I Will Never Be This Young Again Ever
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Originally published: 1932.
In a moment of crisis and grasping the rail of a bridge, Richard is saved by a passing stranger named Jake.
The two men, both at turning points, become fast friends and, out for adventure, jump aboard the first ship they see. Their journey takes them across Europe, cementing a passionate friendship. But it is in bohemian Paris that Richard finally meets the woman who enables him to fulfill his artistic promise.
تاریخ نخستین خ
I'll Never Be Young Again, Daphne du MaurierOriginally published: 1932.
In a moment of crisis and grasping the rail of a bridge, Richard is saved by a passing stranger named Jake.
The two men, both at turning points, become fast friends and, out for adventure, jump aboard the first ship they see. Their journey takes them across Europe, cementing a passionate friendship. But it is in bohemian Paris that Richard finally meets the woman who enables him to fulfill his artistic promise.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز پنجم ماه آگوست سال 1969میلادی
عنوان: جوانی از دست رفته؛ شاهکار: دافنه (دافنی) دو موریه؛ مترجم: محمدمهدی پورکریم؛ تهران، موسسه تیسفون، 1347، در 279ص؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان بریتانیا - سده 20م
دافنه دو موریه، با نگارش رمان «ربه کا» در سال 1938میلادی نام آور شدند؛ داستان کوتاه ایشان به نام «پرندگان» را نیز همگان میشناسند؛ این دو کتاب را «آلفرد هیچکاک» به تصویر کشیده است؛
تا آنجا که به پدرش نویسنده و شاعر مشهور مربوط میشود، «ریچارد (دیک)» هرگزی چیزی نخواهد داشت، بنابراین او میخواهد سرنوشت خود را به دست خود بگیرد؛ ومیخواهد خودکشی کند، اما «جیک» او را نجات میدهد؛ «جیک» به «ریچارد» میگوید که زندگی خود را هدر ندهد؛ آنها با هم راهی ماجراجویی میشوند، و به «اروپا» میروند و سرانجام به «پاریس بوهمی» میرسند، جاییکه «ریچارد» با «هستا»، دانشجوی مقدماتی موسیقی آشنا میشود؛ و ...؛
نقل از متن کتاب «جوانی از دست رفته»: (آفتاب غروب میکرد من تنها روی پلی برابر آب رودخانه قرار داشتم و به فکر فرو رفته بودم؛ آب رودخانه به رنگ طلائی و ارغوانی درآمده بود و دستخوش امواج...)؛ پایان نقل؛
پادشاهِ فصلها پائیز نیز فردای امسال، شادکامی اش را همچنان که مینشست خواهد بنشست، و آوایِ رنگینِ خویش سر خواهد داد، در پائیزمان هماره از میوه پربار بودیم، و از خونِ انگور رنگین، از دیاران ما که بگذرید، از سایه بانها سرسری مگذرید، دمی، در زیرِ سقفِ سایه بنشینید، آنجاست که در خیالم، شاید بتوانید شادی را دمی بیاسایید، و شادان بیارمید، آنجاست که باید آوایِ دلکشی را با نفس کشیدن خویش همنوا کنید، و همگام با گامِ خوشه هایِ برگزیده یِ سال، پای به شادمانی بکوبید؛ میخواهم، سرودِ هوسبارِ هلو و میوه هایِ آبدار و گلها را، در مرزِ تابستان و پائیز نیز بسرایم، جوانه هایِ نازک پائیزی را، که زیبایی خویش هماره پیشِ خورشید نمایان میکنند، تا عشق، در رگهایِ تپنده ایِ روان، و شکوفه ها، برگِردِ ابروانِ بامداد باز هم آویزان شوند، و گونه یِ تابناکِ شامگاهِ آزرمگین را بیآرایند، تا خوشه ساز نیز سرودی سر دهد، و ابرهایِ سبک بال، بر گردِ سرش، شبنمِ گل، بیفشانند؛ آدرس ای.میل آن سر دنیا را بدهید، تا از این سرای شرقی که درگذشتم، پیش از سر زدن به ستاره هایِ چشمکزن، سراغِِ «این.باکس» بهار و تابستان و پائیزِ آن دیار را بگیرم، و به زمستان نیز بگویم: ای زمستان، دمی دروازه هایِ ستبر خویش فروبند، مردمان سردشان شده، بامها را ملرزان، ستونهایِ خانه ها را میگویم؛ گُرده ها را بیش ازین که هست خم مکن، نهیبِ گردونه یِ سرداب آهنین؛ اما، انگار سخنانم را نمیشنود، با کولاکاش تنهاست، یا در کناره ی دریای تابستان، آنسوی رود آرمیده، یا دهن دره میکند، زمستان اگر بازهم سنگین براند، آراسته به زنجیرهایِ چرخ، مرغ طوفان اگر زنجیر بگسلد، و میله یِ پولاد بپوشد، و باز هم عصایِ فرمارواییِ خویش، بر سرِ جهان تاب دهد، دیگر یارایِ آن نخواهم داشت، تا دیده بالا کنم، و ببینم، که آن هیولایِ هولناک، پوست تنم را چگونه از استخوانهایم بر دارِ درختی بیاویخته است؛ نخواهم دید ...، چگونه بهاران افسونگر میآید، و زمستان واپس مینشیند
