Do You Like Brahms? - Minumsa World Literature Collection 179

Author Françoise Sagan · Publisher Minumsa · Published 2020-11-06 · ISBN 9788937461798

Book Introduction

The charming little monster of French literature, master of delicate psychological description
Love, that abstruse and ambiguous emotion, as depicted by Françoise Sagan

Françoise Sagan's Aimez-vous Brahms..., by the "charming little monster" of French literature, has been published as number 179 in the Minumsa World Literature Collection. Sagan imbued this work with a maturity that was unbelievable for someone of only twenty-four, once again proving her 'genius' which had already become a 'myth' at the age of nineteen with the debut of Bonjour Tristesse. In Aimez-vous Brahms..., Sagan candidly portrayed the abstruse and ambiguous emotion of love against the backdrop of our daily lives, where joy and sorrow, happiness and misfortune are always subtly intertwined.

Love like spring sunshine appearing in a tedious daily life

Paul, a thirty-nine-year-old interior decorator, has been with her lover Roger for a long time and thinks she will never be able to love anyone else. However, unlike Paul, Roger, who dislikes commitment, only meets her when he feels like it and doesn't shy away from enjoying a night with young, beautiful women. Paul's one-sided feelings for Roger only bring her deeper loneliness with each passing day. Then one day, while visiting an American client, Paul encounters Simon, who has a mysterious, dreamlike aura. Simon falls for Paul at first sight and begins to express his affection shyly but actively. Paul feels both unease and fresh curiosity at Simon's approach.

"Do you like Brahms?" She stood for a moment by an open window, bathed in brilliant sunlight. Then, that short question, "Do you like Brahms," seemed to her to conjure up a huge mass of forgotten things—all that she had forgotten, all the questions she had intentionally avoided. "Do you like Brahms?" Did she still have the capacity to like something other than herself, something beyond her own life?

"As long as I don't harm others, I have the right to destroy myself."
Françoise Sagan's life, more literary than fiction

If Françoise Sagan's life could be summarized in one word, it would be 'addiction'. From her late teens, she frequented cafes and clubs on Boulevard Saint-Michel, had Gauloises cigarettes and a cup of coffee for breakfast, always had a whiskey glass in hand, frequented casinos until the thresholds were worn out, squandering her entire royalties, and enjoyed speeding in Jaguars, Aston Martins, Ferraris, and Maseratis, changing them often, even suffering a car accident that left her unconscious for three days. In other words, it was a life addicted to extravagance, alcohol, romance, sex, speed, gambling, and drugs.
Because of this aspect of her life, François Mauriac called her a "little monster." While some criticized her morality (she was indeed called to court several times), she burned through her life by writing novels without constraint or limitation, pursuing personal freedom through such a life. She famously said she would never write anything she hadn't experienced, and indeed, she enchantingly and vividly incorporated such experiences into her works, ultimately being recognized as the lovable genius literary girl, "the charming little monster of French literature."

Table of Contents

Chapters 1-18
Work Commentary
Author Chronology