Frenzy

Name: Frenzy
ISBN: 9787213116353

弗朗索瓦丝·萨冈 / 童兰馨Zhejiang People's Publishing House · ChinaNov 2025

4.0

Word count: 83K words
Chapters: 29
ISBN: 9787213116353

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Summary

Lucile and Antoine were each attached to a lover—Charles, an elegant wealthy businessman of 50, and Diane, a cold, glamorous society woman of 45. The two marginal young people of high society meet at a dinner party, and their rapport quickly turns into burning passion. Amid all kinds of emotional struggles, Lucile and Antoine both abandon their lovers to be together, but all their irrepressible passion heads straight for failure...

Editor's review

*La Chamade* is a collection of short and medium-length fiction by the legendary French writer Françoise Sagan, comprising the two works *La Chamade* and *A Little Sun in Cold Water*. Unlike the light melancholy of her widely known *Bonjour Tristesse*, this work reveals a darker, sharper side of Sagan. In *La Chamade*, with almost cruel calm she dissects a deformed intimate relationship full of control and destruction. The meeting of the lawyer Lucien and the young woman Odile is no romantic encounter but a slow spiritual strangling. Sagan strips away all tender disguise and points directly at the hidden possessiveness, vanity, and sadism in human nature; the precision of her psychological portrayal and the coldness of her narrative make the reader's spine tingle. *A Little Sun in Cold Water* is like a faint glimmer, exploring the possibility of redemption in the cracks of despair, but this warmth still carries Sagan's characteristic lucidity and doubt. Tong Lanxin's translation conveys well the concise, cold, and rhythmic style of the original. Reading Sagan is not only reading stories but also bravely gazing into the abyss of human nature. The 'wild frenzy' of her characters is not hysteria but a nihilism and lucid suffering that penetrate to the bone, and this quality gives her work a strong modernity and power to shock even after decades.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in modern French literature, especially Sagan's work
Literary lovers who enjoy exploring complex human nature and deformed psychological relationships
Readers who appreciate a concise, cold, and rhythmically charged narrative style
Readers who want to go beyond *Bonjour Tristesse* and discover another side of Sagan's work

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting light, romantic love stories
Readers uncomfortable with gloomy content dealing with themes of psychological control

Reading tips

It is suggested to read *A Little Sun in Cold Water* first and then move on to *La Chamade*, experiencing the spectrum of Sagan's writing through the contrast of cold and warmth.
While reading, do not rush to judge the characters' right and wrong; try instead to feel how Sagan dissects emotional structures with scalpel-like language.
You may read intertextually alongside Sagan's own legendary life, but beware of simply equating the novel's plot with the author's biography.

About the publisher

Zhejiang People's Publishing House China · Founded in 1951

Zhejiang People's Publishing House is a comprehensive publisher known for its social science, history and foreign literature titles, covering philosophy, politics, law, economics, culture and history. Among the books in the library catalogue, its foreign literature list includes Yasunari Kawabata's Snow Country and The Old Capital in well-known translations, as well as Wuthering Heights; its history list is represented by Dangnian Mingyue's Ming Dynasty series, and its politics list by Zhejiang New Discourse. Authors represented include Yasunari Kawabata, Ye Weiqu, Tang Yuemei, Dangnian Mingyue, Emily Brontë and René Wellek, with Wellek's Theory of Literature (newly revised edition) among its titles in literary theory. Beyond these areas, the press also publishes works on literary appreciation and social culture, giving it a profile that combines classic translations, popular history and academic works. As publicly available information is limited, other details are not covered here.

版权信息
第一部分春
第一章
第二章
第三章
第四章
第五章
第六章
第七章
第八章
第九章
第十章
第十一章
第十二章
第十三章
第十四章
第十五章
第十六章
第二部分夏
第十七章
第三部分秋
第十八章
第十九章
第二十章
第二十一章
第二十二章
第二十三章
第二十四章
第二十五章

FAQ

Is this book's style the same as that of Sagan's most famous *Bonjour Tristesse*?

Not entirely. Although both share Sagan's signature concision and keen捕捉 of emotion, *La Chamade* has a gloomier, colder overall tone, and the relationships it explores are more destructive and psychologically deep, showing a darker side of the author's writing.

What exactly does 'wild frenzy' in the book refer to?

The 'wild frenzy' here is not outward madness but rather an inner state of mind: beneath a calm and respectable surface, the characters fall into a slow, lucid, and inescapable spiritual deadlock and tendency toward destruction due to emptiness, possessiveness, or emotional dependence.

Is this book suitable as an introductory read for getting to know Sagan?

It can serve as an advanced read for deeper understanding of Sagan. If you are encountering Sagan for the first time, starting with *Bonjour Tristesse* may be easier to accept. But if you are already familiar with her basic style, *La Chamade* lets you see a more complex and profound Sagan and appreciate the full scope of her literary world.

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About the author

弗朗索瓦丝·萨冈 Author

Françoise Sagan is a French writer known for her spare, cool prose about love and loneliness. Seven of her works are available here, including Bonjour Tristesse, A Certain Smile, Do You Like Brahms?..., A Month Later, a Year Later, La Chamade, The Lonely Pool, and The Heart of the Four Seas. Her subjects often center on love, emotional distance, and inner turmoil, and her books are usually classified as foreign literature. Because public information about her birth and death dates and nationality is limited, no detailed biography is given here. These works nonetheless show her gift for capturing subtle, contradictory feelings through understated storytelling, revealing emotional undercurrents beneath seemingly ordinary daily life and giving her a distinctive style that has earned her a following among Chinese readers.

童兰馨 Author

Tong Lanxin is an author about whom little public information is currently available; her name appears in Chinese-language publishing data, and only one work by her can be verified, the novel Kuangluan (Wild Disorder). The book is usually classified under foreign literature, which suggests a possibly foreign setting or a cross-cultural narrative perspective, yet the author's nationality, dates of birth and death, and English name are not clearly recorded, making it difficult to infer her personal history or creative development from them. The title itself points to a state of disorder, intense emotion, and loss of control, hinting that the work may revolve around inner turmoil, tense relationships, or a chaotic environment. On present evidence, Tong Lanxin's writing seems to rely on strong emotional tension and unstable situations to drive the narrative rather than on calm depictions of everyday life. Because verifiable material is very limited, her style and literary influence still require more works and criticism to confirm.