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 31/06/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
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This was du Maurier's second published work (she was in her mid 20s), and she captures the short term-ism of the youthful male, so well, that the book comes across as a bit of a drag! She does not spare the rod, in her portrayal of the (young) male ego, as the internal narration reveals Dick's selfishness and lack of self awareness and foresight. A book that starts off feeling like an unspoken of, homo-erotic friendship, reveals itself to be about possibly(?), the wastage of youth by the young? Worth a read to see how early du Maurier reads like, but her weakest work for me so far 5 out of 12. Also note that this was a contemporary work in its day, but 80 years on, I have decided to tag it as historical fiction, despite the lack of any historical context other than the spoken language and the social constraints on women at the time. ...more
I was not to particularly fond of Du Maurier's second book in print. It was a good second effort though. I think what rubbed me the wrong way about this story was, that the main character wasn't very likeable no matter hard you tried.
Du Maurier is one of my favourite writers, and I was glad to see that she needed a few books under her belt before developing the style that she is known for.
And of course me being a completist, I'll have to read everything that she had in print
Possible spoilers...I was not to particularly fond of Du Maurier's second book in print. It was a good second effort though. I think what rubbed me the wrong way about this story was, that the main character wasn't very likeable no matter hard you tried.
Du Maurier is one of my favourite writers, and I was glad to see that she needed a few books under her belt before developing the style that she is known for.
And of course me being a completist, I'll have to read everything that she had in print that I can find.
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I really enjoyed this story, despite how remarkably different it felt to other du Maurier works that I have been previously exposed to. It felt far more reflective and introspective, with many musings on the impulsive and impetuous nature of youth and the slow and careful regard of age consistently being delivered. Throughout Richard and Jake's travels together I really started to understand how totally wasted youth it upon those who possess it.
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Du Maurier's beautiful writing is present throughout, especially when it comes to landscape descriptions, still, this novel dragged. The main character, Richard, was insufferable, an entitled prat, who whined and moaned.
Not du Maurier's best work. She's still one of my favourites.
This beautifully named novel ended up being quite boring, so I gave up around the 70% mark.Du Maurier's beautiful writing is present throughout, especially when it comes to landscape descriptions, still, this novel dragged. The main character, Richard, was insufferable, an entitled prat, who whined and moaned.
Not du Maurier's best work. She's still one of my favourites.
