Coup de Grâce

Love had made her a glove in my hands, of a texture both supple and strong.Espresso, another cup of espresso, and more espresso, as I read this book. The title of the book says everything you need to know. This is one book that didn't attempt to pull me in, as the first few pages are story stilts, but just when I thought I knew where its texture and narrator were taking me, it yanked me by the hair, surprised the hell out of me and quite frankly, made me a bit uneasy. Why read another war novel [...]

Marguerite Yourcenar (1903-1987)Elle était trop jeune pour se douter que l'existence n'est pas faite d'élans subits et constance obstinée, mais de compromissions et oublis.()Based upon actual incidents, Marguerite Yourcenar's short novel Le Coup de grâce (1939) is, despite all the trappings of the setting in western Latvia during the 1919 war between the Bolshevists and their many enemies, a close and claustrophobic examination of a ménage à trois consisting of Eric, the narrator, and the [...]

This was a passionate and intense historical novella from one of my favorite authors. I can say I enjoyed it, but I can also say that if Erick had not been so repressed and just boned Conrad then everyone else involved would have been better off.

A short and masterful novel by Marguerite Yourcenar inspired by a true story.In 1919, in a Baltic country caught up in the violence of a civil war linked to the Russian revolution three privileged young people live a love story, a passion akin to tragedy. This is Eric, a young officer, who tells the external conditions and tries to explain, with subjectivity sometimes past events.A story which portrays complex beings whose sentimental aspirations do not necessarily fall in line, meeting face dan [...]

Devastating. Utterly devastating. The novel succeeds as a war story, as a love story, and as a portrait of its protagonist, Erick, a young man – “one of those men who were too young in 1914 to have done more than brush with danger, but who were transformed into soldiers of fortune by Europe’s post-war disorder” (pg. 4) – a Prussian fighting with the White Russians in the civil war against the Bolsheviks (a civil war about which I knew little), fighting alongside his best friend, Conrad [...]

Rating: 3.5* of fiveThe Book Report: Told in the first person past perfect, this tale of three young people caught in a highly hormonal passage of their lives at the same moment as the Russian Revolution overthrows the privileged existences they'd led until that time purports to be the memory of Erick von Lhomond as he sits in a train station cafe, on his way to who knows where after his career as a soldier of fortune has led to a wounding in the Spanish Civil War then newly ended. Erick recalls [...]

Long time ago the two famous M. Yourcenar novels (Memoirs of Hadrian, Abyss) were huge favorites I used to read often, though I haven't looked at them in probably 25 years, maybe more, so i have no idea how they would read today; so when this book came to my attention by chance a few days ago and I liked the excerpt, I ordered a copy and as it's a short book, I actually managed to finish it in two days - funnily, I got a very annotated copy seemingly by someone for some study (it's a 1990's edit [...]

One is always trapped, somehow, in dealings with women.A curious remark, given that it's stated by an executioner, a man involved in an oblique love triangle (the speaker's in love with the brother of a woman who hopelessly loves him), who is in fact a character invented by the severe French lesbian Marguerite Yourcenar. This short novel is a long monologue, the painful confession of a blighted life – and this reader ached for the coup de grace long before it came.Edmund White describes Yource [...]

Yourcenar can write seemingly anything. Just as in 'Memoirs of Hadrian', her ability to invent voices out of the past and to make them believable and sympathetic is phenomenal. Only people like Patrick Leigh Fermor, Umberto Eco, and Jonathan Littell write with such a total command of european history and geography.This is a VERY 19th century short novel about one small corner of the Russian Civil War. Yourcenar's narration of the life of a young White Russian solider, his friendships and ultimat [...]

Al punto in cui sono, poco importa quale dei due dia o riceva la morte… Un racconto drammatico, forse di più perché sappiamo trattarsi di una storia vera. Una vicenda che si snoda durante la guerra civile in Curlandia, all’inizio degli anni ’20, quando la Germania tenta in ogni modo di bloccare la presa di potere da parte dei bolscevichi. Fra i tre protagonisti, Eric e i due fratelli, Corrado e Sofia, costretti a vivere a stretto contatto e a condividere le ristrettezze richieste dalla g [...]

