Like most of her readers, my literary love affair with Iréne Némirovsky (1902 to 1942) began when I read her acknowledged by all master work Suite Francaise. I then read her most autobiographical novel, The Wine of Solitude. Next I read her very interesting David Golder centering on a White Russian family living in Paris. From there I moved on to a very fun and wickedly funny novella about a teenage girl's revenge on her mother (Iréne Némirovsky did have "mother issues"), The Ball. I also read her The Courilof Affair and Snow in Autumn, both deal with White Russians living in Paris.
"Dimanche" ("Sunday") is my first venture into her short stories. (1934 is my best guess on the publication year, if you have the correct information please let me know.). It is a beautiful story about the complex relationship of a young woman, maybe twenty, just beginning to experience love and sexuality, and her mother. It set within an affluent Parisian family. The dynamics of the story turns on each the way the mother and daughter view each other. The daughter is having her first affair. The daughter sees the mother, maybe forty, as aged past the point where passion can motivate her. The mother sees her daughter as in a fairy tale world.
"Dimanche" is a beautiful story. I look forward to read more of her work.
I read this by downloading a sample of the Kindle edition of Dimanche and Other Stories by Iréne Némirovsky.
Mel u
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