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Du Maurier's second novel begins in London as Richard (Dick) is snatched from attempting to take his own life by wanderer Jake. The two men strike up an instant friendship and begin a devil-may-care look at life and jump on the first ship leaving town and head for Sweden. They trek the mountains and party with tourists as a steamboat cruises the fjords until they finally end up in a b
"But then dreams are apart from the business of living; they are things we shed from us gently as we grow older"Du Maurier's second novel begins in London as Richard (Dick) is snatched from attempting to take his own life by wanderer Jake. The two men strike up an instant friendship and begin a devil-may-care look at life and jump on the first ship leaving town and head for Sweden. They trek the mountains and party with tourists as a steamboat cruises the fjords until they finally end up in a brawl that sends them catching the first boat out of Stockholm - although that boat is destined for a fate that forever separates the two friends.
Adrift again but no longer suicidal, Dick leads a shiftless life in Paris drifting from job to job as he dreams of becoming a writer like his famous father, until one day he meets young music student Hesta and they settle into a relationship - although Dick still shrugs responsibility and puts off writing his "great book". Dick eventually begins to mature through his relationship with Hesta, but the relationship becomes strained as Dick's influence in her life changes her from a sensible grounded student into a carefree partying drifter no longer interested in her music lessons.
Ironic, isn't it? But so true to life - didn't we all hate our parents and do really stupid things when we were young? I believe this is the first time Du Maurier used her famous "male voice" and she shows remarkable insight into Dick's not so very likeable character (I did want to smack him on Hesta's behalf a few times). While not up to what she wrote in her later years, if you're a fan of Du Maurier's you might want to give this one a whirl - It's one that will definitely stay with you for a bit as you reflect back on your own misspent youth. I almost gave it three stars, but then it _is_ Du Maurier after all. 4/5 stars.
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The book opens with Richard – or Dick as he prefers to call himself – standing on a bridge, preparing to jump. Immediately the reader is intrigued, wondering what has happened to drive him to suicide. At the last minute Dick feels a hand on his shoulder – this is Jake, a complete stranger who saves his life and becomes his closest friend. The first half of the book follows the adventures of Dick and Jake as they leave England and sail to Scandinavia together in search of a new life. The second half is the story of Dick's relationship with Hesta, a girl he meets in Paris.
The whole book is written in the first person from Dick's perspective, which is significant as it was apparently the first time Daphne du Maurier wrote from a man's point of view – and I thought she captured the male voice perfectly. The only problem I had was that I just didn't like Dick very much. I found his immaturity and whining very irritating – although I understood that the point of the book was to follow his development from an insecure, selfish youth into a sensible, mature adult. Eventually he does begin to grow up and want different things out of life, but this comes too late in the book for me to be able to warm to him. However, the book is so well-written I could still enjoy it even with such an unsympathetic narrator. Her writing is absolutely beautiful and quite dreamlike, as she lets us get right inside Dick's head and share his thoughts and emotions. There are also some vivid descriptions of the mountains and fjords of Norway and the other places that the characters visit, particularly Paris with its cafés and boulevards.
This would probably not be the best Daphne du Maurier book for a newcomer to begin with, but it's a good choice for someone who wants to venture away from Rebecca and read one of her less popular novels. A word of warning, though – if you're going to read the Virago Modern Classics edition, leave the introduction until last as it gives away the entire plot, including the ending (this is good advice with any book – I've learned from experience never to read the introduction first).
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The second party of the novel has Dick living in Paris with Hesta and writing a novel. This is a coming of age novel where a spoilt man begins to see the trees for the wood. The main character is a narcissistic idiot who is unlikeable although he does become more mature. It's an odd story and plodding in places and the description of Paris on the 1920s is nothing like Orwell's' Down and Out in Paris and London!
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"A torrent of sound like a song in our ears."
I loved the descriptions of the mountains of Norway they rode through - Du Maurier can certainly write. And that's about all I loved in I'll Never be Young Again.
The story is more like two books. In the first Dick is a whiny depressive. I don't know how Jake put up with him - maybe spectacular Norway blocked out the whining.
Then Part 2: Dick, no longer depressed, being a bastard to Hesta. He stalks her until she acquiesces to a relationship, pretty mu
"A torrent of sound like a song in our ears."
