| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The Devil in the Flesh for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Review
The Devil in the Flesh is so assured that one wonders how [Radiguet] would have written in maturity.' --The Guardian
'...a triumph of the poetic intelligence: a masterpiece...' --New Staetesman
He belonged to the solemn race of men whose lives unfold too quickly to their close. --Jean Cocteau
'...a triumph of the poetic intelligence: a masterpiece...' --New Staetesman
He belonged to the solemn race of men whose lives unfold too quickly to their close. --Jean Cocteau
Product Description
The Devil in the Flesh, one of the finest, most delicate love stories ever written, is set in Paris during the last year of the First World War. The narrator, a boy of sixteen, tells of his love affair with Martha Lacombe, a young woman whose soldier husband is away at the Front. The liaison soon becomes a scandal and their friends, horrified and incredulous, refuse to accept what is happening - even when the affair reaches its tragic climax. In the film Le Diable au Corps (with Gerard Philipe and Micheline Presle), Claude Autant-Lara recreated this story of the First World War with nostalgic tenderness. His sensitive dramatization treats the affair with such delicacy that many critics consider the love scenes to be among the most beautiful ever photographed. The film won the Grand Prix and the International Critics Prize.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I hadn't heard about Raymond Radiguet before but stumbled across him while surfing amazon and decided to give it a go and i have to say i was not disappointed.
Hard to believe he was only between the ages of 16 and 18 when he wrote this. For his age the talent and wisdom he shows within his writing is pretty remarkable, the characters are extremely well written and the relationship between the two lovers very much believable(he himself had a relationship with an older woman). The story itself has a quick pace and he never stops to mull over unessacery details. The ending is extremely sad and left me with a real sense of loss.
I don't think apart from Le Grande Meaulnes have i ever been moved by a novel quite as much as this.
Not many people seem to have heard of him which is a shame as he produced in my opinion a classic novel of real depth and beauty, you can only imagine had he lived beyond his 20 years what else he would have been able to have produced.
Hard to believe he was only between the ages of 16 and 18 when he wrote this. For his age the talent and wisdom he shows within his writing is pretty remarkable, the characters are extremely well written and the relationship between the two lovers very much believable(he himself had a relationship with an older woman). The story itself has a quick pace and he never stops to mull over unessacery details. The ending is extremely sad and left me with a real sense of loss.
I don't think apart from Le Grande Meaulnes have i ever been moved by a novel quite as much as this.
Not many people seem to have heard of him which is a shame as he produced in my opinion a classic novel of real depth and beauty, you can only imagine had he lived beyond his 20 years what else he would have been able to have produced.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Radiguet's first novel was written when the author was between the ages of sixteen and eighteen. Set in France during the First World War it is the story of a precocious boy who gradually becomes drawn into a passionate and reckless affair with a married woman, Marthe. Marthe's husband is fighting in the trenches and the community is outraged when the affair becomes public knowledge. It is this sense of public indignation that Radiguet reacts against. In an era when the questioning of a nation's authority left one a political and emotional suspect Radiguet's story is a refreshing and corruscating plea in support of individual expression. The Devil in the Flesh shows, like all Radiguet's fiction, a belief in the sanctity and correctness of love above all other concerns. He sees betrayal where other writers see fidelity, and fidelity where others see betrayal. Love is shown to be an extraordinary gift and its is the duty of each individual to follow the prompting of the heart regardless of public opinion. The author is strict in adherance to his own moral code and the result is the most honest, most moving love story of any age. One of the great works of this, or any other, century.
'... love, which is selfishness in duplicate, sacrifices everything for itself, exists on lies.'
15 Jan 2012
Format:Paperback
'The Devil in the Flesh' is the first of two novels written by teenage prodigy, Raymond Radiguet, before his untimely death from typhoid fever at the age of twenty. Semi-autobiographical, the story charts a tumultuous love affair between a sixteen year old boy and a married woman three years his senior, whilst her husband is away fighting in the First World War.
The book is inherently nasty, exploring lust and obsession at its most selfish, and yet one cannot help but root for the couple's success. Despite the destructive nature of their relationship, it is as erotic as it is guilt inspiring. Anyone who has experienced a whirlwind romance can relate to the pair's urgent passion for one another. The unnamed narrator's ruminations on love are as profound as they are disturbing and pessimistic; theirs is an all-consuming romance which is destined to end in ruins. His feelings for Marthe are paradoxical, they are tainted by, or perhaps inspire his 'despotic instincts'; he craves to possess and control her both mentally and physically. Whilst she wallows in her contempt for her husband, burning and tearing his unopened letters, he fluctuates between feelings of remorse and a jealous hatred for the cuckolded man. Their affair becomes the scandal of the town (which inspires an amusing scene of black comedy) and all the while, time is steadily marching towards an inevitable conclusion. The war cannot last forever and the lovers must soon face the consequences of their actions.
Controversial upon its original release, this is a book that still retains the power to disturb us today. There is something that is admittedly perverse about this novel. Set during a time of unimaginable loss, the protagonists remain selfishly indifferent. Neither the war or its consequences are depicted first hand and we are barely afforded a glimpse of husband Jacques, they exist in a world apart from these characters who are so young and careless. As the narrator reminds us, 'Let those who are already reproaching me try to imagine what the war meant for so many of us very young boys - four years of holiday.'
The book is inherently nasty, exploring lust and obsession at its most selfish, and yet one cannot help but root for the couple's success. Despite the destructive nature of their relationship, it is as erotic as it is guilt inspiring. Anyone who has experienced a whirlwind romance can relate to the pair's urgent passion for one another. The unnamed narrator's ruminations on love are as profound as they are disturbing and pessimistic; theirs is an all-consuming romance which is destined to end in ruins. His feelings for Marthe are paradoxical, they are tainted by, or perhaps inspire his 'despotic instincts'; he craves to possess and control her both mentally and physically. Whilst she wallows in her contempt for her husband, burning and tearing his unopened letters, he fluctuates between feelings of remorse and a jealous hatred for the cuckolded man. Their affair becomes the scandal of the town (which inspires an amusing scene of black comedy) and all the while, time is steadily marching towards an inevitable conclusion. The war cannot last forever and the lovers must soon face the consequences of their actions.
Controversial upon its original release, this is a book that still retains the power to disturb us today. There is something that is admittedly perverse about this novel. Set during a time of unimaginable loss, the protagonists remain selfishly indifferent. Neither the war or its consequences are depicted first hand and we are barely afforded a glimpse of husband Jacques, they exist in a world apart from these characters who are so young and careless. As the narrator reminds us, 'Let those who are already reproaching me try to imagine what the war meant for so many of us very young boys - four years of holiday.'
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
