Inspiring Older Readers

posted on 16 Sep 2016

Toxique by Francoise Sagan

I recently read and reviewed Sagan’s seminal romantic novel,  Bonjour Tristesse, and while I was doing some general background reading on the author I stumbled across reference to this diary /journal which had been kept by Sagan  and then illustrated by her friend and artist Bernard Buffet.  The reference came from an intriguing collection of essays edited by Cynthia Palmer and Michael Horowitz called Sisters of the Extreme: women writing on the drug experience and it piqued my interest sufficiently to try and track it down.

a_FS31.jpg

What I found was something quite extraordinary. The book is in effect the diary Sagan kept of her nine days in a clinic undergoing morphine detox. In 1957 she had been in an automobile accident and had been given the drug for the pain but coming back off it proved to be a tortuous path. What we have in the diary is the most raw and intimate portrait of what goes through the mind of this sensitive artist as she tries to overcome her demons. She looks backwards to the life she led and wishes to be back there – notions of the present and the future offer no respite from the searing pain of withdrawal.

a_FS101.jpga_FS61.jpg

However, it is certainly the case that the impact of this book lies in the collaboration with the artist, Bernard Buffet,  whose stark black and white drawings and jagged calligraphy perfectly capture the essence of the prose. The two elements of the book – writing and drawing – are so symbiotic that it’s impossible to visualise the one without the other.

a_FS71.jpga_FS81.jpg

I was lucky enough to track down a 1964 first UK edition under the Souvenir imprint. It’s a large, card-covered book in a harsh white – almost hospital/clinical white – that acts to contrast with the heavy ink and charcoal blacks of the drawings and the stark typewriter font of the text.  Copies can be found but they are likely to come from Europe or the USA and you will probably have to pay the thick end of £40+. However, I have to say that it is worth every penny and it is a genuine experience to read.

 

Terry Potter

September 2016

a_FS61.jpg

a_FS11.jpga_FS41.jpga_FS21.jpg