I loved the descriptions of the mountains of Norway they rode through - Du Maurier can certainly write. And that's about all I loved in I'll Never be Young Again.
The story is more like two books. In the first Dick is a whiny depressive. I don't know how Jake put up with him - maybe spectacular Norway blocked out the whining.
Then Part 2: Dick, no longer depressed, being a bastard to Hesta. He stalks her until she acquiesces to a relationship, pretty much rapes her the first time they have sex, says he wishes she was a prostitute, refuses to talk to her.
"She was there, part of my background, there when I needed her [for sex]."
When he called her beastly because she wanted to have sex, I had enough of Dick's misogyny and gave up at 80%
If only he jumped off that bridge, I wouldn't have wasted so much time.
The narration by Jonathan Firth is well done.
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Richard aka Dick lives in London, or rather wants to die from the London bridge when he's saved by a passerby stranger, Jake. Soon they strike a bond beyond friendship, and begin their adventurous journey from London to Oslo to Stockholm, via mountains and fjords. It's then though it comes to an end when on a voyage in a rough sea, the two friends are separated.
Richard then arrives in Paris, and meets Hesta.... Hesta,
A fascinating experience of youth in its prime, and life coming to full circle!Richard aka Dick lives in London, or rather wants to die from the London bridge when he's saved by a passerby stranger, Jake. Soon they strike a bond beyond friendship, and begin their adventurous journey from London to Oslo to Stockholm, via mountains and fjords. It's then though it comes to an end when on a voyage in a rough sea, the two friends are separated.
Richard then arrives in Paris, and meets Hesta.... Hesta, whom he adores right from the start, whom he pursues relentlessly till she gives, who ignites the spark within him for writing, who matures him from a carefree boy to a responsible adult...but there're no free lunches in the world, and the price he'll have to pay will be heavy!
This was my first read by Daphne Du Maurier, and it was by no means an easy read. The book is dominant by character development, serving bit of a travelogue in between, with hardly any exciting event occurence throughout. And yet, I savoured the experience of reading it. I won't read it again though being a slow read it is. But liked enough it for once.
Richard aka Dick was not a much likeable character, especially when he was literally being a dick go Hesta. But I had to remind myself the era the book was originally written in, and thus had to discount my this opinion on the book though.
What I liked the most was how the affects of a lost childhood was shown on Richard, owing to which he inadverently countinued to live in shadows of his father's thoughts throughout.
If you like character centric books, you'd probably like this classic!
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I really, really didn't like this book. I adore Daphne Du Maurier and she writes this beautifully but I couldn't stand the main c
Jake was gay, right? Y'all read that the same as me? The man he loved dearly on the ranch but turns against when he finds out he's a mad shagger of women, and has nothing but contempt for the humps he leaves behind, that's clearly a thinly veiled queer story, I'd bet my buttons on it. You don't knock someone's nose into their skull because you're disappointed in a pal.I really, really didn't like this book. I adore Daphne Du Maurier and she writes this beautifully but I couldn't stand the main character. Privileged young white guy goes from being eyeball-clawingly ignorant to being slightly less ignorant. It was a coming-of-age story for a wee twerp I'd cheerfully have punted into the Clyde. Drifted off and didn't finish. Couldn't bare him that much.
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It's unmistakable that this is a novel by Du Maurier. The themes and images and words that are so characteristic of her – the obsession with the father, the need for freedom, the love of sailing, people shrugging their shoulders and whistling tunes, or biting their hands and nails, "fool" and "brandy" – are all there. However, it's also unmistakable that she has written other works that are much better. As Elaine Dundy, who wrote the introduction, says about this novel "it is all there, 3.5 stars
It's unmistakable that this is a novel by Du Maurier. The themes and images and words that are so characteristic of her – the obsession with the father, the need for freedom, the love of sailing, people shrugging their shoulders and whistling tunes, or biting their hands and nails, "fool" and "brandy" – are all there. However, it's also unmistakable that she has written other works that are much better. As Elaine Dundy, who wrote the introduction, says about this novel "it is all there, yet at the same time none of it is".
