7.6 /10 1 Votes
Original title Un beau ténébreux Country France Publication date 1945 Published in english 1950 | 3.8/5 Babelio Translator W. J. Strachan Language French Originally published 1945 Publisher José Corti | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Cover artist Gertrude Houston (pictured) Similar Julien Gracq books, Other books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A Dark Stranger (French: Un beau ténébreux) is a 1945 novel by the French writer Julien Gracq. It tells the story of two lovers, Allan and Dolorès, who stay at an isolated hotel in Brittany where they have decided to kill themselves.
Contents
Publication
José Corti published the book in France in 1945. It was published in English through Peter Owen Publishers in 1950, translated by W. J. Strachan. A new translation by Christopher Moncreiff was published by Pushkin Press in 2009.
Reception
John Cournos of The Saturday Review wrote about the book in 1950: "Its matter is morbid, its prose overwrought, its range narrow; it is tedious. ... This is the sort of book that the Soviet critics constantly hold up before their readers as an example of the decadence of the bourgeoisie, and for once there is no answer. The author's ability to describe landscape and its moods, however brilliant, is not enough."