Status
Available
Genres
Publication
New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000.
Description
Madame tells the story of a self-absorbed Polish teenager as he pursues intellectual maturity, and the woman of his dreams, his French teacher 'Madame', in the communist-dominated Warsaw of the early 1970s. Libera paces his exuberant young hero's fulminations, fantasies and discoveries beautifully, building a remarkably subtle characterisation of a free mind in a repressive culture. This is one of those rare novels which reminds us why we love books. A consummate literary entertainment.
Media reviews
Antoni Libera hat mit "Madame" den meistgelesenen polnischen Roman der Nach-Wende-Zeit vorgelegt. Es ist die hinreißend erzählte Geschichte einer éducation sentimentale, geschrieben im unerschütterlichen Glauben an die Macht der Kunst.
User reviews
LibraryThing member beata
The best book I ever read, I own it in Polish, recommend it in English to all my friends who want to learn more about me and my world.
LibraryThing member Niecierpek
A growing up novel of an 18-year-old young intellectual in Poland in the late 60s, I couldn’t put down. Or, to be accurate, I put it down only to read Victory by Conrad, to which the book referred so much that I had to read it before I went on. I most heartily recommend it. It is a fast,
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intelligent and witty story of a boy who falls in love with his beautiful and secretive French professor, and doesn’t hesitate to explore all the venues to get closer to her. The story is a pretext to explore the life in communist Poland of those times with all its quirks and Soviet bloc idiosyncrasies. Show Less
LibraryThing member mthelibrarian
A Polish "The Graduate," this story takes place in the time of Communist Poland. The narrator is a precocious student, well-versed in French and literature, and the tale of his relationship with his French teacher and headmistress of the high school he attends. I found it fascinating and have
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already put it on my "re-read sometime" bucket list. The author has translated Samuel Beckett's works into Polish. The quibble with the book might be that the narrator's brilliance is not believable. I might agree, but was willing to make that leap of faith much like one must be willing to do in reading a thriller. It's my Polish friend (she is a former literature teacher in Poland) favorite book, and I can understand why. Show Less
LibraryThing member Miro
In this exceptionally good novel Libera uses the infatuation of a precocious schoolboy with his French teacher to contrast the drab and corrupt culture of postwar Poland with the sparkle of French literary and artistic society.
"Madame's" background intertwines with different aspects of wartime and
"Madame's" background intertwines with different aspects of wartime and
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postwar Polish experience producing a remarkable account that is mostly unknown to Western readers (but could explain a lot of present day Poland), and as a bonus, and perhaps on a more superficial level, the story is an emotional roller coaster of a game with a great dénouement. Show Less
LibraryThing member Ken-Me-Old-Mate
A very strange story about a teenage boy’s obsession with his French teacher. Set in Soviet run Poland of the 1960s and 1970s. I am not sure why I picked this up but I read it all the way through. If you come across it I’d just keep on walking if I was you.
Awards
Dublin Literary Award (Shortlist — 2002)
Original language
Polish