Description

An exquisite new translation of Colette's tragicomic masterpiece, a pair of novels exploring the relationship between an aging courtesan and a much younger man

Ch ri and its sequel, The End of Ch ri, mark Colette's finest achievements in their brilliant, subtle, and frank investigations of love and power.

Set in the Parisian demimonde in the last days of the Belle poque, Ch ri tells the story of L a, a courtesan at the end of a successful career, and her lover, the beautiful but emotionally opaque Ch ri. Ch ri will soon enter into an arranged marriage, ending their six-year affair, which--they will each realize too late--has been the one real love of their lives. The End of Ch ri picks up their story in the aftermath of the First World War; as a psychically wounded Ch ri begins an inexorable descent, he finds he cannot return to the L a he left.

With a preface by the acclaimed Lydia Davis, Rachel Careau's lean, attentive translation restores to these classic novels their taut, remarkably modern style--the essence of Colette's genius.