Françoise Sagan (born Françoise Delphine Quoirez; 21 June 1935 – 24 September 2004) was a French playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. Sagan was known for works with strong romantic themes involving wealthy and disillusioned bourgeois characters. Her best-known novel was her first – Bonjour Tristesse (1954) – which was written when she was a teenager.
The pseudonym “Sagan” was taken from a character (Princesse de Sagan) in Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time). Sagan’s first novel, Bonjour Tristesse (Hello Sadness), was published in 1954, when she was 18 years old. It was an immediate international success. The novel concerns the life of a pleasure-driven 17-year-old named Cécile and her relationship with her boyfriend and her widowed playboy father.
Sagan’s characters, which became something of an icon for disillusioned teenagers, are in some ways similar to those of J.D. Salinger. During a literary career lasting until 1998, Sagan produced dozens of works, many of which have been filmed. She maintained the austere style of the French psychological novel even while the nouveau roman was in vogue. The conversations between her characters are often considered to contain existential undertones. In addition to novels, plays, and an autobiography, she wrote song lyrics and screenplays. (Wikipedia)
Sagan on Translation and Affect
The novel resists the imposition of meaning and emotion, to affirm instead vitality and affect.
- Sagan, Françoise. Bonjour Tristesse. Trans. Irene Ash. New York: Ecco, 2001.
Bonjour Tristesse (1995 TV movie)
Bonjour Tristesse ( Téléfilm Réalisé par Peter Kassovitz en 1995 ):
There is a lot of drinking in Bonjour Tristesse. The narrator, Cécile, points out that “the bar is very well stocked” (15). It is not always clear what they are drinking—champagne is mentioned once, and Cécile gets drunk at a casino on whisky, in the company of “a half-tipsy South American” (37)—but it does not matter much. What matters is the blurring of boundaries that alcohol brings, which is equal parts liberating and dangerous. At times it is as though the whole book were narrated in the space of exception between pre-drinks languor and post-drinks regret. But this space will soon close, for Cécile and her father alike. We are told that as men age, “a time comes when they are no longer attractive or in good form. They can't drink any more, and they still hanker after women.” Cécile is told “you don't think much about the future, do you?” (109). But a consciousness of imminent change, of the morning to come after the night before, haunts the entire narrative.
- Beckett, Samuel. Collected Poems in English and French. London: John Calder, 1977.
- Bergson, Henri. The Two Sources of Morality and Religion. Trans. R. Ashley Audra and Cloudesley Brereton. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1974.
Bonjour Tristesse, the Comic Book!
Below, some pages from a comic book adaptation of Bonjour Tristesse Get the whole thing here! Or buy some clothes inspired by the book! Bonjour Tristesse: not just a novel, a life style.
Sagan Questions
- Do we have to like the characters to appreciate (or enjoy) a book?
- How much do we seek to identify with characters of situations that we find in books?
- Alternatively, how much do we seek to escape and/or find something new when we read a book?
- Is this book escapist or realist? Or what does it have to say about eithr escapism or realism?
- What does this book have to say about youth and age, and about growing up?
- What does it have to say about surfaces or appearances (as opposed to depths)?
- Why is the title untranslated in our English translation? What effect does the untranslated title have?
- Is this book somehow “more French” than others we have read (Proust, Aragon, Zobel…) or will be reading (Perec)? What would that even mean?
- Are the narrator’s problems here “First World Problems”?
- Why do you think this book may have created a scandal when it was first published? Is it still potentially scandalous today?
The following questions are taken from your blog posts…
On Authorship:
Could you personally see yourself expressing these intense themes with the public eye watching over you?
On Titles:
How much do you pay attention to a book’s title – what do you notice first and what draws you in?
On Interpretation & Symbolism:
Did any overarching symbolism stand out to you in the book/narration?
On Privilege:
What did you think about Cécile’s privilege? How do you think it impacted the decisions that she made and the way she views people?
Do you think Cecile possesses a sort of privilege because of the way she was raised? Do you think the way Cecile was raised by her father is what brought her to have this love/hatred for a woman like Anne?
On Narration:
How accurate was Cecile’s accountability to the situation?
What do you think of Cecile as a narrator and how would you diagnose her character arc?
