From Publishers Weekly
Written between 1927 and 1930, when Yourcenar (1903-1987) was in her mid-20s, these three exquisite stories prefigure the Belgian-born French novelist's mature dramatic powers. In the title piece, Yourcenar describes the external world in myriad shades of blue. Unfolding like a folktale, this tonal experiment concerns a band of seafaring European merchants (Dutch, Irish, Greek, Castilian) who seek a cave full of sapphires, aided by a deaf-mute female slave with blue-black hair. She is kidnapped by the greedy Greek merchant (her tears turn to aquamarines), then stripped and lashed to the mast by the ship's crew, but this act of violation signals the mariners' undoing. Male arrogance and misogyny also underlie "The First Evening," which was written by Yourcenar's father, Michel de Crayencour, then revised and completed by her in a curious collaboration. Honeymooning with his new wife, a man resents receiving the news that his ex-mistress has thrown herself under a bus. In "The Evil Spell," set in a Mediterranean village, an Italian peasant woman dying of tuberculosis, seemingly inflicted by a jealous rival's magic curse, is aided by a male healer's spell-breaking rituals. In sensual yet precise prose, Yourcenar probes the workings of greed, faith, credulity and empathy in human relationships. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Discovered among Yourcenar's papers after her death in 1987, the three stories in this slim volume were written from 1927 and 1930, when the author was in her mid-twenties, and are a startling achievement. They reveal her preoccupation with storytelling methods she later developed in her novels?reworking of oral traditions and an incandescent point of view?as well as a fascination with the fable and the occult. Only "A Blue Tale," told entirely in timbres of blue, has not been published. "An Evil Spell" concerns a young Italian peasant who confesses to sorcery out of fear yet finds a new power in the terror she now inspires. "The First Evening" is the most compelling of the three tales: On his wedding night, a bridegroom reflects on his new possession then receives notice that his ex-mistress has been struck by a bus. The story, created by Yourcenar's father as a young man and reworked by the daughter, reveals the cold, sure eye of a writer beyond her years. A good introduction to Yourcenar's work; for literature collections.?Amy Boaz, "Library Journal"Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
In her foreword, Josyane Savigneau, Yourcenar's biographer and editor, stresses the significance of a writer's works in understanding the writer. Fans hunger for each newly found, published, completed, or translated manuscript after a writer's death, seeking some additional revelations about the writer's personal life and literary development. This collection of stories is the last of Yourcenar's fiction to be translated into English. The title story displays Yourcenar's strength at exploring tradition and imbuing it with contemporary insight and sensuality. In "The First Evening," a story her father wrote, which she revised and completed, Yourcenar shows keen observations regarding the often awkward sexual relations between men and women and their frequent inability to form true, intimate connections. Finally, "The Evil Spell" blatantly shows influences apparent in later works: her fascination with the occult, fully examined in The Abyss or the deep connection with the Mediterranean, appearing in Memoirs of Hadrian. These short but, in many ways, splendid works stand on their own merit, for they demonstrate an intuitive and passionate person as well as an extremely talented and ambitious writer. Janet St. John


Book Description
Published to great acclaim in France in 1993, this collection is not only a delight for Marguerite Yourcenar fans but a welcome port of entry for any reader not yet familiar with the author's lengthier, more demanding works. The sole published work of fiction by Yourcenar yet to be translated into English, this collection includes three stories written between 1927 and 1930 when the author was in her mid-twenties. These stories cover a range of themes, from an allegory on greed and a scene from the war of the sexes, to a witchhunt that obsessively creates its own quarry.

For the devoted readers of Yourcenar, this collection allows a rare glimpse at the beginnings of a writer's craft. In these accomplished but forgotten pieces, edited and introduced by her biographer, Josyane Savigneau, the reader will find the blend of fable and fairy tale of Oriental Tales, the psychological chronicle of Dear Departed, the ironic realism of A Coin in Nine Hands. Read as an introduction to Yourcenar's work, the stories take us into the writer's workshop, as it were, to the early days of creation. In either case, A Blue Tale and Other Stories carries the unmistakable voice of a formidable and vastly talented writer.

Marguerite Yourcenar (her pseudonym was an anagram of her family name, Crayencour) was born in Brussels in 1903 and died in Maine in 1987. One of the most respected writers in the French language, she is best known as the author of the best-selling Memoirs of Hadrian and The Abyss. She was awarded many literary honors, most notably election to the Académie Francaise in 1980, the first woman to be so honored.




Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

ANNOTATION

Published to great acclaim in France in 1993, this collection is not only a delight for Marguerite Yourcenar fans but a welcome port of entry for any reader not yet familiar with the author's lengthier, more demanding works. This collection includes three stories written between 1927 and 1930 when the author was in her mid-20s.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

These three stories, the last of Yourcenar's fiction to be translated into English, were written between 1927 and 1930 when the author was in her mid-twenties. "A Blue Tale" is a sensual, fantastic attempt to describe reality in tones of blue. Drawing on an ancient oral tradition, Yourcenar offers a tale of the credulity of men who are lured by riches - in this case, sapphires. "The First Evening" was originally written, though left unfinished, by Yourcenar's father, Michel de Crayencour. He exerted a strong influence on his daughter's life and on the early stages of her writing career. Yourcenar revised and completed this tale depicting a jaded French intellectual and man-of-the-world whose wedding night is disrupted by shocking news, and it was published under her name after her father's death. "The Evil Spell," like Memoirs of Hadrian, is set in the Mediterranean, a physical and spiritual place that fired Yourcenar's literary imagination. The tale reveals Yourcenar's fascination with the occult, a realm she would find herself attracted to more than once later on - most notably at a crucial turning point in The Abyss.

FROM THE CRITICS

BookList - Janet St. John

In her foreword, Josyane Savigneau, Yourcenar's biographer and editor, stresses the significance of a writer's works in understanding the writer. Fans hunger for each newly found, published, completed, or translated manuscript after a writer's death, seeking some additional revelations about the writer's personal life and literary development. This collection of stories is the last of Yourcenar's fiction to be translated into English. The title story displays Yourcenar's strength at exploring tradition and imbuing it with contemporary insight and sensuality. In "The First Evening," a story her father wrote, which she revised and completed, Yourcenar shows keen observations regarding the often awkward sexual relations between men and women and their frequent inability to form true, intimate connections. Finally, "The Evil Spell" blatantly shows influences apparent in later works: her fascination with the occult, fully examined in "The Abyss" or the deep connection with the Mediterranean, appearing in "Memoirs of Hadrian". These short but, in many ways, splendid works stand on their own merit, for they demonstrate an intuitive and passionate person as well as an extremely talented and ambitious writer.

Booknews