A Review of Eternity, My Beloved

English translation of the French Car je t'aime a l'éternité by Jean Sulivan
Reviewed by Frances Rossi

"Jerome Strozzi gave me his soul," author Jean Sulivan tells us on the last page of this novel, but the reader may feel, as I did, that  Sulivan had given me his.  It is probably no accident that author and subject share the same initials in this story about a rebel priest in the occupied Paris of World War II who chooses as his unofficial parish the notorious Pigalle district, where many of his flock are prostitutes.  Indeed, the author was himself a priest, relieved of his regular parish duties to write full-time.  In many ways he must identify with Strozzi in his thinking, but he poses in the story as the narrator, who shadows Strozzi through the steps of his ministry and then wanders, himself, through the streets of Paris, attempting to understand what propels this remarkable man.

"Jerome Strozzi's discerning look was making its way within me," says Sulivan at one point, as he begins to probe the mysteries of the Red-Light District.  "But the pimp has a soul, too, and his own fears and hopes."

One might characterize this novel as not so much character-driven as character-led.   With the narrator, we pursue Strozzi, who is always just beyond us, eluding us with his words and actions.  Like the author, we see him "from far away, gently amusing himself with his character."

There is very little of what one could call plot here.  A story unfolds about Elizabeth, a French Jewish woman left to support her infant daughter alone after her husband is drafted into the army and her father is killed by the Germans.  With all doors closed to her, Elizabeth "takes up the profession,"  becoming "a woman without a face, without remembrance, without regret."  Yet, in spite of herself, Elizabeth begins to come alive under the care of Strozzi, and then begins to reach out to the spiritual needs of her own clients.  Sulivan treats this with such finesse that we are never able to make easy generalizations or jump to sweeping conclusions.  All we can say is that we see love beginning to do its work in this unlikely circumstance.

The story fades in and out.  It is as if we are with Sulivan in amidst the sea of humanity, momentarily glimpsing our characters, then losing sight as the crowd closes in.

We find here a reflection on what it means to be human, to love selflessly, to tell the truth, to serve others.  Why write it in the form of a novel, one wonders?  Sulivan tells us in his own words:

I was going to create local color, rewrite A Desert Named Pigalle.  I'd put a bold priest in the middle of it all, like in an edifying novel.  He'd be efficient, a 'fisher of men'--and women, a relaxed type, who'd call everyone Toto.  He'd swagger a lot, but otherwise he'd be conventionally generous, genial, with special devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and would hopelessly confuse morality with the moral law, Christianity with First Communion ceremonies.  In other words, he'd be an alibi.  But Strozzi is another breed.

This novel is a kind of patchwork; it has a cubistic sense to it, turning classical, pat reality on its ear, reconsidering the world from the ground up--much as the Cubist painters did in the medium of the canvas.

Jean Sulivan is author of the internationally acclaimed The Sea Remains, winner of Le Grand Prix Catholique de Literature.  He has been seen by some as writing in the tradition of the great Catholic novelists, such as Georges Bernanos.  Although there is debate as to whether Catholic novel can be considered a genre in the English-speaking world, one could place him with Graham Green, Willa Cather, Mary Gordon, Evelyn Waugh and Walker Percy--to name a few.

Sr. Francis Ellen Riordan has rendered this novel most evocatively in English, giving us a book that is captivating despite its lack of driving plot.  Perhaps it is the mystery of Strozzi that pulls us inexorably through the pages. 

Joseph Cunneen, founding editor of Cross Currents, prefaces the book  with a helpful introduction.

I recommend this book to anyone open to going on the rounds with Strozzi, learning from him, reconsidering.  It is valuable, as well, to the writer interested in exploring a unique writing style.

Amazon gives this book a five-star rating, but at this time has no new books in stock.  It is still available at St. Francis Online, from Joe Cunneen, or from River Boat Books.

 

June 16, 2004