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Loading... Balcony in the Forest (1958)| 311 | 7 | 84,971 | 
(4.09) | 18 | It is the fall of 1939, and Lieutenant Grange and his men are living in a chalet above a concrete bunker deep in the Ardennes forest, charged with defending the French-Belgian border against the Germans in a war that seems unreal, distant, and unlikely. Far more immediate is the earthy life of the forest itself and the deep sensations of childhood it recalls from Grange's memory. Ostensibly readying for war, Grange instead spends his time observing the change in seasons, falling in love with a young free-spirited widow, and contemplating the absurd stasis of his present condition. This novel of long takes, dream states, and little dramatic action culminates abruptly in battle, an event that is as much the real incursion of the German army into France as it is the sudden intrusion of death into the suspended disbelief of life. Richard Howard's skilled translation captures the fairy-tale otherworldliness and existential dread of this unusual, elusive novel (first published in 1958) by the supreme prose stylist Julien Gracq.… (more) |
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| Epigraph |
He ! ho ! Waldhüter ihr
Schlafhüter mitsammen
So wacht doch mindest am Morgen.
Heigh! Ho! Forest Guardians!
Guardians of Sleep as well-
Waken at least with the dawn.
WAGNER: Parsifal  | |
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Neither document nor testimony (Gracq's own experiences in World War II were on an entirely different front, and in altogether other circumstances), Balcony in the Forest, Gracq's fourth novel, and actually the precipitate of the encounter between a certain historical situation, one that was very unstable and indeed fugative, and the inclination of the author's fantasy, is the only one of this author's fictions - among so many legends, romances gestes - which can be presumed to be realistic. (Translator's Foreword) Ever since his train had outdistanced the smoke and the suburbs of Charleville, it seemed to Lieutenant Grange that the world's ugliness was disappearing with them: he discovered there was no longer a single house in sight. | |
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And what a boon to the translator of 1958, then, in what became the novel's final sentence, suggesting the kind of overdetermined, lyric necessity of this musical, mysterious text: "He lay for a moment more with his eyes wide open in the darkness.... Then he pulled the blanket up over his head and went to sleep." (Translator's Forward) (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.) | |
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▾References References to this work on external resources.  Wikipedia in English
None ▾Book descriptions It is the fall of 1939, and Lieutenant Grange and his men are living in a chalet above a concrete bunker deep in the Ardennes forest, charged with defending the French-Belgian border against the Germans in a war that seems unreal, distant, and unlikely. Far more immediate is the earthy life of the forest itself and the deep sensations of childhood it recalls from Grange's memory. Ostensibly readying for war, Grange instead spends his time observing the change in seasons, falling in love with a young free-spirited widow, and contemplating the absurd stasis of his present condition. This novel of long takes, dream states, and little dramatic action culminates abruptly in battle, an event that is as much the real incursion of the German army into France as it is the sudden intrusion of death into the suspended disbelief of life. Richard Howard's skilled translation captures the fairy-tale otherworldliness and existential dread of this unusual, elusive novel (first published in 1958) by the supreme prose stylist Julien Gracq. ▾Library descriptions No library descriptions found. ▾LibraryThing members' description
| Book description |
English translation edition by Richard Howard:
It was autumn, 1939, the beginning of the "phony" war. Lieutenant Grange was assigned to command the isolated French blockhouse at Hautes Falizes, in the middle of the forest near the Belgian border and the Meuse River.
While Grange and his men fearfully, yet impatiently, await the expected German attack, they fall victim to the peaceful unreality of the forest and the river. Occasionally, detachments pass through; the General Staff, disorganized and bewildered, issues conflicting orders; rumours flourish. But in the little forest outpost time stands still, the war fades into the background, and the world which they are supposedly defending begins to lose its significance.
During the fall and winter Grange has a passionate affair with Mona, the lovely, blonde, child-widow whom he encounters in the forest. And then the spring comes, and with it the rude reality of the German avalanche.
In a sense Grange represents anyone living in a time of great danger, faced by a future filled with uncertainties. Life, for him, exists only in the here and now. And yet, he is more fortunate than many, for in his winter idyl with Mona in the enchanted forest he has a period of grace to find his true identity. | |
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We follow an officer named Grange who commands a small unit somewhere in a forest in the Ardennes. He spends his days walking in the forest, visiting a nearby village, and even meeting a sprite-like lover. His experience is the core of this novel, his thoughts and meditations about life, war and nature. We know very few of the external details for any of the characters and there is a dream-like quality throughout this book.
The language is exquisite and while the book is quite simple in its concept, it is memorable because of the universality of themes it touches so subtly. (