It's an interesting book to read for people who are fans of Du Maurier (as I am). I wonder how much people would get out of it if they had never read her; perhaps they would love it, still. For me, it's impossible not to compare.
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It summarized perfectly all I think and feel about the book. This mix of awe and fatigue. And considering what it was about I would call it a remarkable novel, where form fits the content.
By the way, Richard's unfairness (double standards) was also sometimes too much to bear, e.g. his regard for Hester's needs and feelings (or rather lack of it). But again, it showed splendidly the shadows of the youth.
I marked many quotes, belove a few examples:
It seemed strange that life must go on without our need for it.
'Jake, I don't want ever to be old. I want always to get up in the morning and feel there's something grand lying just ahead of me, round the corner, over a hill. I want always to feel that if I stand still, only for a minute, I'm missing something a few yards away. I don't want ever to find myself thinking: "What's the use of going across that street?" That's the end of everything, Jake, when looking for things doesn't count any more. When you sit back happily in a chair, content with what you've got - that's being old.'
'There's no need to get that way. It's your own thoughts that keep you young, Dick. And age hasn't anything to do with it. It's a question of your state of mind.'
It was hopeless the way time did not stand still, not for a fraction of a second, that there was never an occasion when I could grasp the whole intensity of pleasure, examining it, breathing it, holding it softly with my hands and saying: 'Now I am living, now . . . now . . .' It was nothing but a series of flashes quivering before my eyes, dancing themselves away.
I wondered why I had ever despised these things, why they had once seemed pitiful and absurd. I wondered why the placidity of a home seemed necessary to me now, and why I no longer yearned for the turmoil of a ship upon the sea.
I did not know if it was I who had changed, or the world that had changed about me, but so it was, and I could not call back the dreams that had gone from me.
Almost 5-stars, but I was too weary sometimes. It would have been better for reading after a little redaction. So, comparing it to other du Maurier's books 4-stars (although comparing it to the average novel of the genre it was 5-stars).
PS I recommed Misfit's review.
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I don't usually want to punch characters I meet in literature, but I wanted to beat this little twat's head in.
His story is pawned off as a coming of age progression, but he seems developmentally stunted in every respect, so much so that I'm not able to detect the faintest wiff of growth during the arc of his supposed maturation from ignorant hobbledehoy to world-weary cynic.
The dialogue between characters is so stiff it's hard to imagine them as human. It's bare of any thought or feeling to the point of absurdity. I paraphrase:
"That won't do, Dick."
"No?"
"No."
"Is it fine?"
"It's alright."
"Say, let us take drinks. Would that be fine?"
"Yes. Fine."
"Oh."
"Uh huh."
The one saving grace of this book are a few early passages where du Maurier blew my mind with her depictions of finding zen-like peace in nature and solitude. But coming from Dick, these insights are vastly disproportionate to the idiot we know him to be. I think she tried too hard to craft an edgy, bohemian story, but it was utterly soulless, and betrayed the author's naivety and ignorance of all things relating to passion and struggle. Her novel would have succeeded if she had cut out all of the plot and characters, and left in the 500-1000 words of her expository writing.
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This is Daphne's second book and was not as well received as the first 'The Loving Spirit' but is so much more my kind of book. I love the stream of consciousness style of writing in which we always get to share what our narrator is feeling, but 5 minutes later
I almost didn't read I'll Never be Young Again. I've read a lot of Daphne du Maurier's books this year, the most recent being a short story collection which I didn't like at all, then I made a start on 'Hungry Hill' but quickly gave it up.This is Daphne's second book and was not as well received as the first 'The Loving Spirit' but is so much more my kind of book. I love the stream of consciousness style of writing in which we always get to share what our narrator is feeling, but 5 minutes later he may be feeling something entirely different. I always want to like the main character of a book I am reading but Daphne is very good at not making her characters entirely likeable and some way into the second half I began to find him selfish and inconsiderate, I wasn't sure I was enjoying it as much as the first half but I came round to it.
