In The Absence Of Men: A Novel

In the Absence of Men: A Novel

From Booklist During one week in 1916, 16-year-old Vincent de l'Etoile befriends the greatest writer in France and experiences the first great love of his life. Fortunately, he keeps a journal and writes letters, is an exquisitely limpid stylist (kudos to Wynne's translation), and considers himself too young to have morals. His new friend is Marcel Proust, then 45 and known to be attracted to very young men. Vincent's first lover is Arthur Vales, a soldier on leave to see his mother, a servant in the de l'Etoile household. Vincent meets Proust in the well-trafficked cafes in the afternoon and welcomes Arthur to his bed every night. After the week, Proust goes to take care of family business in Illiers, and Arthur returns to Verdun, where he is soon killed in action. This extremely romantic scenario concludes with a plunge into bathos, but the writing is so beautiful, and the characters are so convincing, that Besson's first novel seems to be the homosexual cousin of Hemingway's Farewell to Arms. Ray OlsonCopyright