LA JEUNE FILLE A LA PERLE - Softcover

CHEVALIER, Tracy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 284666014X ISBN 13: 9782846660143

Publisher: A VUE D OEIL, 2003

Synopsis

La jeune et ravissante Griet est engagée comme servante dans la maison du peintre Vermeer. Nous sommes à Delft, la ville est aussi prospère que rigide. Griet s'occupe du ménage et des six enfants de Vermeer en s'efforçant d'amadouer l'épouse, la belle-mère et la gouvernante. Au fil du temps, la douceur de la jeune fille, sa vivacité, sa sensibilité émeuvent le maître. Il l'introduit dans son univers. A mesure que s'affirme leur intimité, la tension et la suspicion s'installent dans la maisonnée et le scandale se propage dans la ville. " J'ai écrit ce livre parce que j'ai toujours été fascinée par le tableau de Vermeer, La jeune fille à la perle. À quoi pense-t-elle ? Parfois, elle semble vouloir séduire, parfois elle paraît triste. Parfois on croit qu'elle a treize ans et d'autres trente ans. Je me demandais ce que Vermeer avait bien pu dire ou faire pour qu'elle ait un tel regard. De cette interrogation est né ce roman. "

About this title

Review

Chevalier brings the real artist Vermeer and a fictional muse to life in a jewel of a novel. ("TIME") A vibrant, sumptuous novel... triumphant... a beautifully written tale that mirrors the elegance of the painting that inspired it. ("The Wall Street Journal") Chevalier has so vividly imagined the life of the painter and his subject. ("Milwaukee Journal Sentinel") [Chevalier] creates a world reminiscent of a Vermeer interior: suspended in a particular moment, it transcends its time and place. ("The New Yorker") Marvelously evocative. ("The New York Times") Lustrous. ("Entertainment Weekly")

"Chevalier brings the real artist Vermeer and a fictional muse to life in a jewel
of a novel." --Time
"A vibrant, sumptuous novel... triumphant... a beautifully written tale that
mirrors the elegance of the painting that inspired it." --The Wall Street Journal
"Chevalier has so vividly imagined the life of the painter and his subject."
--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"[Chevalier] creates a world reminiscent of a Vermeer interior: suspended in a
particular moment, it transcends its time and place." --The New Yorker
"Marvelously evocative." --The New York Times
"Lustrous." --Entertainment Weekly

About the Author

"I was born and grew up in Washington, DC. After getting a BA in English from Oberlin College (Ohio), I moved to London, England in 1984. I intended to stay 6 months; I'm still here.

"As a kid I'd often said I wanted to be a writer because I loved books and wanted to be associated with them. I wrote the odd story in high school, but it was only in my twenties that I started writing 'real' stories, at night and on weekends. Sometimes I wrote a story in a couple evenings; other times it took me a whole year to complete one.

"Once I took a night class in creative writing, and a story I'd written for it was published in a London-based magazine called Fiction. I was thrilled, even though the magazine folded 4 months later.

I worked as a reference book editor for several years until 1993 when I left my job and did a year-long MA in creative writing at the University of East Anglia in Norwich (England). My tutors were the English novelists Malcolm Bradbury and Rose Tremain. For the first time in my life I was expected to write every day, and I found I liked it. I also finally had an idea I considered 'big' enough to fill a novel. I began The Virgin Blue during that year, and continued it once the course was over, juggling writing with freelance editing.

"An agent is essential to getting published. I found my agent Jonny Geller through dumb luck and good timing. A friend from the MA course had just signed on with him and I sent my manuscript of The Virgin Blue mentioning my friend's name. Jonny was just starting as an agent and needed me as much as I needed him. Since then he's become a highly respected agent in the UK and I've gone along for the ride."

Edition details

• Publisher: A VUE D OEIL
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: French
• ISBN 10: 284666014X
• ISBN 13: 9782846660143
• Binding: Paperback