Monsieur Teste

Mandell’s fresh translation of Valéry’s stimulating posthumous collection includes all the author’s writings on the title character, who Valéry (1871–1945) fashioned as his alter ego. The unnamed narrator of “The Evening with Monsieur Teste” first meets the middle-aged Teste in a Paris theater, where he’s struck by Teste’s “extraordinarily rapid” and “muted” way of speaking, which lends itself to aphoristic riddles (“The hard thing is to keep what I will want tomorrow,” Teste says, attempting to account for why he destroyed his library and papers 20 years earlier). What follows this story is a series of letters, diary entries, and dialogues pertaining to Teste. A letter to the narrator from Teste’s devoted wife elaborates on the impenetrability of his character: “He is so strange! Actually, one says nothing about him that isn’t wrong the minute it’s spoken!” she affectionately writes about her husband. Mandell’s translation retains Valéry’s poetic sensibility and evokes Teste’s indelible impact on those around him. It’s an alluring introduction to Valéry’s enigmatic creation. (Dec.)