BONJOUR TRISTESSE - FRANCOISE SAGAN
It's only 108 pages long so what possible excuse could there be to not read it apart from being too busy doomscrolling on your social medias? Bonjour Tristesse was written by Francoise Sagan when she was just eighteen years old and it's this in particular that makes the book of interest. 'A work of art of much beauty and psychological perception', the New Statesman is quoted as saying on the back cover, which is praise indeed especially for something written by one so young.
First published in 1954, the title in English translates to 'hello sadness' that in itself is an interesting title. What the book is actually about - as in the plotline - is probably of secondary consideration as it's not the most important thing about it. What demands more attention is the question and actually the whole idea of the creative process.
Where does it come from? Where does it go? How does it happen? Is it innate within us all or an essence rare?
At eighteen years of age, how many books have you read to give you an understanding of what makes for a good one? What life-knowledge have you accumulated? What experiences have you had to fuel your insight into people and even into your own psyche? Is it true what some say, that you will know as much about a person in the first instant you see them than if you spend a whole lifetime with that person? Is it true what some say, that you will know as much about life at eighteen as you will ever know, and that the proceeding years will either confirm what you know or wither it all away to nothing?
Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein when she was nineteen years-old. Arthur Rimbaud was nineteen when he wrote his A Season In Hell. Mike Oldfield was nineteen when he composed Tubular Bells. Johnny Rotten was nineteen when he stared-down the world. Francoise Sagan was eighteen when she wrote Bonjour Tristesse.
You see, Bonjour Tristesse is indeed a really well-written, well-crafted and well-composed book, and if Francoise Sagan had never written anything else after it then that would have been fine because her legacy would have already been secured. Having written a book of this calibre you could go to your grave knowing your life has not been wasted.
So is this the point of the creative process? Is this the meaning of it? To give purpose? To give meaning? To allow meaning? To bestow meaning? Such things sometimes need to be considered and such circumstances can sometimes be brought about through reading a book such as Bonjour Tristesse, written by an eighteen year-old French girl by the name of Francoise Sagan.
John Serpico
