Simple Passion

Simple Passion, Annie Ernaux.

Novella (or maybe just a long short story) about a Frenchwoman's sexual obsession with a mysterious married Eastern European who visits Paris periodicaly on business.  Created quite a stir in France, where they seem to have an obsession with libidinous female sexual revelations.  It follows a thin but long line of French sexual/romantic obsession novels by women ("Story of O", "The Butcher", Marguerite Duras's "Blue Eyes, Black Hair").

This novel itself is thin, and the usual details abound (relentless waits for the phone call; extreme preparations focusing on hair, toilette, and lingerie; the fading of life when the lover is away).  But some nice touches, such as hearing his voice and realizing he is just a man, the obsession is foolish.  And on the last page, after the affair is long over, reflecting that its virtue has been to draw the protagonist closer to the rest of humanity, partly by shared suffering.

In the very end, the very last insight: when the protagonist was young, she says, her idea of luxury was fine dresses and villas by the sea; when older, it was to be be able to live the life of the intellectual; and now it is to live out the passion for a man (or a woman).  This was an interesting payoff.

But unsatisfying ultimately: what is it in herself that is the underlying source as well as object of the obsession?  What is it in him?  And from a storytelling point of view, why should we care about her, or about the affair when it is over?  Does he have any value other than being a sex object, either to the narrative (clearly not) or to her (probably not)?  Maybe a novel length would have allowed the author space to explore all this, but maybe she is content to, or able to, provide only a snapshot.

2.5*
(Apr 2008)