Zazie in the Metro by Raymond Queneau
Translated by Barbara Wright
When I read Raymond Queneau’s “The Sunday of Life” for the 1951 Club, I had several commenters tell me how good his book “Zazie in the Metro” was; and as I already had a copy on my shelves, I determined that I should read it soon – and look! I have! 🙂
Published in 1959, “Zazie” is the book Queneau is best known for; this may be because it was made into a very successful film, or perhaps it was just published at the right time to hit the zeitgeist. Whatever it was, it’s certainly an entertaining and enjoyable read and definitely deserves its status.
The titular Zazie is a young girl who’s farmed out to her uncle Gabriel in Paris for a couple of days while her mother goes off in pursuit of a lover. Zazie’s age is never specified and we never really get a full description; however, as she’s constantly perceived as a potential target for sex maniacs, I did wonder if perhaps she was meant to be slightly older than the actress who portrayed her in the film, Catherine Demongeot.
Zazie has one great desire in Paris, which is to ride on the Metro. Alas, this is closed as the staff are on strike, so instead Zazie takes off on a series of madcap chases round the city, hotly pursued by her rather odd uncle (who has a job as a cross-dressing performer in a gay nightclub), a series of women who seem to be interested in her uncle, a tour guide, a parrot with a fairly limited range of words and a ‘chap’ who may be a policeman, pervert, a detective or something more sinister indeed…
The ending is riotously surreal with mayhem and murder breaking out all over the place, but things return to a status quo of sorts, and the slightly dream-like feeling that comes over at the end did make me wonder if everything which took place was not meant to be as real as it first appeared.
The whole manic story is told in a wonderful kind of vernacular, with phonetics and puns abounding. It’s wildly funny, kind of like an old-style screwball comedy but set in a more modern Paris and with plenty of bad language and innuendo. Zazie is a lovable, if foul-mouthed youngster, and we learn more about her from her reactions and interactions with other characters than we do from any kind of character building by the author. In fact, looking back on the book, that’s one of the cleverest things about it. Queneau doesn’t go in for big descriptions of the various protagonists; instead, he builds them up from their actions and what the other characters say about them. Simple things, like the fact that Zazie’s enigmatic aunt Marceline always says things ‘gently’, tell you all you need to know about them.
As with “Sunday” however I think there’s definitely more to the book than meets the eye. Gabriel is prone to deeper thought, and at one point muses (with a no doubt deliberate little nod to Sartre):
Being or nothingness, that is the question. Ascending, descending, coming, going, a man does so much that in the end he disappears. A taxi bears him off, a metro carries him away, the Tower doesn’t care, nor the Pantheon. Paris is but a dream, Gabriel is but a reverie (a charming one), Zazie the dream of a reverie (or of a nightmare) and all this story the dream of a dream, the reverie of a reverie, scarcely more than the typewritten delirium of an idiotic novelist (oh! sorry).
I suspect there are many, many linguistic tricks and in-jokes that I’m missing, and I ended the book thinking that I really want to read it again but with a mindset of appreciating the language more instead of relishing the fantastic and entertaining action. Regardless of that, Zazie is a wonderful romp, a joy to read and a certain indication that I should definitely read more of Raymond Queneau’s work!
(Kudos have to go to translator Barbara Wright again for rendering such sparkling and clever wordplay – what a wonderfully talented woman!)
May 15, 2017 @ 07:48:40
Lovely review Karen. It is a delightful book – mad on top but deeper underneath. I need to re-read it.
May 15, 2017 @ 09:18:15
Thanks Annabel! Yes, you’re right – I think there’s a lot under the surface and it definitely warrants a revisit.
May 15, 2017 @ 07:49:35
Wonder if it would be filmed nowadays, in this world of constraints & austerity. Oulipo isn’t cost effective
May 15, 2017 @ 09:17:49
Probably not – much to out of the mainstream to be considered. Alas, the really interesting things in the arts seem to be so marginalised nowadays.
May 15, 2017 @ 08:10:35
I really should read this as Queneau had such an influence on Iris Murdoch; and I can see parallels with her “Under the Net” here.
May 15, 2017 @ 09:17:17
Excellent! Go for it – that TBR is getting too small anyway… 😉
May 15, 2017 @ 08:21:14
This sounds dizzyingly good. I’ve heard of neither author, title nor film before reading your review, but I’ll definitely be reading this before too long!
