Les amitiés particulières

"Les amitiés particulières" is a 1943 novel by French writer Roger Peyrefitte, probably his best known work today, which won the coveted prix Renaudot. Largely autobiographical, it deals with an intimate relationship between two boys at a Roman Catholic boarding school and how it is destroyed by a priest's will to "protect" them of homosexuality.

The book was translated into English by Edward Hyams and published in 1958 under the title "Secret Friendships" in the United States and "Special Friendships" in the United Kingdom. As of 2005, it is out of print. In 1964 a film adaptation, "Les amitiés particulières", was made, directed by Jean Delannoy.

Plot summary

The plot revolves around Georges de Sarre, a fourteen-year-old boy who is sent to a Catholic boarding school in 1920s France. Getting to know the other boys, he is immediately interested in Lucien Rouvière, of whom he is warned by the unsympathetic Marc de Blajan, who cryptically informs him that some of the students "may seem good, but are in fact not". Georges is dismayed when he learns that Lucien already has a boyfriend, André Ferron. He befriends Lucien, but filled with envy, tries to destroy their relationship, eventually succeeding in getting André expelled in a Machiavellian scheme.

When his advances towards Lucien remain fruitless, Georges starts a "special friendship", i.e. a friendship with homosexual overtones, with a twelve-year-old student, the beautiful Alexandre (Alexander) Motier. The priests who lead the school disapprove of these relationships, even though it does not go beyond a few kisses and love poems, with no sexual connotation.

Despite their air of condemnation of these special friendships, some of the priests harbour sexual feelings for the boys. One of them, Father de Trennes, likes to invite boys to join him in his room at night for a few drinks and cigarettes. Georges continues his scheming ways and gets Father de Trennes expelled by an anonymous letter. However, Father Lauzon, who is a friend of Alexandre's family and wants to protect him, learns about their relationship and demands that it be ended immediately.

Lauzon talks Georges into giving back the love letters from Alexander, which at the time the novel is set meant that a relationship was over. Unfortunately, Alexander cannot see that Georges was forced to do this and that his feelings for him are actually unchanged—and commits suicide.

The work has been praised for its elegant style, and the discretion with which the subject is treated. One example is the question which Alexander poses to Georges: "Georges, do you know the things one should not know?"

Relationship to Peyrefitte's biography and other similar works

The plot is understood to be largely autobiographical, with de Sarre being Peyrefitte's alter ego in the book. As in the book, Peyrefitte had a relationship with a younger student at a Catholic boarding school and as in the book, his love interest eventually committed suicide.

The reader can follow George de Sarre's later life as a diplomat in Greece in Peyrefitte's "Les Ambassades" and "La Fin des ambassades", where he also meets Father de Trennes again. Again, this parallels Peyrefitte's life as a diplomat in the 1930s/1940s.

Peyrefitte was on (mostly) friendly terms with Henry de Montherlant, who in his later years wrote a novel ("Les garçons", 1969) about a similar relationship. There exists substantial correspondence between the two on, among other things, love for boys and young men.

Detailed bibliography

*"Les amitiés particulières : roman" / Roger Peyrefitte. – Marseille : Jean Vigneau, 1943 (Toulouse : Impr. régionale). – 382 p. ; 24 × 19 cm. [Limited edition, 1.999 ex.]

*"Les amitiés particulières : roman" / Roger Peyrefitte. – [85e édition] . – Paris : Jean Vigneau, 1946 (Mayenne : impr. de Floch). – 444 p. ; 18 × 12 cm.

*"Les amitiés particulières : roman" / Roger Peyrefitte ; avec, en frontispices, 2 lithographies originales de Valentine Hugo…. – [Paris] : J. Vigneau, 1946 (impr. de J. Dumoulin). – 2 vol., pl. ; 28 × 19 cm.

*"Le amicizie particolari" / Roger Peyrefitte ; trad. G. Natoli. – Torino : Einaudi, 1949. – 388 p.

*"Special friendships" / Roger Peyrefitte ; transl. from the French by Felix Giovanelli. – New York : Vanguard Press, 1950. – 392 p.

* "Heimliche Freundschaften" : Roman / Roger Peyrefitte. [Übers. von Günther Vulpius] . Karlsruhe : Stahlberg, 1950. – 476 S.

*"Les amitiés particulières : roman" / Roger Peyrefitte. – Paris : Flammarion, 1951 (Lagny : impr. de Emmanuel Grevin et fils). – 444 p. ; 19 × 12 cm. [New edition in 1964]

*"Les amitiés particulières : roman" / Roger Peyrefitte ; lithographies de [Gaston] Goor. – [Paris] : Flammarion, 1953 (J. Dumoulin ; Marcel Manequin, 10 mai 1953). – 2 vol., [4] -180 p.-12 pl., [4] -180 p.-12 pl. : 24 lithographies ; 29 × 20 cm. [Limited edition, 740 ex.]

*"Les amitiés particulières" / Roger Peyrefitte ; [dessins de Englebert] . – Paris : Club des éditeurs, 1956 (Paris : Club des éditeurs, 20 juin 1956). – 352 p. : ill., portrait, cart. ill. ; 20 × 14 cm (rel.). – (Club des éditeurs ; 6). [Limited edition, 7.176 ex.]

