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scarlet_begonia21's review
4.0
This was a fascinating little Gothic novel, ripe with eerie poetic melancholy and described as "the" Symbolist novel. It tells the tale of a widower (Hughes) who moves to Bruges after his young wife's death only to become enchanted and obsessed with a young dancer (Jane) who resembles his dead wife:
"So complete was his hallucination that it banished all consciousness of treachery to the woman that he had adored. No fleeting shadow of skepticism disturbed the blissfulness of his illusion."
The prose is lyrical and beautiful and I found myself loving so much of the writing and getting caught up in the often heavy-handed repetitions of how death-like the city was. In one scene, Bruges is described by its "drizzling rain, the forsaken streets, the desolate canals, the pervasion of winter, [and] the carillon announcing the death of the hours." There were many further references to the "dead town" or "dirgeful town;" the entire book hinged on this oozing gloominess.
I liked many of the Gothic references, including a few Catholic chapels, religious ceremonies, his cult-like obsession with both his dead wife (he has a shrine of her stuff, including strands of her blonde hair), and some supernatural elements. One of my favorite quotes:
"Occasionally he speculated as to what awaited him in the future, living as he did under the shadow of the supernatural, but the intoxication of the resemblance of Jane to his dead wife again recurred to divert his reflections, strengthened by the influence of the passion for analogy which led to identifying himself with the dead town."
There are scenes where Hughes walks to his house near the quays, thinking and rambling, which reminded me of Romantic Gothic characters walking in the moors (like in Wuthering Heights or Return of the Native); although quays are man-made docks or wharfs, they lined the canal that Hughes walked along and I felt there was a similar allusion to the meditative connection with nature.
Overall I loved this, and it had a great and symbolic ending that wasn't too obvious but looking back makes a lot of sense. I will probably buy this in print so I can underline all the beautifully poetic prose.
"So complete was his hallucination that it banished all consciousness of treachery to the woman that he had adored. No fleeting shadow of skepticism disturbed the blissfulness of his illusion."
The prose is lyrical and beautiful and I found myself loving so much of the writing and getting caught up in the often heavy-handed repetitions of how death-like the city was. In one scene, Bruges is described by its "drizzling rain, the forsaken streets, the desolate canals, the pervasion of winter, [and] the carillon announcing the death of the hours." There were many further references to the "dead town" or "dirgeful town;" the entire book hinged on this oozing gloominess.
I liked many of the Gothic references, including a few Catholic chapels, religious ceremonies, his cult-like obsession with both his dead wife (he has a shrine of her stuff, including strands of her blonde hair), and some supernatural elements. One of my favorite quotes:
"Occasionally he speculated as to what awaited him in the future, living as he did under the shadow of the supernatural, but the intoxication of the resemblance of Jane to his dead wife again recurred to divert his reflections, strengthened by the influence of the passion for analogy which led to identifying himself with the dead town."
There are scenes where Hughes walks to his house near the quays, thinking and rambling, which reminded me of Romantic Gothic characters walking in the moors (like in Wuthering Heights or Return of the Native); although quays are man-made docks or wharfs, they lined the canal that Hughes walked along and I felt there was a similar allusion to the meditative connection with nature.
Overall I loved this, and it had a great and symbolic ending that wasn't too obvious but looking back makes a lot of sense. I will probably buy this in print so I can underline all the beautifully poetic prose.
armandoaraujo's review
4.0
I picked this up after reading that Frida Kahlo had a copy of it in her personal library in Celia Stahr's book, Frida in America. I had never before read any other Belgian literature from this time period so I really didn't know what to expect.
Fairly short and grim read. You really feel the gloom of Hugue's loneliness and the darkness of Bruges. It reminded me of a time in my life when I experienced loneliness of a similar vein, albeit not to the same degree.
I walked away from this feeling like I need to read more works by similar authors. This felt like a good introduction to Symbolist literature, especially given how short it is.
Fairly short and grim read. You really feel the gloom of Hugue's loneliness and the darkness of Bruges. It reminded me of a time in my life when I experienced loneliness of a similar vein, albeit not to the same degree.
I walked away from this feeling like I need to read more works by similar authors. This felt like a good introduction to Symbolist literature, especially given how short it is.
fedes_library's review
5.0
"That was why he had chosen Bruges, Bruges, from which the sea had withdrawn, as his great happiness had withdrawn from him."
I had never heard of the nobel prize winner George rodenbach - and let alone of Belgian symbolist literature - before visiting Bruges. Once I got there, I decided at once that such picturesque and gloomy flemish towns must have created the perfect conditions for creative inspiration, thus I did some research on local literature and found out this novel, which wants to be not only "a study of human passions", but also an analysis of how a city can be an active character that influences and affects our emotions and sorrows (as the author himself explains in a note). This novel is definitely worth reading not only by people who are fascinated by North European small medieval towns, but most of all by anyone interested in the relation between the landscape, the place where they leave, the buildings they see every day, and the role these elements play in their life, both emotionally and phisically. I'm convinced that our self is shaped by the streets we cross on a daily basis, it is affected by each city in which we live in our life, and this text illustrates this idea, as rodenbach conveys "Bruges" in the same way as Mann expressed his idea of Venice, Dickens of London.
