Cheri and The Last of Cheri Author:Colette, Roger Senhouse (Translator) Two of Colette's most beloved works, in one volume, with an Introduction by Judith Thurman.Chéri, together with its sequel The Last of Chéri, is a classic story of a love affair between a very young man and a charming older woman, and marks Colette's finest achievements... more » in the brilliant, subtle, and frank investigations of love and power. The amour between Fred Peloux, the beautiful gigolo known as Chéri, and the courtesan Léa de Lonval tenderly depicts the devotion that stems from desire, and is an honest account of the most human preoccupations of youth and middle age. With compassionate insight Colette (1873–1954) paints a full-length double portrait using an impressionistic style all her own.
Set in the Parisian demimonde in the last days of the Belle Epoque, Cheri tells the story of Lea, a courtesan at the end of a successful career, and her lover, the beautiful but emotionally opaque Cheri. Cheri will soon enter into an arranged marriage, ending their six-year affair, which, they will each realize too late, has been the one real love of their lives.
The End of Cheri picks up their story in the aftermath of the First World War. Cheri, now a decorated soldier, has returned from the trenches to a changed world. Emotionally estranged from his independent and unfaithful wife, a psychically wounded Cheri begins an inexorable descent, one that leads him back to a stunning encounter with Lea..« less