Narrative
Manhood
L'Âge d'homme
Michel Leiris · 1939
Synopsis
At thirty-four, a man sets out to describe himself without indulgence, beginning with a portrait of his own body. He then goes back to his childhood memories, his fears, his shames and the awakening of his sexuality, up to his entry into adulthood: marriage, first books, the beginnings of a scholarly career. The narrative is organised around a painting by Cranach that brings together two female figures, Lucretia and Judith.
Context
Begun in 1930, the book was published by Gallimard in 1939. In 1946, a new edition prefaced it with a preface, De la littérature considérée comme une tauromachie, whose title brings the writer close to the bullfighter. The work combines confession, ethnographic inquiry and what the author had learned from his psychoanalysis. Its frankness, without any indulgence towards himself, baffled its first readers.
Who it is for
An autobiography without plot, which proceeds by themes and images rather than by continuous narrative; its tone may disconcert.
Prizes and reception
In English, Richard Howard's translation, Manhood, was reissued in 1992 by the University of Chicago Press.
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