*"Special friendships : a novel" / by Roger Peyrefitte ; transl. from the French by Edward Hyams. – London : Secker & Warburg, 1958 (Bristol : Western Printing Services Ltd). – 352 p ; 20 × 14 cm (hb).

*"Les amitiés particulières" / Roger Peyrefitte ; [illustration de G. Benvenuti] . – Paris : Éditions J'ai lu, 1958 (impr. d'E. Pigelet). – 448 p. : couv. en coul. avec notice et portrait ; 16 cm. – (J'ai lu ; 17-18). [New editions in 1964, 1968, 1973, 1999 (ISBN 2-27711017-5)]

*"Special friendships : a novel" / by Roger Peyrefitte ; transl. from the French by Edward Hyams. – Panther, 1964 (December 1964). – 256 p. ; (pb). – ISBN 0-58601663-5

*"Verholen vriendschap" / Roger Peyrefitte. – Utrecht : Bruna, 1966. – 372 p.

*"Les amitiés particulières" / Roger Peyrefitte ; [frontispice de Daniel Briffaud] . – [Levallois-Perret] : Cercle du bibliophile, [1968] . – 399 p. : portrait, cart. ill. ; 20 cm. – (Le Club des grands prix littéraires).

*"Különleges barátságok" / Roger Peyrefitte ; [transl. László Szenczei] . - Budapest : Magvető Könyvkiadó, 1969. - 446 p.

*"Les amitiés particulières : roman : édition définitive" / Roger Peyrefitte. – Paris : Librairie Générale Française, 1973 (73-La Flèche : impr. Brodard et Taupin). – 448 p. : couv. ill. en coul. ; 17 cm. – (Le Livre de poche ; 3726). [New editions in 1975 (ISBN 2-253-00446-4), 1978 (ISBN 2-253-00446-4)]

*"Les amitiés particulières" / Roger Peyrefitte. – Genève : Édito-service ; [Évreux] : [diffusion le Cercle du bibliophile] , [1973] (impr. en Suisse). – 397 p. : portr. ; 21 cm (rel.). – (Le Club des grands prix littéraires).

*"Les amitiés particulières" / Roger Peyrefitte. – Neuilly-sur-Seine : Éd de Saint-Clair ; [Paris] : diffusion F. Beauval, 1975 (impr. en Suisse). – 352 p.- [6] f. de pl. : ill. ; 18 × 12 cm (rel.). – (Collection des grands romans contemporains).

*"Les amitiés particulières : roman" / Roger Peyrefitte. – [Montrouge] : [le Livre de Paris] , 1975 (80-Doullens : impr. Sévin). – 442 p. ; 19 cm (rel.). – (Club pour vous Hachette). – ISBN 2-245-00320-9

*"Le amicizie particolari" / Roger Peyrefitte ; trad. G. Natoli. – Torino : Einaudi, 1979. – 346 p. – (Nuovi Coralli). – ISBN 8806491970

* "Heimliche Freundschaften" : Roman / Roger Peyrefitte. Hamburg : Knaus, 1983 – 349 S. – ISBN 3-8135-3195-3

*"Les amitiés particulières" / Roger Peyrefitte. – Paris : Flammarion, 1986. – 442 p.

*"Les amitiés particulières" / Roger Peyrefitte. – Paris : Flammarion, 1992 (8 janvier 1992). – ISBN 2-08-060173-3

*"Les amitiés particulières" / Roger Peyrefitte. – Paris : Flammarion, 1992. – 128 p. – ISBN 2-08-064968-X

*"Las amistades particulares" / Roger Peyrefitte. – [Barcelona] : Ed. Egales [=Editorial Gai y Lesbiana] ; Otras Voces, 2000. – 398 p. ; 22 × 14 cm. – ISBN 84-95346-09-5

*"Secret friendships" / by Roger Peyrefitte ; drawings by Hugo Haig-Thomas. – Clarence (New York) : West-Art Publishers, 2000. – 264 p. : ill. – ISBN 0-914301-23-3

*"Heimliche Freundschaften : [Roman] " / Roger Peyrefitte ; aus dem Franz. von Günther Vulpius. – Berlin : Bruno Gmünder Verl., 2004. – 318 S. ; 18 cm. – (Bruno-Gmünder-Taschenbuch ; 37). – ISBN 3-86187-837-2

*"Les amitiés particulières" / Roger Peyrefitte. – Paris : Flammarion, 2004 (août 2004). – ISBN 2-08-060172-5

*"Les amitiés particulières : roman" / Roger Peyrefitte. – Paris : Éd. TG [= Éd. Textes gais] (Paris : Impr. Trèfle communication, 2005). –390 p. : ill., couv. et jaquette ill. en coul. ; 21 cm (br.). – ISBN 2-914679-16-5

ee also

*Pedophilia
*List of books portraying paedophilia or sexual abuse of minors
*List of films portraying paedophilia or sexual abuse of minors

External links

* [http://www.bouquinerie.net/catalogue/P/peyrefitte_roger.asp Gallery of book covers for the French editions of the novel]