I owe my great thanks to Max u for the gift card which allowed me to read this work.
"She was dead. Her little body floated for a moment, like a bundle of rags, before disappearing from sight, swallowed up by the shadowy Seine." From Snows of Autumn
Snows of Autumn (reading time under an hour) is perhaps the most moving most poignant of the six works of Iréne Némirovsky's (1902 to 1942) I have so far read. I am new to Némirovsky, I just last month first read her Suite Francaise, where I guess most everyone starts.
Snows of Autumn is set in very late Czarist Russia. The central of the narrative is an elderly woman who has worked for the last fifty one years as a servant to a family of Aristocrats. Her life revolves around the great house in which they live. As the story opens, the two sons of the family are of to join the White Russian Army in combat against the Bolesivicks. The woman recalls the men as babies and fears for them. They tell her not to worry as they are quite confident of an easy victory over the Bolesivicks. Of course we know this is not going to happen.
The family flees Russia for Paris where there is a sizable White Russian community. Némirovsky does a marvelous job describing the families adoption to their new home. The old servant lady rarely leaves the small apartment in which they live. The family begins to lose the old conservative ways of Russia and adopt a freer Parisian life style. The servant longs for the old days.
The ending is terribly sad, it has a terrible beauty that can nearly overwhlem if you open yourself to it..
I will next read her novel, Jezebel and then Fires of Autumn. As much as I can I will read her in full.
Please share your feelings on Némirovsky with us.
Mel u
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