:''see also Aurélien (given name), 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 Surrealism, surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littératur ...

, 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 ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

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 or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, 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 world, Western society and Western culture. It was a period of economic prosperity with a distinctive cultura ...

(complete with cameos from

Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

and the Dadaists in Pigalle, mentions of the backlash against Cocteau, and allusions to fashionable outings in the

Bois de Boulogne The Bois de Boulogne (, "Boulogne woodland") is a large public park that is the western half of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by the Em ...

). 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 Musical note, notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin an ...

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 as Bérénice. ''Aurélien'' (2003), TV film directed by Arnaud Sélignac, screenplay adapted by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt, starring Olivier Sitruk as Aurélien and Romane Bohringer as Bérénice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aurelien 1944 French novels Novels by Louis Aragon