One of my favourites.
Richard attempting suicide on the ship is saved by Jake and they become fond friends.
Together they travel Europe but an unfortunate event sets them apart.
Richard lives in Paris after that where he meets the two loves of his life - Hesta and Writing.
Situations again turn unfavorable for Richard and soon he must decide the course of his life ahead.
This woman is a master of the senses. A master at everything. The only reason this doesn't get a 5 is because I won't read it again. 4.9
This woman is a master of the senses. A master at everything. The only reason this doesn't get a 5 is because I won't read it again. ...more
I won't s
This is the story of a thoroughly entitled, unlikeable young man named Richard (or Dick for short - which is so very appropriate in this case). The story is presented in two halves, centred around the two major characters who have a significant influence on his life. I found this a difficult read in the sense that he was just so horrendous a human being I wanted to put the book down in disgust on multiple occasions and I couldn't understand what on earth the point of the novel could be.I won't spoil the end, but it did give me some satisfaction and gave a glimmer of the du Maurier who would eventually write My Cousin Rachel (some of Dick's insecurities and emotional instability reminded me of Philip), and for that, I would give it 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.
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Du Maurier remains, in my eyes, a genius.
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This is a great example of a book you shouldn't give up on and that you must keep reading til the end! ...more
She spent her youth sailing boats, travelling on the Continent with friends, and writing stories. Her family connections helped her establish her literary career, and she published some of her early work in Beaumont's Bystander magazine. A prestigious publishing house accepted her first novel when she was in her early twenties, and its publication brought her not only fame but the attentions of a handsome soldier, Major (later Lieutenant-General Sir) Frederick Browning, whom she married.
She continued writing under her maiden name, and her subsequent novels became bestsellers, earning her enormous wealth and fame. Many have been successfully adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca, Frenchman's Creek, My Cousin Rachel, and Jamaica Inn, and the short stories The Birds and Don't Look Now/Not After Midnight. While Alfred Hitchcock's films based upon her novels proceeded to make her one of the best-known authors in the world, she enjoyed the life of a fairy princess in a mansion in Cornwall called Menabilly, which served as the model for Manderley in Rebecca.
Daphne du Maurier was obsessed with the past. She intensively researched the lives of Francis and Anthony Bacon, the history of Cornwall, the Regency period, and nineteenth-century France and England. Above all, however, she was obsessed with her own family history, which she chronicled in Gerald: A Portrait, a biography of her father; The du Mauriers, a study of her family which focused on her grandfather, George du Maurier, the novelist and illustrator for Punch; The Glassblowers, a novel based upon the lives of her du Maurier ancestors; and Growing Pains, an autobiography that ignores nearly 50 years of her life in favour of the joyful and more romantic period of her youth. Daphne du Maurier can best be understood in terms of her remarkable and paradoxical family, the ghosts which haunted her life and fiction.
While contemporary writers were dealing critically with such subjects as the war, alienation, religion, poverty, Marxism, psychology and art, and experimenting with new techniques such as the stream of consciousness, du Maurier produced 'old-fashioned' novels with straightforward narratives that appealed to a popular audience's love of fantasy, adventure, sexuality and mystery. At an early age, she recognised that her readership was comprised principally of women, and she cultivated their loyal following through several decades by embodying their desires and dreams in her novels and short stories.
In some of her novels, however, she went beyond the technique of the formulaic romance to achieve a powerful psychological realism reflecting her intense feelings about her father, and to a lesser degree, her mother. This vision, which underlies Julius, Rebecca and The Parasites, is that of an author overwhelmed by the memory of her father's commanding presence. In Julius and The Parasites, for example, she introduces the image of a domineering but deadly father and the daring subject of incest.
In Rebecca, on the other hand, du Maurier fuses psychological realism with a sophisticated version of the Cinderella story. The nameless heroine has
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