Summer in Termuren

By Louis Paul Boon

Book Overview

This, the author writes, is "the novel of the individual in a world of barbarians." It is the story of Ondine and Oscarke, a young married couple adrift in a Belgian landscape that is darkening under the spread of industry and World War I. Ondine, who "came to serve god and live," finds that she must "serve the gentlemen" instead. Oscarke, an aspiring sculptor, finds himself unsuccessfully scouring Brussels for work and, when he is finally hired, too tired to make his own art. They grow old and their four children grow up as "technology and mechanization, unemployment, fascism, and war" take over around them. War destroys their attempts to establish a better life, which they seek continually and against all odds. And the chapters about these characters, some of whom first appeared in Chapel Road, alternate with chapters about Boon himself, who describes the impossibility of modern life and the destruction of war. As this wide-ranging novel progresses, the author's struggles--both with writing and with his own life--come more and more to resemble those of his characters.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1564784142
• ISBN13: 9781564784148
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press
• Length: 489 Pages
• Weight: 1.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

More is more

Readers interested in this volume of Boon's work who haven't yet read "Chapel Road," for which this novel is the sequel, should certainly do that first. For those who have, I should report that this is in every way a continuation of Boon's themes and style (though pirates and petty thieves have replaced the Reynard the Fox episodes), fleshing out his worldview through his characters and editorial asides. Unlike "Chapel Road," this is a long read, quite an epic, and though the lapidary style is maintained (the short, jewel-like "entries," dozens of which comprise one "chapter,"and many individually quite wonderful), I became a bit impatient before reaching the end of the tale, with Ondineke's anticipation of a second world war. Yes, Boon keeps his characters real, gritty and tragically small-minded while keeping up our sympathies for them, but I, for one, was less interested in the straight narrative than Boon seems to suppose. With that qualification, I certainly think my energies were well-spent with a second novel from this major, frequently overlooked writer, whom as I mentioned elsewhere fused a Tolstoyan soul with a Modernist's literary inventiveness.