May 15, 2017 @ 09:16:53
It is! I don’t know that I would want to see the film, but I’m definitely keen to read more Queneau!
May 15, 2017 @ 13:40:25
I adore that story! And I’m determined to find the film to watch it with my boys. I read some of it with my older son, although I asked him not to repeat the language. He said, unimpressed, that he’d heard far worse at school.
May 15, 2017 @ 14:03:04
It’s wonderful, isn’t it? And I can imagine your son not being shocked – they learn so much so young nowadays…. 😦
May 15, 2017 @ 14:06:15
I’ve reviewed it briefly here:
https://findingtimetowrite.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/growing-up-is-hard-to-do/
May 15, 2017 @ 14:09:05
Excellent – and I think you’re spot on about there being much more beneath the surface.
May 15, 2017 @ 14:33:12
To my shame this is a book I haven’t heard of. It sounds brilliant though the titular character particularly appeals.
May 15, 2017 @ 14:49:11
It’s great fun Ali, but with a bit of a hidden message. Highly recommended!
May 15, 2017 @ 19:37:25
Looks great. One of those books I feel that – as an OuLiPo admirer – I should have read by now. The novelist’s intervention you show is a cliche these days, but was probably … novel, in its day. Stories of random walking through the city are a good thing. I’m currently re-reading Nadja, and of course, I think Queneau was briefly a surrealist.
Did you once review Species of Spaces? Its an OuLiPian work I read a few months ago. Rather systematic description. Yet, it all demands imagination.
May 15, 2017 @ 20:23:54
Definitely recommend it! The wordplay is excellent too. Yes, I did review Species of Space – here https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2014/08/20/oulipo-and-word-games-reading-species-of-space-and-other-pieces-by-georges-perec/. I tend to be of the opinion that everything by Perec is worth reading!
May 16, 2017 @ 20:33:40
Ah yes, I even commented! Got to the end in the end. Descriptive without analysis. I wonder what brought him to suspend judgement like that?
Getting back to your review, I will have to keep an eye out for a 2ndhand Zazie.
May 16, 2017 @ 21:04:27
🙂 I hope you come across Zazie – wonderfully entertaining!
May 15, 2017 @ 20:51:04
I adore Zazie and you’ve totally captured why! She’s a force of nature. I completely agree about this translation too – so impressive.
May 15, 2017 @ 20:53:58
It is, isn’t it? Wright was obviously a major talent in the translating world!
May 16, 2017 @ 07:57:20
I haven’t read any Queneau yet but will probably start with ‘The Sunday of Life’ and then ‘Zazie’. I don’t think I’ve seen the film but I did watch a lot of ’60s foreign films inthe ’80s.
May 16, 2017 @ 09:34:55
He’s definitely worth and read and as I’ve read these too I can highly recommend them! 🙂
May 16, 2017 @ 17:41:58
Interesting. I’ve heard of the film of course, but not seen it. Is it Oulipan?
May 16, 2017 @ 19:19:03
Well he was one of the founder members of the group, but I’m not sure I’m erudite enough to say exactly whether a book is Oulipan or not! There’s tons of wordplay, underlying themes and probably loads of constraints and references I haven’t spotted – so yes. It’s also great fun!
May 20, 2017 @ 15:33:42
Heard of but not read; your review is enticing 🙂
May 20, 2017 @ 16:45:37
Definitely worth an hour or two of your time… 🙂
May 22, 2017 @ 08:03:51
Well, I have recently finished a re-read of The Master and Margarita so perhaps this one might be up next!
May 22, 2017 @ 08:59:24
Excellent!
May 21, 2017 @ 16:40:27
Sounds like great fun.
May 21, 2017 @ 20:18:00
It is! 🙂
May 21, 2017 @ 17:27:03
Hurray! I loved this, but I can’t imagine how it would work in English. All the puns and jokes are so… French, evidently. I still attempt to work ‘mon cul!’ into a sentence whenever possible. It’s very satisfying. So glad you enjoyed it Karen!
May 21, 2017 @ 20:16:53
🙂 It works remarkably well in English – what a brilliant translator Barbara Wright was! I loved it!