a A love story shrouded in mystery, Lucy Steese's vividly poetic debut novel begins, like the movie, with a prophetic hint of mythology. A stranger arrives on a dusty road, and in his pocket is a piece of paper with a one-word address written on it: “Venez.” The year is 1920, and in a war-torn Europe where all wars were supposed to have ended, a strange man from Steez travels to the secluded village of Saint-Auguste in Provence, where the legendary painter Edouard Tartuffe Tatat lived. He approached a farmer. Master of Light” – lives only with his niece Etty.
The newcomer is Joseph Adelaide, a young Englishman who is a disappointed artist and aspiring journalist, but is branded a coward by his domineering father for his good nature, loses his beloved younger brother, and is estranged from his family during the war. He was running away from the tragic consequences of Objection. Joseph wanted to start a new career as an artist and asked Tartuffe for an interview. Tartuffe is a mysterious figure steeped in mythology who has withdrawn from the world for decades, so he asks with more hope than expectation. But then the summons comes and it looks like Joseph may start a new life.
However, it soon becomes clear that Edouard Tartuffe was not the one who scrawled the invitation. Joseph is far from welcoming. The old painter is half-blind, monosyllabic, uncooperative, indifferent at best, and violently hostile at worst. Tata's niece Etty is motherless, illegitimate, exhausted by the care of a demanding and cruelly controlling old man, shy, bitter, resentful, and against outsiders. Strong vigilance. But everyday life revolves around the studio, and even the oysters and peaches that Etty buys for dinner are chosen for their quality as still life subjects. And when Tata decided that Joseph might be the model for his latest painting, the writer said: You are allowed to stay and even write.
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As Joseph makes his home in the claustrophobic enclosure, he now grapples with the near-impossible task of finding words to describe a blank page and a creative activity that requires no words. He thus found his attention drawn to the increasingly persistent questions raised by the family, not about the art but about its inhabitants' most private secrets. Slowly, he begins to peel away its layered mysteries. Where does Etty go at night, and what happened to her parents? How did Tata lose his eye, and why did he withdraw from the world, all its light and color, and from famous friends like Paul Cézanne? Why did the painter treat Etty like a prisoner? Will she be kept there? And under what orders will she be kept?
This slender but ambitious novel is a slow burn. First, the action feels almost completely suspended, Joseph's façade being little more than a ripple in the haze of Provence, and the home itself a still life of the kind that Tartuffe trademarked, a picture of beauty decaying. It's coming. With sumptuous and extravagant depictions, Steez evokes a sensory environment. The smell of hot earth, the sound of crickets, the sunlight hitting the soft yellow stones, “a constellation of fireflies…spreading out and regathering like a starry web.”
This inevitably veers into overripeness at times, and could feel frustratingly static if Steez's pacing wasn't also carefully considered. she carefully recalls herself natural death Bring it into your life one detail at a time. She brings the characters' many secrets to light, and with each reveal, she brings just the right amount of new tension to the story. Her characterization is also vivid and reliable. The tormented Joseph, the fiercely determined Etty, and the great tortured savage Tata (half Cyclops, half Minotaur) at the center of their shadowy lair, each searching for artistic expression. A captivating combination of romance, puzzles, and poetry, The Artist is a thoughtful exploration of the value of art: opening a window into human existence, pushing boundaries, and bringing freedom, perspective, and light. We also provide additional questions.
