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The Hurlyburly's Husband (2008)

by Jean Teulé(Favorite Author)

3.31 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1906040656 (ISBN13: 9781906040659)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Gallic Books

review 1: Set during reign of Louis XIV, the King of Excess: his taste for luxury & constant war cause destitution for 98% of the population of that time, who are burdened with crushing taxes, conscription & famine. Makes the French Revolution seem all but inevitable. The story told here, of the Marquis de Montespan's undying, while largely unrequited, love for his wife, known as Mme de Montespan, the long-term favorite of Louis XIV, by whom he had 7 children, is historically accurate as far as its externalities are concerned. The interior life of the marquis is, of course, a product of the author's imagination. Alone among husbands whose wives are chosen as royal mistresses, the Marquis de Montespan remains intransigently unaccepting of his wife's status as the King's Favorite. ... more He publicly announces himself as a cuckold by ornamenting his carriage with antlers, for example. He sinks further & further into financial ruin, both in his initial efforts to win military honors & thus gain the King's approval & largesse so as to support his wife in the luxurious style that she "deserves" or at least desires, & in his later attempts to retrieve or win back his purloined wife. The one aspect of the marquis' trajectory that I found interesting is his evolution from class snob (at the beginning, he believes in the King's divine rights)to almost class equal to his three domestic servants: the cook, her daughter & the concierge.
review 2: Jean Teulé signe ici un roman historique remarquable. Le langage particulièrement cru et somme toute assez contemporain ne dérange en rien le lecteur qui découvre avec un réalisme troublant la vie quotidienne du 17ème siècle. Loin de l'image idyllique de bien des films, on découvre les courtisans de Louis XIV, tous plus scatologiques et tarés les uns que les autres ... Mais au-delà de ce tableau, l'auteur relate surtout l'Amour absolu que voue un homme pour celle que le Roi a pris pour favorite. Toute sa vie durant, Montespan n'aura de cesse d'attendre que sa Françoise / Athenaïs ne lui revienne. Cet "époux séparé quoique inséparable" est particulièrement touchant. Mais on éprouve presque de la peine pour lui car cette Montespan que le pouvoir a corrompue ne le mérite pas. Mais l'Amour a ses raisons ... less

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