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The Juggler: Rachilde Paperback – September 1, 1990
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The Juggler (La Jongleuse) is a "decadent" novel that was first published in 1900. Its author, Marguerite Vallette-Eymery (1860-1953), who used the pseudonym Rachilde, was a prolific novelist (over sixty works of fiction), playwright, literary critic and reviewer, and a forceful presence in French literary society of her time. The protagonist of the novel, Eliante Donalger, is in some sense an exaggerated double for her creator--bizarre in appearance, clothing, and interests. Instinctively grasping a medical and psychological truth that the turn-of-the-century scientific world was only beginning to understand, Eliante maintains that there is nothing "natural" about human sexual expression. She claims to be in love with an inanimate (though anthropomorphic and sexually ambiguous) object, a Greek amphora, and the novel traces the rivalry between this faithful partner and an ardent human suitor, a young medical student. It is only through juggling, both literally and metaphorically, that Eliante is able to use her seductive power to maintain desire. The surprise ending challenges the limits of such power in a controversial and surprising twist. Although Rachilde's work has been neglected in the past, the women's movement and feminist criticism have stimulated renewed interest in her fiction. The Juggler is a major rediscovery.
- Print length256 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherRutgers University Press
- Publication dateSeptember 1, 1990
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
- ISBN-100813516250
- ISBN-13978-0813516257
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Product details
- Publisher : Rutgers University Press (September 1, 1990)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 256 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0813516250
- ISBN-13 : 978-0813516257
- Item Weight : 12.8 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #688,836 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,366 in Literary Criticism & Theory
- #17,431 in Classic Literature & Fiction
- #34,805 in Literary Fiction (Books)
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About the author
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- Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2017This book is brilliant. It is utterly unique, and Rachilde's writing carries you through the book so quickly. I had to read this book for my advanced literature course, and I found myself reading chapters ahead of what I was supposed to read per class.
As for the carrier, the book got to me two weeks faster than it was estimated.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2005"The Juggler" is an unjustly neglected work. Gracefully poised between decadence and dada, it combines the sensuousness, love of the artificial and sexual ambiguity of Huysman with the word play, subversion and dramatic irony of (Rachilde's friend) Alfred Jarry. The story of the relationship between the "juggler" of the title (in fact a well to do widow), Eliante Donalger, and her younger, somewhat callow suitor, the medical student Leon Reille, the novel alternates between their dramatic exchanges and their equally dramatic letters. The gender reversal and strong female character are reminiscent of Rachilde's more famous work, the scandalous "Monsieur Venus," but "The Juggler" is more nuanced, sure footed and mature, while being just as scandalous. It's a sexy book, even though there's nothing explicit in it, mostly through the author's attention to the minutest of sensations and her appreciation of the elastic wonders of the female body. Eliante's defiantly outsider pose and her suggestion of the artificiality of gender itself make reading "The Juggler" a strangely contemporary and immediate experience, and I must admit I savored every word.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2021French Decadent author Rachilde’s ‘Monsieur Venus’ was so interesting I wanted to read more of her work. Unfortunately, little is available in English. ‘The Juggler’ was published in 1900 near the height of her popularity and is about a - possibly insane? - widow in love with a Greek urn and the younger man besotted with her. The odd premise clearly springs from the Decadent desire to offend and shock middle class sensibility, yet the novel apparently can be viewed as straddling Decadence and Modernism. On top of this, Rachilde’s theme is often Feminist (in a free use of the word). She relates her strange love story via some gloriously theatrical passages, and I enjoyed most of the novel. What I didn’t enjoy was never uninteresting, though the novel works much better as Decadence than Modernism or Feminism. The only real problem I had was during some rather long stretches either Rachilde’s writing was very unpolished or Melanie Hawthorne’s translation did not successfully create well-formed English. Whichever, while purposefully inflammatory, ‘The Juggler’ is a fascinating window into views of women, sexual politics, and non-dominant culture sexuality from a time when such discourse was dismissed as hysteria or deviance (both of which Rachilde perversely introduces into her novel). As such, it works themes that wouldn’t have been on people’s radars 20 years ago, let alone 120 years ago. (Dedalus edition)