La premiere epouse.
Meyer, E. Nicole
Francoise Chandernagor. La premiere epouse. Paris. Fallois. 1998.
255 pages. 118 F. ISBN 2-87706-333-X.
The end of both a marriage and its accompanying false sense of
security is told most movingly and emotionally accurately by Francoise
Chandernagor, author of L'Alle du Roi and of L'Enfant des
Lumieres. Chandernagor's lucid style reveals the inner thoughts of
the eponymous "first wife" as she survives the realization
that her marriage is over but, more important, that she has blindly
accepted the unacceptable: the steady stream of her husband's blond
bedmates and numerous other betrayals. Her awakening is brutal and
described in the language of death from the very first sentence:
"Je suis en deuil."
Catherine, a well-known writer, has devotedly loved her husband for
decades despite his "harem." Somehow, she chooses to believe
Francois's assurance that since he has chosen her as his wife, he
is, in effect, loyal to her. When they finally separate, he leaves her
not only in emotional but physical agony-he crushes her hand literally.
This pain coupled with his lack of concern finally causes her to reject
his terms. Recovery is slow. While insisting on her love for this man
who has betrayed her, she tries to envision his current relationship as
true love and thus justifiable. Her (almost) masochistic obsession with
his latest lover reaches far. At times she even finds it difficult to
deal with her children: "Les enfants, eux aussi, font partie . . .
d'un passe souille: ils sont . . . un souvenir de lui." In the
end, Catherine finds courage through her power to create words: "ce
n'est pas le cri, c'est le style qui guerit."
From the outset, the reader feels the narrator's pain vividly.
While the audience that will appreciate this book most ("been
there, done that") may recognize the anguish and remember how at
times it may seem interminable, most will have likely passed to the
healing stage ("Je suis. Je suis mieux") and thus find the
novel too lengthy. Although in many ways the length is justified, since
Chandernagor takes us through the emotionally draining process of
reacting to betrayal, this reader felt at times a desire for brevity
("enough already"). Despite this reservation, I have yet to
read a more accurate and moving account of the devastation that follows
a husband's infidelities and the emotionally and physically violent
end of a marriage that ensues.
E. Nicole Meyer
University of Wisconsin, Green Bay
