Women Paperback – 10 Mar. 2020

This is the second work by Mihail Sebastian that I've read (and again in splendid translation by Gabi Reigh). After loving 'The Town with Acacia Trees' so much, I couldn't wait for 'Women' to be published, and I haven't been disappointed! Yet again, I find myself wondering why Sebastian isn't better known. This differs from 'The Town' by being a set of connected vignettes, rather than a single narrative, though each of the four episodes carries a connecting thread in the form of a character who carries autobiographical echoes of Sebastian himself. Although the title and the opening pages might lead today's feminist reader to fear the objectifying 'male gaze', the text quickly subverts expectations and reminds us that Sebastian is genuinely modern. The use of voice is complex and ever-shifting, sometimes first-person, sometimes third-, and with parts presented from the female perspective, others from a male for whom self-knowledge is tantalisingly elusive. Like 'The Town', this text is a poignant reflection upon love's transience, explored through characters who struggle to comprehend their own motivations and impulses. The prose is irresistible - adroitly brought to us in English in what seems to me an outstanding quality of translation - and demonstrates the author's phenomenal grasp of human psychology and its complexities.