From Publishers Weekly
This wistful, sad little French novel from the 1920s is here translated into English for the first time. Bove, who died in 1945, has regularly been admired by other writers but never by a wide audience. His melancholy clown, Baton, is a damaged veteran of the Great War, living from hand to mouth in the dank rooming houses, filthy soup kitchens, grubby cafes and drab streets of the Paris no tourist knows. He longs only for a friend whom he can love, and who will love him; but in a sequence of accidental encountersgenerally with gross, coarse, unfeeling peoplehis life is briefly jarred but never significantly altered. A man of exquisite sensibilities, hoping that one day, against all odds, something splendid will happen, Baton finds the doors remain shut against him. If Marcel Marceau's eternally yearning little man could remove his mask and find a voice, he might look and sound like this one.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Three years after World War I, Victor Baton is a crippled veteran wandering the streets of Paris, disoriented and alone. In his rented room, he envies and suspects his neighbors and dreams of wealth, friends, and good times he will never have. He is a hapless observer of his own lot whose delusions and foolish behavior defeat his attempts at love and friendship. When a wealthy manufacturer takes pity on him and offers him a job, Baton betrays him by pursuing his young daughter. First published in France in 1923, this is a portrait of a frightened and pitiful man unable to adapt to the strange world of normalcy. Bove's influence on other French Writers (Colette, Rilke, Gide) has led to a recent rediscovery of his work, largely out of print since his death in 1945. For large fiction collections. Leonard Kniffel, Detroit P.L.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