"A amizade é, acima de tudo, certeza - é isso o que a distingue do amor. É também respeito, e aceitação total de um outro ser."Prefácios e Introduções só leio após terminar o livro porque, geralmente, revelam demasiado do enredo e retiram-me o prazer da surpresa. Neste livro, a excelente introdução de Agustina Bessa-Luis é uma análise detalhada do romance que inclui o resumo do enredo. Vale a pena ler, mas no final. Relativamente ao romance, a magnífica prosa de Marguerite Yource [...]

Un uomo che confessa la propria storia con una freddezza e una lucidità quasi crudeli. Una storia di amore e disperazione e di morte senza speranza.Come tutti i libri della Yourcenar da leggere con attenzione. Molto commovente e triste, la storia si svolge in un paesaggio freddo e grigio,mentre una guerra incombe. Le vite dei tre protagonisti si intrecciano,senza raggiungere un equilibrio ,fino a che la scena finale della storia darà una soluzione definitiva e drammatica alle questioni mai ris [...]

In Lithuania during the Russian Civil War (after WWI), three young Prussian aristocrats fight their passions, their ennui, the Bolsheviks, and Yourcenar's staggering usage of colons and semicolons. Needless to say, the punctuation defeats everyone. This is a very violent novella. Life has little value. In addition to a rape (off scene) there's a slap, a bullet to the stomach, and an execution. Oh, and a little dog is killed by a grenade. This is my first Yourcenar so I don't know yet if her punc [...]

La Yourcenar è sicuramente uno dei miei scrittori preferiti, le sue Memorie di Adriano, o l'Opera al nero, sono semplicemente straordinari. C'è da dire però che nemmeno i grandi scrittori nascono grandi. La loro grandezza si può intuire, ma nelle opere giovanili spesso è più evidente la forma perfetta, così perfetta da essere persin aliena, che una vera ispirazione narrativa.

But the final scene is shocking in its perfection.

I chose Belgian author Marguerite Yourcenar's Coup de Grace for the Latvia component of my Around the World in 80 Books challenge. Some of the sentences within this short novel were long and complex, but rather than detract from my enjoyment of the book, I found that the prose was all the richer for this. Yourcenar reminded me somewhat of Andre Gide at times, an author whom I discovered last year and very much enjoy. My criticism of the book, and one of the reasons as to why I can only award it [...]

Comprei este livro com expetativas elevadas. Tinha ainda fresco na memória "De olhos abertos: conversas com Matthieu Galey" e "Memórias de Adriano" está no meu top5! No entanto, até à página 70 andei razoavelmente aborrecido e não estava a ver a coisa bem encaminhada (curiosamente, o mesmo me aconteceu com as Memórias, que só li à segunda tentativa). Foi então que uma cena de grande dramatismo, escrita magistralmente, me bateu forte! Eric (o narrador) recorda uma noite gelada de inver [...]

mytwostotinki/?p=2700Coup de Grâce is a short novel by Marguerite Yourcenar, published a few months before the outbreak of WWII. It is the account of the tragic relationship of three people, told by one of them in retrospect.Erich von Lhomond, the narrator, is a German officer of the Legion Condor who was wounded in the Spanish Civil War and is recovering in Italy which gives him an opportunity to look back at events that happened briefly after WWI, and that had a lasting impact on his life.Eri [...]

Con questo romanzo ambiguo, intenso, pieno di affascinanti chiaroscuri e folgorante, scritto con uno stile compiuto, sapiente e elegante, Marguerite Yourcenar mi conquista definitivamente.Il colpo di graziaMarguerite YourcenarTraduzione: Maria Luisa SpazianiEditore: FeltrinelliPag: 137Voto: 5/5

Amazing. Cruel. Love. Short. Powerful."You simply can’t make someone love you if they don’t. You must choose someone who already loves you. If you choose someone who does not love you, this is the sort of love you must want."- Israel HorovitzStrangely enough, but something I wrote 20 days ago fits perfectly for this book.What shall I do with my love, for someone, who doesn’t want it? And at the same time he is flattered and cannot abandon it…While I love him, I hate him, because he says [...]

