Other editions of book Strong as Death

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This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

His grace of manner, all his habits of life, the care he devoted to his person, his long-standing reputation for strength and agility as a swordsman and an equestrian, had added further attractions to his steadily growing fame. After his Cleopatra, the first picture that had made him illustrious, Paris suddenly became enamored of him, adopted him, made a pet of him; and all at once he became one of those brilliant, fashionable artists one meets in the Bois, for whose presence hostesses maneuver, and whom the Institute welcomes thenceforth. He had entered it as a conqueror, with the approval of all Paris.

His grace of manner, all his habits of life, the care he devoted to his person, his long-standing reputation for strength and agility as a swordsman and an equestrian, had added further attractions to his steadily growing fame. After his Cleopatra, the first picture that had made him illustrious, Paris suddenly became enamored of him, adopted him, made a pet of him; and all at once he became one of those brilliant, fashionable artists one meets in the Bois, for whose presence hostesses maneuver, and whom the Institute welcomes thenceforth. He had entered it as a conqueror, with the approval of all Paris. (Jacketless library hardcover.)

Olivier Bertin, a renowned painter and highly prized by Parisian high society, falls madly in love with one of his models, Countess Anne de Guilleroy, already married of course.They both maintained a passionate relationship for nearly 20 years thanks to the meticulous care of the countess, very jealous, who took care to remove all potential dangers that could threaten her romance and deprive her of her only love.Everything was going very well until the arrival in Paris of the Countess' daughter, who had until then grown up in the countryside with her grandmother.For the old painter, it's a shock. The girl looks like two drops of water to the mother when he met her.Love feelings that had fallen asleep somewhat over time are awakened.It is a real confusion that overwhelms Olivier. Is he in love with the girl or is his love for the mother renewed through the girl?Added to this dilemma, he gradually realizes the weight of age, he is no longer a fashionable painter, new trends are emerging, he becomes "an outdated artist".As for the Countess, the arrival of her daughter exacerbates her jealousy. It is no longer the one we admire and compliment. In his eyes, his daughter took his place. It is her that is compared to her mother's painting painted by Olivier 20 years ago and it is her that is praised.Anne then becomes obsessed with her physical appearance, she sees herself old, stalks the slightest wrinkle in the mirror. She loses her youth, she loses her value in the eyes of others, she loses the man she loves.This novel has all the charm of Maupassant's novels. He analyses the world of high society, its rites, its pretences, its trivialities, its superficiality. He deals with many themes: old age, love, fame, the loss of a loved one, etc... and describes the characters' feelings perfectly.The Countess' jealousy is treated magnificently in a passage that I cannot help but transcribe here:"In her, on the contrary, the passionate attachment, the obstinate attachment of some women who give themselves to a man for all and for ever, is constantly growing.But from the moment the Countess gave herself this way, she felt overwhelmed by fears about Olivier Bertin's constancy. Nothing held him but his will as a man, only a whim, only a passing taste for a woman he had met one day, as he had already met so many others! She felt him so free and easy to tempt, he who lived without duties, habits and scruples, like all men! He was a handsome boy, famous, sought after, having within reach of his desires all the women of the world whose modesty is so fragile, and all the women of the alcove or theater prodigal of their favours with people like him. One of them, one evening, after dinner, could follow him and please him, take him and keep him. She lived in the terror of losing him, spying on his gaits, his attitudes, overwhelmed by a word, full of anguish as soon as he admired another woman, praised the charm of a face, or the grace of a twist. Everything she didn't know about her life made her tremble, and everything she knew frightened her. At each of their meetings, she became ingenious at questioning him, without his noticing it, to make his opinions about the people he had seen, about the houses where he had dined, about the lightest impressions of his mind. As soon as she thought she could guess someone's possible influence, she fought it with a prodigious trick, with countless resources.Oh, she often senses these short intrigues, without deep roots, that last eight or fifteen days, from time to time, in the existence of any prominent artist. She had, so to speak, an intuition of danger, even before she was warned of the awakening of a new desire in Olivier, by the festive air that the eyes and face of a man who is overexcited by a gallant fantasy.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

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