With its seaside setting Colette's The Ripening Seed seemed a perfect choice for my current 'beach/seaside' reading. It's a short novel and a simple coming of age story, perhaps deceptively so, about two young friends whose families have vacationed on the coast of Brittany for the better part of their young lives. I read that Colette spent her summers there in the early 1920s and she writes as though she has an intimate knowledge of the locale as her descriptions are vivid and lush.
"All that could be seen through the window was the August tide, bringing rain in its wake. The earth came to an abrupt end out there, at the edge of the sand hills. One more squall, one more upheaval of the great grey field furrowed with parallel ridges of foam, and the house would surely float away like the ark...but Phil and Vinca knew the August seas of old and their monotonous thunder, as well as the wild, white-capped seas of September. They knew that this corner of a sandy field would remain impassable, and all through their childhood they had scoffed at the frothy foam-scuds that danced powerlessly up to the edge of man's dominion."
Philippe and Vinca have spent their summers together in close companionship for their annual seaside holidays, but at 16 and 15 they are beginning to put childish ways behind them. They believe it's not just friendship that binds them together but something stronger and more akin to love though they assume it's not something they'll be able to realistically pursue until they're older. This change in feelings makes them pettish and quarrelsome this summer, so unlike previous summers.
Their normal routine is disturbed by the arrival of "The Woman in White", Mme Camille Dalleray. A sophisticated woman in her thirties, she asks Philippe for directions and invites him to visit her. It's an invitation he'll accept which leads to his seduction by this beautiful older woman. One night leads to many and he becomes overwhelmed by his affair with her. He believes his actions have gone unnoticed, but not by Vinca. As their holiday nears an end, their relationship, too, will undergo a drastic change.
Colette's Chéri and the Last of Chéri, a story about an aging courtesan and her much younger pampered lover, was a favorite read of mine several years back. In a way the stories are almost the flip sides of the same coin. Philippe's initiation into adulthood comes at the hands of an older woman. This is the beginning of a new life for him. In Chéri Léa's affair marks the end of her sexual prowess. Each is at a turning point and each must proceed in life according to a different set of rules. Colette's depiction of these life altering events is unsentimental and quite subtly achieved.
Although The Ripening Seed is a relatively quick read, I suspect there is much more to be mined below the surface. I have a feeling Colette has played with gender roles here and turned things upside down, perhaps even setting her own mark of femininity down on the stories. She seems like she was such an interesting and remarkable woman who lived a colorful life--I'd like to know more about her. I've heard that her French is difficult to translate, though I've also heard that Roger Senhouse is a capable translator. I wish I could read her in her native language but will have to content myself with translations. And of course I want to read more. Any suggestions on what to pick up next?