Status
Available
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Genres
Collection
Publication
Penguin Books Ltd (1990), Edition: New Ed, Paperback, 208 pages
Description
In this remarkable novel, Mauriac brings his extraordinary talent for probing the inmost core of the human character to what is arguably the most exciting theme in the world: the battle for the human soul. In all of literature there can be few more appalling studies of a soul devoured by pride and avarice, corroded by hatred. Louis, a wretchedly unhappy multi-millionaire, all but personifies evil. Toward the end of his life, seeking to uncover the cause of his unhappiness, he commits to paper his whole bitter story: his indulgent but affection-starved childhood; his first love; the trivial misunderstanding that festered until it poisoned their entire married life and the lives of their children; the old miser's struggle to disinherit his family; and finally, the powerful climax, with divine grace vying to the very end to pierce the evil encrusting Louis' soul.… (more)
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User reviews
LibraryThing member arubabookwoman
" I am one of those who has never known what it is to be young, never known what it is to be unselfconscious. I am by nature one of Nature's wet blankets."
Francois Mauriac won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1952, "for the deep spiritual insight and the artistic intensity with which he has in his
As the novel opens, Louis is on his death bed at his country estate, surrounded by his family. His family fears that he is going to cheat them out of their inheritance, and in fact that is what Louis intends to do. The entire novel, with the exception of a short chapter at the end, consists of the letter Louis is writing to his wife to explain why he intends to disinherit his family--"a single act of vengeance upon which I have been brooding for almost half a century."
As he addresses his wife, Louis recounts the story of his life. Past, present and future are seamlessly interwoven. Frequently Louis's reflections on his past life are interrupted by fragments of conversations he overhears between his wife and children, and by the ordinary events of the progression of daily life on his estate as he awaits death. The shifts of time and event, and the continual juxtaposition of things that happened years ago, what happened minutes ago, and what might happen in the future are fluid and seamless. As we acquire more information, or as facts we were previously told or assumed are disproved, we must frequently reevaluate and reinterpret Louis's motives and his relationship with his family. Louis, too, evolves and reverts as he evaluates his life.
While this description may make the book sound claustophobic and static, there is in fact a lot of action--fortunes are made and lost, there are marriages of convenience and marriages of passion, a child dies, an illegitimate child appears, and so goes life.
Over the course of this remarkable book, we as readers come to sympathize with Louis, a venal, misanthropic, and thoroughly unlikeable man. On the basis of this one novel, I can agree that Mauriac is a writer deserving of a Nobel. I will be reading more by him.
Francois Mauriac won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1952, "for the deep spiritual insight and the artistic intensity with which he has in his
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novels penetrated the drama of human life." Viper's Tangle, first published in 1932 and translated in 1951, is representative of Mauriac's focus on the spiritual. Although it has been cited as a classic example of the "Catholic" novel, a reader does not have to be religious to appreciate Viper's Tangle, which movingly portrays the life of a wealthy attorney and landowner, a man who states that he has created "about myself nothing but a wasteland."As the novel opens, Louis is on his death bed at his country estate, surrounded by his family. His family fears that he is going to cheat them out of their inheritance, and in fact that is what Louis intends to do. The entire novel, with the exception of a short chapter at the end, consists of the letter Louis is writing to his wife to explain why he intends to disinherit his family--"a single act of vengeance upon which I have been brooding for almost half a century."
As he addresses his wife, Louis recounts the story of his life. Past, present and future are seamlessly interwoven. Frequently Louis's reflections on his past life are interrupted by fragments of conversations he overhears between his wife and children, and by the ordinary events of the progression of daily life on his estate as he awaits death. The shifts of time and event, and the continual juxtaposition of things that happened years ago, what happened minutes ago, and what might happen in the future are fluid and seamless. As we acquire more information, or as facts we were previously told or assumed are disproved, we must frequently reevaluate and reinterpret Louis's motives and his relationship with his family. Louis, too, evolves and reverts as he evaluates his life.
While this description may make the book sound claustophobic and static, there is in fact a lot of action--fortunes are made and lost, there are marriages of convenience and marriages of passion, a child dies, an illegitimate child appears, and so goes life.
Over the course of this remarkable book, we as readers come to sympathize with Louis, a venal, misanthropic, and thoroughly unlikeable man. On the basis of this one novel, I can agree that Mauriac is a writer deserving of a Nobel. I will be reading more by him.
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LibraryThing member HadriantheBlind
Excellent novel. Devoured in one sitting. Of course, this isn't much coming from me, but still.
Mauriac isn't talked about too often these days, and it's a shame - he's brilliant. I don't know why. Is it because he's thought of as a Catholic writer? Graham Greene and C. S. Lewis survive, and
A gripping and complex look at morality, and the deceits and lies people use against each other, with the acidity of revenge playing a major role in the book, and the malevolent intelligence of the narrator left me stunned, and how he saw his money tore apart his family with greed.
Excellent. Recommended to all.
Mauriac isn't talked about too often these days, and it's a shame - he's brilliant. I don't know why. Is it because he's thought of as a Catholic writer? Graham Greene and C. S. Lewis survive, and
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Dostoevsky with his Orthodox influence. Ah well. A gripping and complex look at morality, and the deceits and lies people use against each other, with the acidity of revenge playing a major role in the book, and the malevolent intelligence of the narrator left me stunned, and how he saw his money tore apart his family with greed.
Excellent. Recommended to all.
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LibraryThing member taterzngravy
I read this for a college class nearly three decades ago. I remember struggling through it. But I also remember how well the author got across the idea of God's holiness.
LibraryThing member Tower_Bob
This was a good read and I can add nothing that isn't already stated by the other positive reviews.
Having said that, this is my second book by Mauriac and I actually liked the other (The Woman of the Pharisees) a little better.
Try them both, you won't be disappointed!
Having said that, this is my second book by Mauriac and I actually liked the other (The Woman of the Pharisees) a little better.
Try them both, you won't be disappointed!
LibraryThing member Kristelh
Reason Read: tbr takedown, Reading 1001, May 2023
"Vipers' Tangle begins as a man's letter to his estranged wife, explaining his hatred for her and their children, and is transformed under Mauriac's masterful pen into a diary of spiritual and psychological battles against God, family, and self.
François Mauriac, who was awarded the 1952 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Written as a journal, it is a marital drama of a man who hates his wife and children and spends his time trying to make sure they get nothing from him. It is a novel about transformation. It is also about how we misunderstand others. For a short novel there is a lot here.
"Vipers' Tangle begins as a man's letter to his estranged wife, explaining his hatred for her and their children, and is transformed under Mauriac's masterful pen into a diary of spiritual and psychological battles against God, family, and self.
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With remarkable subtlety and sensitivity, Mauriac relates the transformation of the protagonist by the sublime workings of grace. Vipers' Tangle's superb arc and unflinching examination of the human heart makes it easily one of the greatest novels - Catholic or otherwise - of all time." François Mauriac, who was awarded the 1952 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Written as a journal, it is a marital drama of a man who hates his wife and children and spends his time trying to make sure they get nothing from him. It is a novel about transformation. It is also about how we misunderstand others. For a short novel there is a lot here.
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Awards
Language
Original publication date
1932
Physical description
208 p.; 7.8 inches
ISBN
0140181520 / 9780140181524
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