Posted by Lale on 14/2/2009, 15:52:47, in reply to "Alain Robbe-Grillet, Jealousy - This post contains SPOLIERS"
72.138.111.169
(I continue from where I left off)
In the “introductory essays” (Roland Barthes, Bruce Morrisette, Anne Minor) they talk about “violence.” They say that the reader expects violence coming any minute. That wasn’t my expectation. I never suspected any violence.
At the back of my copy, there is a quote from The New York Times Book Review: “… Robbe-Grillet’s handling of the devastating effect on the tormented husband and his subsequent violence …” Subsequent violence??? I didn’t see any violence.
I seem to have a completely different reading of the whole thing. I neither suspected any violence nor saw any. Yes, the husband seems to be really annoyed that A… and Franck are so amateurishly attempting to fool him. If the husband had anyone to talk to he probably would have made fun of these stupid games the other two were engaged in. Yes, the husband is jealous because A… is so beautiful (her hair especially), but he seems to be more turned off by the fact that this beautiful woman could cheat her husband with an idiot such as Franck. Come to think of it, A… doesn’t seem to be very smart either. A… and Franck’s conversations are inane.
In my opinion, in spite of all the exhaustive observations, the husband is still somewhat indifferent. He finds the attempts to steal time alone, and their attempts to conceal the real purpose of these times quite childish. He is making fun of them. As clearly as he can see the blue paper sticking out of Franck’s pocket, he can also see the absurd attempts at disguising their affair.
The narrator doesn’t seem to be very much in love with A… He is critical of her smile, he suggests that her smile is calculated, planned, fake. He thinks she is beautiful but he seems to find her below his level of intelligence. I mean, how can she possibly have an affair with a man who has nothing to say other than to go on and on about his car troubles? A man who leaves his wife and child alone, day after day, in a place where they don’t feel at home?
So, I don’t think the narrator would find these two people worthy of his violence. He is annoyed and irritated, he doesn’t like being lied to and cheated, but he also knows he is better than them. The narrator’s recounting of how A… and Franck discuss the Africa book was hilarious:
- the main character of the book is a customs official.
- he is not an official but a high-ranking employee of an old commercial company.
- business is going badly, rapidly turning shady.
- business is going extremely well.
- the character is dishonest
- he is honest, he is trying to re-establish a situation compromised by his predecessor, who died in an automobile accident.
- there was no predecessor and it was not an accident.
- it was a ship, not a car …
The narrator can’t possibly think very highly of these people, can he?
One wonders why Franck doesn’t eat his meals at his own home? Why does he come over everyday? Or does it seem like everyday to us, to the reader only because of the repetition in the narration?
Where does the husband sleep? Do they share a room with A…? I don’t think so because that room is described as A…’s room? The husband seems to respect A…’s space, he allows her a lot of discretion. He doesn’t pester her with questions (he asks about the hotel she stays at during the excursion but seems to allow her to give fleeting answers.) They are like the English, like an aristocratic couple who don’t have to talk to one another a lot.
What kind of a life one can lead in a place like that? One neighbor, one book… What else is there to do?
First I was expecting something to happen. Then I said to myself, this is probably like one of those French movies we watch” you think something’s going to happen and it doesn’t. I stopped expecting some big revelation, maybe the suspicions of the narrator will be proven to be incorrect, or maybe he will be proven right… Maybe Christiane will come over asking for her husband. But, as I expected nothing happened. And it is fine as it is. I loved it.
Lale
