About this title: It is 1948. American couple Harold and Barbara Rhodes arrive in France for a four-month sojourn to escape the anxiety of their childlessness. They begin with a two-week stay at Chateau Beaumesnil, but rather than feeling welcomed by the proprietor and guests, there is much that bewilders them.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Edition: First Thus
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780679761563ISBN:067976156X
Description: Very Good. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. A very good paperback copy, lightly used. The binding is solid, and there are no reading creases in the spine. The cover shows only vild wear, namely some slight rubbing of the edges. The text is clean and unmarked. --------------------------------------------------------------------------This Americans abroad story was originally published in 1961. It is a memoir-like novel based on a trip Maxwell and his wife Emily took to France shortly after the war. John ... read more
Description: Fine New in Fine jacket. SOFT COVER, Fine/Fine, Vintage, 1995, 1st Vintage International Ed, 1.02 in. H x 8.68 in. L x 5.4 in. W, 11.9 oz. This copy has no signs of use, is in Excellent Condition Overall. Note: expect tanning of any paperback more than a few years old, regardless of condition. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Date Published: 1961-01-01
Description: Very Good. Binding is tight and square. Cover is VG. No DJ. Text is clean, bright and unmarked. P/O name is on FFEP. We recommend EXPEDITED MAIL for even faster delivery! read more
Edition: NEW ED
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: VINTAGE Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9781860468148ISBN:1860468144
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 208 pages. (208 pages) it is 1948 and a young american couple arrive in france for a holiday, full of anticipation and enthusiasm. but the countryside and people are war-battered, and their reception at the chateau beaumesnil is not all the open-hearted americans could wish for. edition new ed (Paperback) read more
Binding: HARDCOVER
Publisher: ALFRED A KNOPF CO, NEW YORK NY
Date Published: MARCH 20, 1961
Description: F/VG+ THIRD PRINTING MAY 1961. D.J. HAS A TINY BIT OF WEAR AT THE CORNERS WITH A FEW TINY TEARS AT THE EDGES OF THE REAR PANEL, REAR PANEL LIGHTLY TANNED, AND SPINE SUNNED. A VERY NICE COPY. read more
Edition: First
Binding: softcover
Publisher: Nonpareil Books/David R. Godine, Publisher, Boston
Date Published: (1985)
ISBN-13:9780879236007ISBN:0879236000
Description: First edition. Fine in illustrated, glossy card covers. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred A. Knoph, New York, NY
Date Published: 1961
Description: Very Good. Book in excellent condition. Published in the early sixties, The Chateau is an interesting read for anyone who has ever travelled to France. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: hardcover
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, New York
Date Published: 1961
Description: Fine copy in near fine(-) dust jacket; dj has only light rubbing to corners & spine ends w/ a 1" scuff along front upper spine fold (repaired but chafed in tiny spots); light age-toning to spine, partial border-shadow on back cover; an attractive copy. 8vo 8 5/8"x 5 1/2" maroon cloth w/ author's initials blindstamped on front, gilt lettering on spine; top edge peach, fore edge untrimmed; 402 pgs; illus dust jacket w/ $4.95 on front flap, author photo by Consuelo Kanaga at back. jacket design ... read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: hardcover
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, NY
Date Published: 1961
Description: Very Good dust jacket. Second state DJ with back cover author photo by Consuelo Kanaga. Very Good in Very Good (price-clipped, edge-worn) DJ. Ownership signature. read more
Edition: First
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, New York
Date Published: 1961
Description: First edition. Fine in an especially bright, near fine dustwrapper with a crease along the middle of the spine. Nicely Inscribed by Maxwell: "For Geoff Cooper from William Maxwell. This book was a way of living vicariously in France for the ten happy years it took me to write it. " read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf
Date Published: 1961
Description: Fine in jacket with wear to spine ends and toning to edges of the rear panel else near fine. 1st ed. Presentation copy dated March, 1961, the year and possibly the month of publication--intriguingly inscribed "For T. with love from my 16-year-old ghost. B. " The novel is set in the France of 1948. read more
Edition: First
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, New York
Date Published: 1961
Description: First edition. Fine in very good dustwrapper with a small stain on the spine, and small nicks and chips on the front panel. Warmly Inscribed by the author to his fellow editor at the New Yorker Rachel MacKenzie: "For Rachel, most affectionately, Bill. February 1961. " Rachel MacKenzie replaced Katherine White as the fiction editor at the New Yorker on the recommendation of May Sarton. During her tenure at the magazine MacKenzie was noted for her nurturing and editing of, among others, Sarton, ... read more
Description: Satisfaction Guaranteed. Shipped quickly. Paperback. Used, very good. Very good overall with light to moderate wear. No dust jacket. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: The Harvill Press
Date Published: 16/03/2000
ISBN-13:9781860465772ISBN:1860465773
Description: Used-Good. Book in good or better condition. Dispatched same day from warehouse. Please email with any questions for quick response. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: The Harvill Press
Date Published: 16/03/2000
ISBN-13:9781860465772ISBN:1860465773
Description: Used-Good. Book in good or better condition. Dispatched same day from warehouse. Please email with any questions for quick response. read more
"William Maxwell. The Chateau. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1961.
