La Joie

Name: La Joie
SKU: 29351
Author: Georges Bernanos

Paris, Plon, (May 6) 1929.

1 vol. (125 x 195 mm) of 1 and [4] f., 317 p., [1] and 2 f. Blue morocco, gilt title, mustard velvet doublures and endleaves, edges gilt on the rough, matching chemise and slipcase, original wrappers and spine preserved (binding signed J.-P. Miguet).

First edition. One of 27 copies on China paper (no. 20).

Riding the considerable success of his very first novel, Sous le soleil de Satan, published in 1926, Georges Bernanos threw himself without delay into the feverish writing of L’Imposture, which narrowly missed the Prix Goncourt.

His next novel, his third, was titled La Joie — a joy quite unlike that of M. de Clergerie, a mediocre historian obsessed with his academic ambitions, who lives in his château in Artois. In this novel, Malraux would say, Bernanos “wrote the finest scenes in modern fiction, for their depth and power”; and for Mauriac, “the power of this dazzling work lies in its rough grip, which holds us within this universe of the Fall and Redemption, which belongs to all of us, believers and unbelievers alike. For one need not have faith to recognize oneself in it […].”

Many readers did recognize themselves in it, and La Joie was awarded the Prix Femina.

A fine copy; spine of the chemise faded.

#29351

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