Therese and Isabelle - Softcover

Violette Leduc

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0956808212 ISBN 13: 9780956808219

Publisher: Salammbo Press, 2012

Synopsis

Censored in France in 1954, Therese and Isabelle was published for the first time in its full original version in 2000. Leduc's novella follows the story of a passionate love affair between two schoolgirls, aiming to describe 'as exactly, as minutely as possible the sensations of physical love'.

About this title

Review

'Thérèse and Isabelle is written with unflinching sincerity and Leduc's progressive attitude and experimental style confirm it as one of the greatest examples of French-language erotic literature." - Olivia Heal, TLS

'But if the uncensored Thérèse and Isabelle reads like a fever-dream, to many it represents a long-awaited panacea.' - Thea Lenarduzzi, Literary Review

'Thunderbolts of illicit love. A classy new translation of Leduc's masterpiece on the tyranny of love.' - Independent

'Reading Leduc is like discovering a whole new nervous system.'- Deborah Levy

'So here we have extraordinary writing about sex; and, more importantly, about love, and the way it makes us feel.' --Nicholas Lezard, Guardian

'The art of writing about love.' - The Guardian

'Lesbian story ban is lifted.' - The Observer

'The reticence and languor of Therese and Isabelle renews an erotic tradition that today has become banal.' - Liberation

'Who's better at describing the first innocence of desire, the beauty of clandestine and shared love, the force of female tenderness?' - Le Matricule des Anges

'This unabridged version restores, breathless, the intimate crescendo of an erotic journey, the murmur of each emotion. A woman's body discovers sensuality under the pen of a writer who's given her flesh to her writing.' --Le Magazine Litteraire

With so much to recommend Leduc s work, it is a mystery as to why she doesn t receive more accolades. Perhaps it is due to Leduc s trademark forthright style; as de Beauvoir commented in her foreword to Leduc s most well-known work, La Bâtarde, she she doesn t please; in fact, she alarms people . Violette Leduc deserves to be reclaimed and enjoyed by a new generation of readers; these are lesbian classics, patiently waiting to be re-discovered. --Sarah Cope, DIVA magazine

About the Author

Admired by Jean Genet, Nathalie Sarraute and Albert Camus, Violette Leduc (1907-1972) was championed by Simone de Beauvoir when she published her scandalous autobiography La Batarde (1964). Like 'Therese and Isabelle', many of her audacious novels are largely inspired by her life. Her vibrant and lyrical prose continues to fascinate new generations of writers around the world.

Edition details

• Publisher: Salammbo Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0956808212
• ISBN 13: 9780956808219
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 140