The Pure and the Impure

Reviews

"This sensitively translated edition of the book (the first new one in 60 years) offers a succession of sharp – to the point of brittle, sometimes ingeniously curlicued – meditations on the writer’s ‘favorite form of brutality, love.’" — Bill Marx, Arts Fuse

"That complicated dance that both reveals and conceals is one of the reasons that this novel-that-is-not-quite-a-novel is so very engaging, as Rachel Careau’s carefully referenced and sensitively rendered retranslation demonstrates so clearly... [Careau’s] discipline is well rewarded in bringing all the unique qualities of Colette’s prose into focus. This is an endlessly intriguing work containing complex layers of fact, fiction, and even a little fancy." — Joseph Schreiber, roughghosts

"Besides generously supplying us, via endnotes, with a supplement of vital factual material, Rachel Careau in her attentive, sensitive translation avails herself of a wide, rich vocabulary and nimble syntax to match Colette’s own linguistic ingenuity. The Pure and the Impure is a significant addition to the growing body of freshly retranslated works by a French writer whose true interest has been for too long misunderstood." — Lydia Davis, author of Into the Weeds

"Finally Colette has the translator she has always deserved! Rachel Careau’s sure-footed renderings of the Chéri novels breathed new life into these brilliant works, and now she has brought her considerable talents to The Pure and the Impure, a crucial work for our time. In this peculiar volume Colette compiled her insights into various forms of love, sex, and sexuality, and Rachel Careau has rendered these reflections into accurate and nuanced English. Truly cause for celebration." — Elisabeth Ladenson, Columbia University, author of Dirt for Art’s Sake: Books on Trial from "Madame Bovary" to "Lolita"

"Rachel Careau has beautifully and lucidly translated Colette’s The Pure and the Impure, a unique novel on men, women, and sexuality. Colette is wily, her ideas ambiguous, contradictory, and occasionally absolute. In The Pure and the Impure, what is pure or impure remains as perplexing as woman, sexuality, and love. Always a mystery." — Lynne Tillman, author of Thrilled to Death and Paying Attention

"What delight in relishing the tonal variations of the textual presentation... A true and real experience we can dwell in." — Mary Ann Caws, author of Symbolism, Dada, Surrealisms: Selected Writing of Mary Ann Caws

"An exquisite new translation... A singular account – one that was very much of its own time and yet, paradoxically, far out in front of it. A seductively crafted and deeply fallible work – and a classic." — (starred review), Kirkus