So this is what you guys were raving about! I also though it was perfectly delightful (how can anyone think otherwise?) .
The curtain opens and we’re introduced to Gigi, a fifteen-year-old Parisian who is soon deemed ready to be groomed to follow in the footsteps of the other courtesans in her family. They are a social class apart: independent, educated and with a defined place in the fine society of turn-of-the-century Paris. I completely agree with Eva at A Striped Armchair about Colette’s capacity to creat a strong sense of atmosphere in only 60-odd pages, but unlike her, I didn’t feel the ennui. Instead, the story left me with an impression of dazzling light, bright colours and wisps of an old-fashioned floral perfume – it’s a perfect pearl of light-heartedness.
Actually, Colette wrote Gigi during the worst months of Paris’ Nazi Occupation, and it’s so rebelliously bright that it can only be guessed to have provided her with a welcome escape during those difficult times. From what I’ve also read about her other novels, it was on this one (only?) that she surrendered to a less cynical view of love.
I found myself wishing Gigi it had been written at the time it was set. What would the late-Victorian authors make of it? Can you imagine Thomas Hardy’s face while reading the delightfully a-moral and wicked dialogues? I like to think that Jane Austen (yes, I know she’s not Victorian!) would stifle a laugh behind her fan 🙂
Here’s an example:
“Call your mother, Gigi! Liane d’Exelmans has commited suicide”
The child replied with a long drawn-out “Oooh!” and asked, “Is she dead?”
“Of course not. She knows what she’s about.”
“How did she do it, Grandmamma? A revolver?”
Madame Alvarez looked pityingly at her granddaughter.
“The idea! Laudanam, as usual….My own diagnosis is that if Madame d’Exelmans goes on playing that game, she’ll end by ruining her stomach.”
“The last time she killed herself, Grandmamma, was for the sake of Prince Georgevitch, wasn’t it?”
“Where are your brains, my darling? It was for Count Berthou de Sauveterre.”
The one stone in my otherwise-comfortable shoe was Gigi’s age. I do wish she was just a bit older. One question: Can this be considered historical fiction since Colette wrote it in 1944?
I’ve also saw (for like, the 100th time) Gigi the movie for the “Read the book, see the movie” challenge over at Ready When You Are, C.B. It’s one of my favorite musicals and perfect for a rainy afternoon. I think I even enjoyed it more now that I’ve read the book and know more about the story. I don’t get tired of admiring the sets and costumes (Aunt Alicia’s bathroom in particular, is exactly as it should be).
Some of the dialogues are taken almost word-by-word from the book (just like My Fair Lady/Pygmalion) but I feel the movie filled the gaps in the right places without veering too much from the spirit of the orignal Gigi. Favorite scene: Gigi’s grand-entrance in the restaurant and seeing her chose Gaston’s cigar (in the book this is only a fleeting reference). I’m surprised this one escaped Hollywood’s re-make fever…
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August 25, 2010 at 11:03 pm
Nymeth
I’d say it’s historical fiction, yes. Also, I really think I’d love it! It’s about time I read Colette.
August 25, 2010 at 11:26 pm
Teresa C
uma pergunta para provocar discussão, não te custa ler coisas “latinas” em inglês? Não digo dificuldade de compreender, mas a sensação de que estás a perde coisas, que o tom é errado – perde-se pelo menos tu/vous/etc, e naquelas conversas à francesa todo aquele tom que é tão diferente do tom “polite” inglês. Soa errado de qq forma. Pode ser só preciosismo meu mas tenho mais dificuldade para acreditar em personagens franceses a dialogar em inglês que em português. Embora claro, acredito que aí, encontrar traduções portuguesas não será fácil. Mesmo cá, às vezes encontrar coisas especialmente se se quiser barato ( e quem não quer?), tirando em LX a abençoada biblioteca municipal e o depósito legal.
Colette, I think I agree with your friend, the little of her I had read seeps this sensation of énnui. No action, or at least, no psychological decisions – though as I said I read very little of hers. I got Chéri and La Fin de Chéri somewhere if you want to read it, though I think they are both in French! Though they are very good to practice for people who do not read much french, which is precisely why I have those in French.
August 26, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Alex
Ate ia comecar a “review” do The Cat a dizer que se perde muito na traducao do titulo – La Chatte. O femenino tem logo um outro impacto neste caso. Mas depois achei demasiado pendante e acabei por apagar. Sim, notei imenso a traducao, especialmente quando eles usavam o “one”, e.g. “Does does one endure this?” O “one” parece-me sempre “contrived”. Mas olha, o meu Frances infelismente ainda nao esta’ ‘a altura! Culpa minha!
I still don’t get the ennui – did you feel it only because of the lack of activity in the story? The description of the slightly decaying room? The slightly decaying society perhaps? What did I miss? 🙂
I think my next Colette after Gigi and The Cat will be in French, but don’t worry with the loan, I want one for my own collection.
August 26, 2010 at 10:24 pm
Teresa C
O francês, bem o meu, tb precisa sempre de ser melhorado. Mea culpa, não sigo nem leio regularmente nada em francês – embora o faça em espanhol que nunca aprendi regularmente, mas aleluia, o que consigo improvisar de espanhol é tudo fruto de ler espanhol.
Por falar em espanhois, acho que foi Lope de Vega que disse que traduzir é crime pior que contrabandear ( ou roubar. não tenho a certeza. o meu espanhol não é bom!) cavalos.
compreendo perfeitamente o problema de traduzir lA chatTE -> the cat especialmente qd há todas essas conotações, exemplo perfeito. as línguas são coisas fascinantes, em como moldam o que pensamos e o que conseguimos compreender. comecei a aprender a minha primeira língua não indo-europeia e é fabuloso – quero definitivamente aprender mais línguas ( espanhol, francês, italiano não conta para mim. quero algo com mais garra).
The ennui I was not talking particularly about Gigi but about the other colette cooks I have read ( I think I have never read Gigi, though I misspent my teens going through our local library and sometimes recognize things I read but whose title and autho I could not recall). I think what I mean is a let-go-with-events feeling to narrative, of every character being jaded. Must reread, obviously, just to check. You convinced me, Gigi will be the next of her novels (short stories?) I will try
August 26, 2010 at 12:03 am
Claire (The Captive Reader)
Gigi was the very first Colette I read, when I was probably fourteen or fifteen, and I’ve loved it ever since. I’m not sure I’d call it entirely light-hearted (I have always found Gigi’s family to be both fascinating and rather sad) but it is certainly delightful!
August 26, 2010 at 5:32 pm
Alex
I think i was a bit selectively-blind. Were they sad? I don’t think Gigi would be happy as a courtesan, but the others women in her family seemed to prefer it to the any other life style.
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June 29, 2015 at 9:27 am
Dan Cohenour
It does not need to be historical fiction. In turn of the 29th century France, sa girl who was 16 had reached the age of consent. Gigi was 15 at the time of the story and was being groomed by Ber grandmother to become a courtesan. Gigi did not end up in that position and that is a plus for her but it was not a shameful thing in that time and culture.
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