posvecenost, neznost, ljubav cak!
Vrlo je lepa gradacija zivotinja koje simbolisu Tifozev emotivni pomak. Golub - jelen - konj.
Traziti oprost u urusenoj kapeli secanja, sanjati trgovce golubijim perjem koji sapucu da svet nije izgubljen od Empatije.
U francuskom originalu, roman je nazvan "Le roi des aulnes", doslovno prevedeno - Kralj jovà.
Posto su Termacici smatrali da takav naziv zvuci prilicno nespretno,
odlucili su se za Kralja Vilovnjaka i tako ucinili jasnom aluziju na Geteovu pesmu koja se pominje u romanu.
Dalje, "Le roi des aulnes" je francuski prevod pomenute Geteove pesme "Der Erlkönig".
Aleksa Santic je pesmu nazvao Bauk.
Rec bauk, koja je hipokoristik za medveda (Srpski mitoloski recnik) nije pak adekvatna skandinavsko-germanskom Erlkönigu.
Naposletku, Danilo Kis je, na predlog Termacica, preveo pesmu, okrunivsi Kralja Vilovnjaka i ne izneverivsi Geteov duh.
Kralj Vilovnjak
J. V. Gete
Ko jaše kroz vetar ogrnut tminom?
To je otac sa svojim sinom;
Čvrsto dečaka stiska na grudi,
Grli ga brižno, štiti ga od studi.
Sine, zašto skrivaš lice iza šaka? –
Zar ne vidiš, oče, Kralja-Vilovnjaka?
Vilovnjaka sa plaštom i s krunom ko plamen? –
To je, sine, samo magle pramen. –
“Milo dete, kreni sa mnom i ne strepi!
Igraću se s tobom igara lepih;
Na sprudu šareno cveće cvati,
Odežde od zlata ima moja mati.”
Zar ne čuješ, oče, Vilovnjak me zove,
Tiho obećava mnoge igre nove? –
Smiri se, sine, spokojan budi:
To kroz mrtvo lišće vetar bludi. –
“Dečače, k meni korake usmeri,
Lepo će te moje dočekati kćeri;
Moje kćeri vode noćnu igru svoju,
Tebe uljuljkuju, igraju ti, poju.”
Oče, zar ne vidiš kćeri Vilovnjaka
Onamo u predelima mraka? –
Vidim, sine, pogled me ne vara:
Srebrnim sjajem svetli vrba stara. –
“Volim te, zanet sam tvojim lepim stasom;
Ne kreneš li milom, oteću te, časom.”
Oče, oče, sad me zgrabio iz mraka!
Boli me zagrljaj Kralja-Vilovnjaka!
Oca prože jeza, pa jurnu još jače,
A u naručju mu dete rida, plače;
U dvorište s mukom i skršan ulete,
A u zagrljaju već mu mrtvo dete.
Roman opor.
Prva glava je pisana u prvom licu (Zlokobni Zapisi Abela Tifoza), kasnija poglavlja vodi pero sveznajuceg pripovedaca da bi se, povremeno, opet uplele lucidne i opskurne stranice Zlokobnih Zapisa.
Fina recenica, krhka, veoma lepo izvajana. Cesto veoma duboka, mudra uz opulentni zacin tifozevskog cinizma.
Upravo taj tifozevski cinizam ovo delo cini posebnim!
U Tifozu slutim tamu, gustu i grimiznu, kao kada se kroz zdenac meka predvecerja sluti kisa koja tinja i pucketa nad zemljom.
U ovom romanu ima necega duboko potresnog. Iskonskog.
Svakako neceg dragog a izgubljenog.
Kao kada se pod cipkom na klaviru cuva talir il' pero, nekakav spomen, celov na rubu maramice.
Uplitanje rata (Drugi svetski rat) unosi teskobu medju redove.
Bol koja ogrce svet dok gorko mirise paralizovana misao, to usahlo meso.
Tifoz, s pocetka introvertan, u trenu kada dobija golubove na cuvanje, razodeva posvecenost, neznost, ljubav cak!
Vrlo je lepa gradacija zivotinja koje simbolisu Tifozev emotivni pomak. Golub - jelen - konj.
Traziti oprost u urusenoj kapeli secanja, sanjati trgovce golubijim perjem koji sapucu da svet nije izgubljen od Empatije.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 157 reviews