Anne, a highly intelligent, organised and principled woman is the complete antagonist to Céline and her father’s hedonistic heedlessness, and becomes a massive spoke in the wheel of Céline’s holiday, making her study daily in the sweltering heat for the forthcoming re-sit of her examination. That is until the arrival of Anne Larson, a good friend of Céline’s deceased mother who was offhandedly invited by Céline’s father a few weeks previously. It’s all plain sailing as Céline meets and becomes entangled with Cyril, a young law student with a boat, and everybody is content sapping up the sun and unwinding on the warmth of the beach. Céline has grown to consider his amoral and casual outlook as quite normal, and so Raymond and his latest ‘mistress’ (as she is described in this translation) Elsa join Céline at the holiday apartment. This trip is funded by her father, Raymond, a similarly hedonistic, blasé man now in his forties who, since the death of Céline’s mother 15 years previously, has satisfied himself with a string of short-term and non-serious relationships. Summary: Bonjour Tristesse is written from the perspective of 17 year old Céline, a fun-loving, heedless adolescent who has recently failed her final exam for her baccalauréat (the examination taken as the culmination to secondary education in France) and is rejuvenating by taking a summer holiday in the French Riviera.
So what was all the fuss about with this 1950s smash hit? And does it live up to the hype? Yet it is a short read at around 100 pages and is coupled with Sagan’s second novella, A Certain Smile ( Un Certain Sourire) in my Modern Penguin Classics edition which features a new (& fantastically modern) translation by Heather Lloyd. Written when she was just 18 during the course of a 2-3 month spurt, Bonjour Tristesse turned Françoise Sagan into a celebrity.
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