The novel is also an illustration of a contradiction which characterizes Belgian society, namely the division between Flanders and the French-speaking region. The author, writing in French at a time when French was the dominant language, does not avoid expressing his fascination for flemish culture and landscape. Nowadays, the author's memory has been marginalized by rising flemish nationalism as he is seen as a French-leaning author, ignoring his great importance for the city of Bruges, and in general for symbolist literature.
"in Bruges a miracle of the climate has produced some mysterious chemistry of the atmosphere, an interpretation which neutralizes too bright colors, reduces them to a uniform tone of reverie, to an amalgam of greyish drowsiness"
I had never heard of the nobel prize winner George rodenbach - and let alone of Belgian symbolist literature - before visiting Bruges. Once I got there, I decided at once that such picturesque and gloomy flemish towns must have created the perfect conditions for creative inspiration, thus I did some research on local literature and found out this novel, which wants to be not only "a study of human passions", but also an analysis of how a city can be an active character that influences and affects our emotions and sorrows (as the author himself explains in a note). This novel is definitely worth reading not only by people who are fascinated by North European small medieval towns, but most of all by anyone interested in the relation between the landscape, the place where they leave, the buildings they see every day, and the role these elements play in their life, both emotionally and phisically. I'm convinced that our self is shaped by the streets we cross on a daily basis, it is affected by each city in which we live in our life, and this text illustrates this idea, as rodenbach conveys "Bruges" in the same way as Mann expressed his idea of Venice, Dickens of London.
The novel is also an illustration of a contradiction which characterizes Belgian society, namely the division between Flanders and the French-speaking region. The author, writing in French at a time when French was the dominant language, does not avoid expressing his fascination for flemish culture and landscape. Nowadays, the author's memory has been marginalized by rising flemish nationalism as he is seen as a French-leaning author, ignoring his great importance for the city of Bruges, and in general for symbolist literature.
"in Bruges a miracle of the climate has produced some mysterious chemistry of the atmosphere, an interpretation which neutralizes too bright colors, reduces them to a uniform tone of reverie, to an amalgam of greyish drowsiness"
zofizy's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
kingkong's review
2.0
Its crazy how many frail wives just fall sick and die in these old books. What the hell were they doing back then
lydiadematos's review
dark
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
lmcdonnell's review
dark
3.0
Kind of just an odd little story. I did really enjoy the présentation of the text and the analysis of the images Rodenbach included in this text. I found it an interesting way to present the story of the protagonist and of the town itself. All in all, an interesting character study that was fast to read and interesting to analyze!
nwhyte's review
2.0
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3483597.html
I am afraid that I thought it was rather silly. The protagonist, recently widowed, takes an actress with an uncanny resemblace to his dead wife as his sugar baby; eventually there comes a point where he realises that his new lover is in fact her own person, and he strangles her with a lock of his dead wife's hair. (Sorry for the spoiler, but the book has been around for a century and a quarter.) The symbolism of the dead town and its dead rituals is belaboured well beyond the point you would have thoguht possible. The French original (which you can read here) was illustrated with some very nice contemporary photographs of Bruges, supposedly the first novel to have this feature (and there can't be many). My translation, with introduction by Alan Hollinghurst and also an essay by Rodenbach on "The Death Throes of Towns", unwisely has chosen to update the photographs with pictures from the present day.
I am afraid that I thought it was rather silly. The protagonist, recently widowed, takes an actress with an uncanny resemblace to his dead wife as his sugar baby; eventually there comes a point where he realises that his new lover is in fact her own person, and he strangles her with a lock of his dead wife's hair. (Sorry for the spoiler, but the book has been around for a century and a quarter.) The symbolism of the dead town and its dead rituals is belaboured well beyond the point you would have thoguht possible. The French original (which you can read here) was illustrated with some very nice contemporary photographs of Bruges, supposedly the first novel to have this feature (and there can't be many). My translation, with introduction by Alan Hollinghurst and also an essay by Rodenbach on "The Death Throes of Towns", unwisely has chosen to update the photographs with pictures from the present day.
captainfez's review
4.0
Belgian Symbolist writer Rodenbach managed to pack a load of perversity into this one. A tale of doppelgangers and lost love in a curiously rudderless town, formerly a commercial and political powerhouse, there's a lot to like. It seems obvious that Boileau/Narcejac's D'entre les morts - known to most of us as the basis for Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo - borrowed heavily from the work. There's a distinct Hitchcockian feeling to the story.
This Dedalus edition is probably the best version of the book. It features an introduction by Alan Hollinghurst and some new photos, as well as a Rodenbach essay on the death of cities. Interesting stuff.
Curiously, there's no statue of the guy in Bruges, as residents were aghast that he'd equated the town with, well, death. The amount of popularising he'd done for the place is on par with Kafka and Prague, and should be honoured, I suspect.
This Dedalus edition is probably the best version of the book. It features an introduction by Alan Hollinghurst and some new photos, as well as a Rodenbach essay on the death of cities. Interesting stuff.
Curiously, there's no statue of the guy in Bruges, as residents were aghast that he'd equated the town with, well, death. The amount of popularising he'd done for the place is on par with Kafka and Prague, and should be honoured, I suspect.
prog51's review against another edition
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0