Author(s): Anne Serre (Author) , Mark Hutchinson (Translator)

Novel | Translated fiction | France | Les Fugitives

In a large country house shut off from the world by a gated garden, three young governesses responsible for the education of a group of little boys are preparing a party. The governesses, however, seem to spend more time running around in a state of frenzied desire than attending to the children's education. One of their main activities is lying in wait for any passing stranger, and then throwing themselves on him like drunken Maenads. The rest of the time they drift about in a kind of sated, melancholy calm, spied upon by an old man in the house opposite, who watches their goings-on through a telescope. As they hang paper lanterns and prepare for the ball in their own honor, and in honor of the little boys rolling hoops on the lawn, much is mysterious: one reviewer wrote of the book's "deceptively simple words and phrasing, the transparency of which works like a mirror reflecting back on the reader."

Written with the elegance of old French fables, the dark sensuality of Djuna Barnes and the subtle comedy of Robert Walser, this semi-deranged erotic fairy tale introduces American readers to the marvelous Anne Serre.

Description: In a large country house, shut off from the world within a gated garden, three young women responsible for the education of a group of little boys are hanging paper lanterns for a party. Their desires, however, lie elsewhere... Meet The Governesses: wild or drifting about in a melancholy calm, spied upon by Monsieur Austeur, fascinated by the ever more mysterious unfolding of events, like the charms and spells of a midsummer night's dream...

Review: 'Every so often a different creature darts into view: a novel that is genuinely original - and, often, very quietly so. Call it the anglerfish of literature, after those solitary, crazy-looking lurkers in the sea's deepest trenches. The strangeness of such stories isn't just at the level of construction; it emerges from the writer's very perception of the world and seeps into the syntax. Prim and racy, seriously weird and seriously excellent-The Governesses is not a treatise but an aria, and one delivered with perfect pitch.' (The New York Times). 'Each sentence evokes a dream logic both languid and circuitous as the governesses move through a fever of domesticity and sexual abandon. A sensualist, surrealist romp.'- Kirkus Reviews. ``Ines, Laura and Eleonor are not exactly Jane Eyre types. This could be the set up for a neo-pagan farce, but as Serre delves into the three women's existence, the novel taps into deeper, quieter waters: the Keatsian twinning of joy and melancholy. Serre's wistful ode to pleasure is as enchanting as its three nymph-like protagonists.' - Publishers Weekly, starred review.`Brutal and effervescent, The Governesses is a systems novel, in the guise of a postmodern fairy tale, a twisted take on the battle of the sexes, a Dionysian mystery in sheep's clothing. This haunting and compulsive read, imbued with an uncanny intensity, in an unforgettable introduction to Anne Serre's work.'- Alexandra Kleeman. `The story, classical in appearance, soon jolts us out of our sleepy ways.' - Le Monde. '`A cruel and exhilarating book. Anne Serre's style is perfectly controlled. Colorful, by turns elegant and violent, it provokes that enchantment borne out of an unbridled imagination.' (Marie-Claire)

Author Biography: Anne Serre is the author of fourteen books, as well as numerous short stories and essays, and the recipient of a 2008 Cino del Duca Foundation award. Her first novel Les Gouvernantes (1992) was praised in La Croix for in La Croix for its 'remarkable economy of style' and in Liberation as `a delightful Sabbath'.

Promotional Information: First published in English in the USA by New Directions, 30 Oct. 2018. Initial sales of over 2100 copies upon publication. Listed in Publishers Weekly Best Books 2018 - Fiction. In *Paths to Contemporary French Literature* (Taylor&Francis, 2011), John Taylor writes that Serre's writing 'has impressed with its wit and precision ever since her lively first novels (...). Already varied in narrative structure from the onset of her career, her subsequent books have continued to move beyond classical storytelling to take on the form of monologues, suspenseful personal essays, or tales that shift like plays from tableau to tableau. A handful of themes recur and compel: lost love, the pursuit of genuine friendship, the inclination to solitude (or the desire to be with others), and the perception of certain events as "fate" as opposed to chance.' An excerpt of 'The Governesses' is published on EuropeNow Journal https://www.europenowjournal.org/2018/09/04/the-governesses-by-anne-serre/