The Tyrant - Softcover

Jacques Chessex

Softcover

ISBN 10: 190473894X ISBN 13: 9781904738947

Publisher: BITTER LEMON PRESS, 2012

Synopsis

A haunting work, reminiscent of Albert Camus, which portrays, with exquisite psychological detail, the emotional crisis in the life of Jean Calmet, a young Swiss schoolteacher. As novel opens with the fatherĘs cremation, conveying the sense that, even though his fatherĘs body has been reduced to ashes, his spirit survives to haunt Jean. His fatherĘs prodigious vitality and virility had crushed his family and ruined his sonĘs childhood. Even after his fatherĘs death, Jean cannot be free. The parental ogreĘs actions continue to suck Jean into a vortex of despair.

About this title

Product Description:

Rare Book

Review:

'This extraordinary work is a lean, modern narrative that scrutinises the irredeemable effects of a monstrous father on an emotional child and becomes a study of the damaged adult.The book in its richness of language and intensity of feeling won Chessex the Prix Goncourt. Those qualities are powerfully apparent in Martin Sokolinsky's translation.'The Independent

'A complex, psychological study which shines a light on masculinity and the nature of men, the need for freedom and for absolution through the apportioning of blame, and the skewed perspective that time and death can offer.' Irish Examiner

'First published in France in 1973, this unbearably sad novel from Swiss author Chessex, the first non-French writer to win the Prix Goncourt, charts a man's slow but steady path toward tragedy.Chessex perfectly captures the juxtaposition of the profound and the banal in a surreal scene where a mortuary representative hawks different models of urns to hold cremated remains. Jean's burden of guilt only grows heavier with time, and the denouement will strike many as pathetically inevitable.' Publishers Weekly
This extraordinary work is a lean, modern narrative that scrutinises the irredeemable effects of a monstrous father on an emotional child and becomes a study of the damaged adult.The book in its richness of language and intensity of feeling won Chessex the Prix Goncourt. Those qualities are powerfully apparent in Martin Sokolinsky's translation.'The Independent
'A complex, psychological study which shines a light on masculinity and the nature of men, the need for freedom and for absolution through the apportioning of blame, and the skewed perspective that time and death can offer. Irish Examiner
First published in France in 1973, this unbearably sad novel from Swiss author Chessex, the first non-French writer to win the Prix Goncourt, charts a man s slow but steady path toward tragedy.Chessex perfectly captures the juxtaposition of the profound and the banal in a surreal scene where a mortuary representative hawks different models of urns to hold cremated remains. Jean s burden of guilt only grows heavier with time, and the denouement will strike many as pathetically inevitable. Publishers Weekly"
'This extraordinary work is a lean, modern narrative that scrutinises the irredeemable effects of a monstrous father on an emotional child and becomes a study of the damaged adult.The book in its richness of language and intensity of feeling won Chessex the Prix Goncourt. Those qualities are powerfully apparent in Martin Sokolinsky's translation.'The Independent

'A complex, psychological study which shines a light on masculinity and the nature of men, the need for freedom and for absolution through the apportioning of blame, and the skewed perspective that time and death can offer.' Irish Examiner

'First published in France in 1973, this unbearably sad novel from Swiss author Chessex, the first non-French writer to win the Prix Goncourt, charts a man's slow but steady path toward tragedy.Chessex perfectly captures the juxtaposition of the profound and the banal in a surreal scene where a mortuary representative hawks different models of urns to hold cremated remains. Jean's burden of guilt only grows heavier with time, and the denouement will strike many as pathetically inevitable.' Publishers Weekly

About this edition

• Publisher: BITTER LEMON PRESS
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 190473894X
• ISBN 13: 9781904738947
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 202