Marcel Ayme

This book, the first comprehensive study of Ayme's work, explores the thematic and structural unity masked by the astonishing variety and complexity of the oeuvre. It underlines the constant tension between peasant and Parisian, moralist and entertainer, head and heart that gives Ayme's work its charm. After a preliminary chapter on Ayme the man, the book turns to an examination of Ayme's recurrent themes: sexual repression, schizophrenia, social order, illusion, thwarted ambition. This is complemented by an exploration of Ayme's art: the fluent, ironic style, the comic reversals, the rise-and-fall patterns, the personal and collective crises, the increasing tension in a flawed victim. These patterns combine with Ayme's key themes to convey a tender but tormented world-view where the vision of the moralist and the needs of the entertainer are finely balanced indeed."