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The Abyss
work by Yourcenar
Also known as: “L’Oeuvre au noir”
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discussed in biography
- In Marguerite Yourcenar
…is L’Oeuvre au noir (1968; The Abyss), an imaginary biography of a 16th-century alchemist and scholar. Among Yourcenar’s other works are the short stories collected in Nouvelles orientales (1938; Oriental Tales), the prose poem Feux (1936; Fires), and the short novel Le Coup de grâce (1939; Eng. trans. Coup de…
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place in French literature
- In French literature: Historical fiction
…and L’Oeuvre au noir (1968; The Abyss), evoking the making and unmaking of order in Europe, offered portraits of men who grappled with the limitations of their time. In addition to proffering rich evocations of the past, Yourcenar’s accounts had contemporary political resonance. History proved able to accommodate a vast…
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