:''see also

Aurélien (given name) :''see also Aurélien, a 1944 novel by Louis Aragon.'' Aurélien is a French masculine given name and may refer to: *Aurélien Agbénonci (born 1958), Beninese diplomat *Aurélien Barrau (born 1973), French physicist and philosopher *Aurélien Bé ...

, for individuals with the masculine given name. ''Aurélien'' is a novel by

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (, , 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littérature''. He wa ...

, the fourth of the ''Le Monde réel'' cycle. It was ranked 51st in ''Le Monde'''s 100 Books of the Century.

Plot

''Aurélien'' explores the moral quandaries and aesthetic diversions of its titular

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

hero. Through the lens of its protagonist, a forty-something who has never quite recovered from his experiences in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Aragon's novel depicts a forgotten and wayward inter-war generation, devoid of any definite identity. The action unfolds against a backdrop of the famous

Roaring Twenties The Roaring Twenties, sometimes stylized as Roaring '20s, refers to the 1920s decade in music and fashion, as it happened in Western society and Western culture. It was a period of economic prosperity with a distinctive cultural edge in the U ...

(complete with cameos from

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

and the

Dadaists Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Paris ...

in Pigalle, mentions of the backlash against

Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the su ...

, and allusions to fashionable outings in the Bois de Boulogne). Despite the meaningless pursuits that surround him, Aurélien becomes swept up in an all-consuming, tortuous and impossible love for Bérénice, a young woman fresh from the provinces with a husband and a "taste for the extreme" (''"le goût de l'absolu"''). Their love cannot, however, withstand the pressures of their reality. Bérénice eventually returns to her provincial existence, leaving Aurélien to embrace a life of disaffection and hedonism with renewed vigour. Eighteen years later, they meet again and re-live the impossibility of their lost love.

Genesis

In his 1969 essay ''Je n'ai jamais appris à écrire ou les Incipit'' (''"I never learned to write, or Incipits"''), Aragon describes ''Aurélien'' as having stemmed from a single sentence that came to him while he was walking in Nice: ''"La première fois qu'Aurélien vit Bérénice, il la trouva franchement laide"'' ("The first time Aurélien saw Bérénice, he found her downright ugly"). This sentence became the

incipit The incipit () of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin and means "it beg ...

of the finished novel.

Adaptations

''Aurélien'' (1978), TV film directed by Michel Favart, screenplay adapted by Michel Favart and Françoise Verny, starring Philippe Nahoun as Aurélien and

Françoise Lebrun Françoise Lebrun (born 18 August 1944) is a French actress. She has appeared in many movies, and is especially known for her role as Veronika in Jean Eustache's ''The Mother and the Whore'' (1973). She has worked with other directors including ...

as Bérénice. ''Aurélien'' (2003), TV film directed by Arnaud Sélignac, screenplay adapted by

Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt (born 28 March 1960) is a Franco–Belgian playwright, short story writer and novelist, as well as a film director. His plays have been staged in over fifty countries all over the world. Life Early years Eric-Emmanuel S ...

, starring

Olivier Sitruk Olivier Sitruk (born December 25, 1970 in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France), is a French comedian, actor, and producer, who has appeared in 44 films and television shows. After considering a career as an archaeologist, Sitruk changed his mind and di ...

as Aurélien and

Romane Bohringer Romane Bohringer (; born 14 August 1973) is a French actress, film director, screenwriter, and costume designer. She is the daughter of Richard Bohringer and sister of Lou Bohringer. Her parents named her after Roman Polanski. She won the Cé ...

as Bérénice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aurelien 1944 novels Novels by Louis Aragon