A review by shimmer
Beauty on Earth by Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz

5.0

Full disclosure, the translator of this novel's new English edition is a friend of mine. But friendship or not Beauty On Earth—the second novel by Ramuz I've read, along with a few short stories—is a gorgeous, subtle, deceptively complex work. It's the story of a young woman sent to a Swiss village following the death of her father because at 19 she isn't legally of age yet and has become, by default and with no right of self-determination, her unknown uncle's responsibility. It's a story of tension and repression and surveillance in a small, isolated community and of how the presence of an outsider—especially a distractingly beautiful outsider, and a woman—becomes disruptive because of competing masculinities, jealousy, and other ugly traits stirred to the surface. The voice is distinctive and challenging, as it has been in the other Ramuz fiction I've read, shifting tenses and POV often to create an unsettling effect of complicity and indictment between reader, narrator, and characters. It seems ahead of its time that way and I can't help wondering if Ramuz might be better known beyond Switzerland—like his contemporary Robert Walser—had he written urban rather than rural novels and stories. But perhaps he will become better known now in English thanks to this translation and, I hope, more to come.