Un court roman, autant dire une longue nouvelle.Parfait pour commencer à lire Yourcenar, on éprouve ensuite aucune peur à commencer des oeuvres comme l'Oeuvre au noir ou les Mémoires d'Hadrien.Se passe dans une époque troublée, la seconde guerre mondiale, dans une région troublée, assez floue, au milieu des pays baltes ou peut-être la Pologne Les frontières et les occupants changent tellement vite en ce temps.Et des personnages, un narrateur, qui énerve qu'on aime pas forcément. On s [...]

I very much liked Memoirs of Hadrian but this book I mean, it was sublimely written, I enjoyed every word, every sentence and there were even some interesting thoughts on men, women, war, relationships that were quite interesting. But overall, I found myself that I couldn't care less about what I was reading, about Eric's ups and downs in the Balkans, the love-story (was there any? did he ever realised how much he loved Sophie?) between him and his best friend's sister (and he also had some kind [...]

An amazing novel.The narrator is pretty cruel but this is what I actually like about this book I like the originality and the tragedy of the story It's not a typical love story - it's a story about a boy who realize that he is playing with the girl's heart and his observations on her behavior. Also the girl's feelings are described in a very realistic way and it is almost pleasent to read about the way she suffers because of her love.At the moment I'm actually re-reading it and I strongly reccom [...]

No estoy segura de si me gustó o no. Me costó leerlo, más que nada porque el personaje principal me cayó muy mal: el nivel de misoginia que maneja es muy fuerte. La verdad, me queda la duda de si Eric es así por ser un soldado antibolchevique en medio de la guerra, o sea por contexto histórico -digamos-, o porque está enamorado de Conrad y, como no puede concretar eso por razones obvias, se la agarra con Sophie Pero está muy bien escrito, eso seguro. Te sigo queriendo, Marguerite.

Intense story and good writing style kept me interested from first page till the end. Main character dual, contradict emotions and cruel behavior seemed acceptable as the war is in background and pressure of Sophie's love caused bigger mess in his head. I wanted Conrad to be more involved in the storyline, but maybe it would be too much, it's already a good story!

Nothing I can say about this book is really going to do it justice.

Elige una historia de amor imposible, frustrado, no consumado, como millones de otras historias que leemos o vemos a diario en películas o en series de televisión. Coloca esta historia en una contexto extremo, una guerra ¿por qué no?, y dáselo a la mente brillante de Marguerite Yourcenar y ¡zas!, tienes un novela corta simplemente maravillosa. Así es El Tiro de Gracia, la historia de Eric y Sophie, y el hermano de ésta, Conrad, envueltos en una historia de amores y odios en el medio de l [...]

Creo que hay en cada vida unos períodos durante los cuales el hombre existe realmente, y otros en que sólo es un aglomerado de responsabilidades, de fatigas y, para las mentes débiles, de vanidad. Por las noches, como no podía pegar un ojo, leía tendido encima de unos sacos, en un pajar, un volumen descabalado de las Memorias de Retz, que había cogido de la biblioteca de Kratovicé, y si la falta completa de ilusiones y de esperanzas es lo que caracteriza a los muertos, aquella cama no se [...]

Mi ha lasciato confuso.Per il testo perché, che sia colpa della prosa della Yourcenar o della traduzione, ho fatto fatica a capire parecchie alcune frasi.Per i contenuti perché ero lì a leggere e a chiedermi "È una storia d'amore? È una storia di guerra? Ma Eric ama Corrado? Ma cosa voleva dire Eric?". Ho trovato interessante lo studio delle emozioni di Sofia nel gestire un rifiuto amoroso e il finale mette a buon frutto la (lenta) caratterizzazione della ragazza e del suo rapporto col prot [...]

pffff, heureusement que ça ne fait qu'un peu plus de 100 pages, c'est long, au début je me dit c'est intéressant, un peu long mais au final jusqu'au bout ce fût chaotique, puis le personnage principal on à envie du lui coller des claques, bref du bon et du moins bon mais je reste sur cette impression très mitigée.