''La Presqu’île'' (''The Peninsula'', 1970) is a collection of three short pieces by French writer

Julien Gracq Julien Gracq (; 27 July 1910 – 22 December 2007; born Louis Poirier in Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, in the French ''département'' of Maine-et-Loire) was a French writer. He wrote novels, critiques, a play, and poetry. His literary works were no ...

that takes its name from its second work, a novella, which is preceded by ''La Route'' and followed by ''Le Roi Cophetua'' (''King Cophetua''). ''The Peninsula'' and ''King Cophetua'' have been published separately in English by

Green Integer Green Integer is an American publishing house of pocket-sized belles-lettres books, based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1997 by Douglas Messerli, whose former publishing house was Sun & Moon, and it is edited by Per Bregne. Gre ...

(2011) and Turtle Point Press (2003), respectively. ''La Route'' has yet to be translated into English. ''King Cophetua'' was the basis for the 1971 film '' Rendezvous at Bray'', directed by

André Delvaux André Albert Auguste Delvaux (; 21 March 1926 – 4 October 2002) was a Belgian film director. He co-founded the film school INSAS in 1962 and is regarded as the founder of the Belgian national cinema. Adapting works by writers such as Joha ...

''La Route''

''The Peninsula''

Translated by Elizabeth Deshays, ''The Peninsula'' concerns the wanderings of a solitary man, Simon, on a day he spends driving around the

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

coast. He spends his time exploring the area and revisiting the sites of childhood vacations while he waits for his mistress Irmgard to arrive at the train station later that evening. The story contains much highly descriptive and poetic detail of the area as Simon experiences it, woven together with his thoughts and sensations as they change throughout the day.

''King Cophetua''

Translated by Ingeborg Kohn.

References

External links

''La Presqu’île''
at the French publisher's website 1970 short story collections Books adapted into films French short story collections Works by Julien Gracq {{1970s-story-collection-stub