Journal 1887–1910

<p><b>A wry, observant masterpiece—one of the singular treasures of the French fin de siècle</b><br><br>Written between the age of twenty-three and his death at age forty-six, Jules Renard’s <i>Journal 1887–1910</i> is a triumph of introspection and wit. One of the most celebrated figures of Belle Époque Paris, Renard was also a prolific diarist whose private musings were first published in five volumes some fifteen years after his death. Acclaimed by everyone from Somerset Maugham to Samuel Beckett to Susan Sontag, the <i>Journal </i>has had a decisive influence on contemporary letters and was named one of the 100 Books of the Century by <i>Le Monde</i>. It is also a singularly funny work, full of aphorisms, jokes, and sly observations on some of literature’s most indelible characters.<br><br>These selections, brought together by Julian Barnes and translated by Theo Cuffe, offer unparalleled and unfailingly entertaining glimpses of a bygone world. Moving from modish Parisian salons to the French countryside, where Renard served as a provincial mayor in the final years of his life, the <i>Journal </i>is a portrait of a society in flux and a playground for one of the era’s great prose styles. Here, Renard confirms his place among France’s most dazzlingly inventive writers.</p>