Who else would you like to see narrate this story and why? How would it affect the series of events?
Considering that this book had a first-person narrative, do you think the lack of insight on her deceased mother has any implications? Is it merely because her deceased mother is uninfluential to the plot, or perhaps, is Cécile repressing thoughts about her mother?
On Protagonists / Antagonists:
Would you agree that Cecile’s problematic personality is a reflection of her troubled upbringing? Is her dad only to blame? How much of her self centered personality is a result of nature and how much of it is a result of her environment?
Is Cecile an annoying character or is she relatable and neutral?
If you were to change one thing about her life in order to make her a more emotionally and intellectually mature person, what would you change?
How did you portray Cécile? Did you find yourself relating to her character?
After reading this story, would you like to be friends with Cecile?
Why is Cécile so back and forth which how he feels towards Anne?
What if Cécile had accepted Anne from the start? Would she have changed differently or maybe not at all?
How much responsibility should Cécile feel about Anne’s accident, if any?
In what ways is Anne the villain in the book, and in what ways does she redeem herself from that status?
I wonder if anyone else felt the conflict between feeling bad for Cecile while also wanting her to grow up? And who was the antagonist in this novel, or was there one at all?
Did Anne make any faults in trying to integrate herself into Cecile’s life? Was she ever in the wrong when she tried to intervene with her actions?
Do you think Anne was right to try and “fix” or “improve” Cécile’s life in the way she did, and were Cécile’s actions were justified?
On Family and Relationships:
Did you like Anne? Do you think she could’ve helped Cecile if Cecile would’ve listened to her? Do you think it was in Anne’s place to parent Cecile in the way that she did?
How would you feel if Anne was your stepmother and acted the way she did towards you? Would you go along with what she had to say in respect to her or speak up for yourself?
If Raymond had tried to slowly introduce Anne and the idea of marrying her to Cécile, would she still have developed a hatred towards Anne and planned to break them up?
Do you think that if the dad had introduced Anne more cautiously and slow to Cecile, would Cecile have felt different about the entire situation and thus lead to a different story where Cecile is fine with the idea of him marrying Anne?
Are Cecile’s negative feelings towards Anne valid? Should her father have been more sensitive towards Anne becoming such a large part of their life?
Do you think Anne has the right to interfere with Cecile’s relationship or life?
Can Anne’s influence on Cécile’s character development be attributed to her presence as a mother figure in the story?
Do you think the reason ‘being afraid of losing normal life’ justify Cecile’s plan and what she had done to others?
What would you have done if you were in Cecile’s situation?
Do you think the author intends for us to like Cecile? Did you like her?
What did you make of her and her father’s relationship?
How would Cecile be different if her father raised her with more important morals?
Does it seem as though Cécile lacks affection or attention from her father? If so, how does this reflect their relationship?
Would Cecile maybe have loved Cyril in the end if she didn’t grow up with her playboy, hedonistic father?
Would Cécile be better adjusted to cope with the changes Anne brought to her life if her father raised her to be more disciplined?
Do you think Cécile had genuine intentions when planning this and involving Cyril? Would you force this upon your partner even if it made them uncomfortable? Is this taking it too far? Is this a selfish act upon Cécile’s conscience?
On Death and Mourning:
What do you think suicide represents in the various novels we’ve read, or how does it contribute to the different concepts we’ve been discussing in class?
How would you grieve if you were Cecile?
Did this story have a happy ending? We understand that the plan worked and Anne is now out of their lives … forever. But at what expense? Furthermore, did Cyril deserve to have his emotions played with and is Cecile still worthy of him after the plan’s outcome?
I wonder what could’ve been. Have the two learned anything from their experience, or will they revert entirely back to their immature and selfish ways once again?
What happens, will change the direction of the story？
Making Connections:
Have you ever shared any of the similar feelings as Cecile and Agostino felt?
If you were to reread the beginning would there be any other clues now that you know the ending?
Do you think that media pieces that touch upon taboo topics tend to have coverage in terms of how many people consume it [See the movie, read the novel, article, etc.] and maybe if you are feeling more in debt, why would you say it?
On Context:
What should be said about French society in the time that this novel was published and what type of background or struggles as an 18-year-old influenced the author to write this novel?
