Louis Calaferte - Limitrophe - 1972

Limitrophe, by Louis Calaferte

Dedicated by the author to Jean Carlen, actor and director, notably of Chekhov, Labiche, Molière and Marivaux plays.

Limitrophe is the third and final step of the itinerary undertaken with Portrait de l’enfant, continued with Hinterland, and which could be defined as a conscious exploration of the unconscious. What the author seeks to delineate is the very heart of human personality, its core. The story is of an illness both organic and mental, with the recurring themes of pain, prostration, dependence on others. It is also, on a higher level, the anguished search for an exit that is glimpsed alternately with revulsion for the flesh, flight from oneself, thirst for destruction; and with numbness, progressive paralysis, petrification: the state of lying prone to which the book leads. Although he has broken with traditional novel technique, Louis Calaferte has written here a true novel whose interiorized “suspense” is constant. Few writers can indulge in such forays into the strange.

First edition for press service. 1972, 212 pages, 12 x 19 cm. Some creases and foxing on the cover. An old stain on the upper edge of the pages.