The Abyss

by Marguerite Yourcenar

Book Overview

Marguerite Yourcenar instantly assumes command of our imagination in her novel The Abyss . Almost before we know it the author establishes a scene and time, and engages us in the fate of two cousins.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374100403
• ISBN13: 9780374100407
• Release Date: June 1976
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 374 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.0" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Amazing, Startling, Intelligent

The Abyss is a remarkable study of two men in early sixteenth century Europe. One is looking for worldly pleasures, the other for something more serious. It's the latter man, Zeno, who becomes one of the most unusual heroes in modern novels. Yourcenar traces the man's intellectual growth against the background of a Europe whose collective mind was also growing, and shows how a powerful intellect can triumph over bias, superstition, and intolerance. The writing is wonderful, with long sentences that meander over pages the way Zeno wanders through the continent; the characters met along the way are memorable; the philosophical discourses are fascinating. It's not an easy read, but perhaps as worthwhile as any other book published in the last half century.

An impressive recreation of the time

I read this book several years ago and although I no longer remember many details I still think of it as one of my favorite books. It recreates around the life of the main character all the main issues of the historical period concerned: The crumbling of the medieval political order and the slow rise of the Nation-States, the Reformation and the Religion wars and, in general, all the chaos generated by the decline of Medieval thought and the emergence of a myriad of new alternative conceptions about mankind, nature and society. What makes this book so marvellous is that it masterly combines all these issues into a literary work elegantly and coherently written.The book speaks for itself and I would highly recommend it for anyone interested in historical novels. However, I can tell that it is much more enjoyable with some knowledge of the politics and ideas of the time, because that is when you find out all the work that the author had to do in order to present this incredible novel.Although I do not consider it as a demerit of the work, the only thing I dislike of the book were the final reflexions of Zenon, because they have certain twenty-century sartrian flavor, which -although valid- cause frictions with the so lively historical atmosphere created by the author.

A great study of a complex psyche

Reading a book by M. Yourcenar, a prose writer of great skill, is invariably a delight. The scope of her novels is epic, the composition is as intricate and carefully crafted as a Beethoven symphony. Here in The Abyss, the main theme of the book - the clash between the impetus of momentous historical forces and the destiny of a single human being - is introduced in the very first sentence of the book. It accompanies the reader throughout the book as an insistent motto theme. Yourcenar's prose is carefully polished and aristocratic and reflects her admirable erudition. It is a language with the colour, texture and depth of a precious fabric or an excellent wine. The pace of the book is naturally rather slow, particularly in its second part where the alchemist and doctor Zenon has settled down again in Bruges and is given to long bouts of introspection. But the noble pacing is fully in accord with the gravity of the subject matter and the stakes involved. I think the book has lost nothing of its relevance today, a time in which civil rights are being widely curtailed in the name of abstract principles. As such it warrants closer study by those wanting to resist these pressures and to stick to honest and authentic choices.

A Monument in Literature

The Abyss is one of the two books that haunted Marguerite Yourcenar during her whole life, the other one being the famous "Memoirs of Hadrian". Zenon, the Hero of the Abyss, is much closer to the author as he shares with her the passion for the unknown countries of the soul and the spirit. Like always, Marguerite Youcenar delivers an analytical vision of the universality of human condition without turning her book into a boring dogma. She has the unique talent and intelligence to be habited by her characters and delivers here a chef d'oeuvre in many regards. The accuracy of the description of the torments of Zenon emphasized by the precise knowledge of major events of this part of this history transforms almost this book into a mystical experience. The chapter named "The abyss" is a piece of literature that can be read many times while still discovering a teaching or a new element of poetry.It would be VERY unfair not to mention here, Grace Frick, Marguerite's life companion, who was maybe the best French translator of her generation and delivers here a maginificient English text.Du grand art!

Life in 16th century Flanders; confused religious ideas

The book is an account of the life of Zenon; who manoeuvres through a world were the threats are many. The mid-16th century in north west Europe plagues by many struggles for life. The religious clashes could as well be viewed as social or economic power struggles. Zenon is a philosopher and a medical scientists. The Flanders he lives in is torn between the Catholic Spanish King and the protestant North; where the Prince of Orange has started a guerrilla against the suppressor.The book is a good reconstruction of the times. All the historical events of the day have somehow found a way in to the story. Sometimes to the detriment of the flow of the story and the development of the characters. So in order to enjoy the book you will have to have some historic interest. Yourcenar's style is sometimes swollen with long sentences and descriptions that I could not always follow. Yet the book keeps your attention to, maybe especially, the unavoidable end. A comparison with the world and time of the book with the Algeria of this day was caused by a misunderstanding of Yourcenar's background. Nevertheless one could see lines of comparison.