Although not Maxwell's best book, I still enjoyed reading it. I bought another copy for Julie's mom. I remembered Julie telling me that her parents flew (very unusual) to Europe after the war. I should ask her if it was before Jules was born. It must have been. Anyway, this story is about a young couple traveling to Europe when the war is still too fresh in the minds of the French people and the hardships too great not to have the French struggle with their relationship with the naïve American couple. I decided to give it to Dory Airing so she could read it and compare it to her travels with her husband, Charles.
Barbara's husband, Harold, helps his wife recreate a trip she took with her parents before the war. When they arrived in one of the little towns she visited with her parents and arrived at the same hotel they stayed at, "...the past was for a moment superimposed on the present, and she had a wonderful feeling of lightness - as if she were rising through water up to the surface and sunshine and air." (124)
By traveling all summer in Europe, Barbara and Harold are changed. Their views are challenged and they learn that the view that they have of themselves as Americans isn't the view others have of them or their country.
Page 264: After a difficult, deflating interaction with people they didn't understand and who didn't understand them, Harold talks to his wife about it just before they fall asleep. " ' ...you cannot be friends with somebody, no matter how much you like them, if it turns out that you don't really understand one another.' " This is true on a personal level but it is also true on a national and international level.
Page 293: The entire book gives example after example why it's important to be exposed to other cultures. Even thought this couple struggles with the fact that some people just don't like them because they are American, they begin to understand that they have no control over it. Sometimes it took them a long time to understand that it wasn't them but just the unlucky exposure to an unpleasant person, and that could happen in their own country.
Page 313: Enjoyed the gender difference and what it means to travel. She sometimes wanted an unplanned day, a day of change, but he found it fulfilling to complete a planned day, a day of checking off all the places they were to see and did.
Page 336: Gains and losses: Travel can shake loose the ideas and practices you thought you held dear. It can also make you appreciate much of what you came from.
Page 393-394: "So strange, life is. Why people do not go around in a continual state of surprise is beyond me."
Page 396: An older French woman says to them: "All experience is impoverishing. A great deal is taken away, a little is given in return. Patience is obligatory - the patient acceptance of much that is unacceptable." This is very much like one of my favorite quotes (May Sarton): "The moral dilemma is to make peace with the unacceptable.""
""The Chateau" doesn't measure up to William Maxwell's best novels in any way. I'm a big fan of Maxwell's lean, simple, evocative, very human writing, but this book was slow and dull; it's a big disappointment for those weened on Maxwell's much better novels such as "Time Will Darken It" (one of my favorites). I confess I couldn't even make it through "The Chateau," though I got well into it, hoping it would improve. I feel bad for those whose first Maxwell is this novel; they have no idea how good he can be."
"One of my all-time favourite books which I've recently re-read. The prose is five-star top-notch gorgeous and the story of young Harold and Barbara Rhodes who come to France in 1948, fall in love the place and the people and yet never quite master the language or the customs is utterly fresh and vibrant."
"Maxwell, William. THE CHATEAU. (1961). ****. I've said it before: Maxwell was one of America's finest writers. This novel - though not his best - demonstrates how he was able to enfold the reader into a story where nothing dramatic really happens. It tells the story of Harold and Barbara, a young couple married for three years, and their trip to France on vacation in 1948. They spend most of their time in the Loire Valley, at the chateau of Mme. Viennot as paying guests. Mme. Viennot is one of those impoverished aristocrats whose actions and conversations are not totally understood by the vacationers, in spite of their rather good French. They find that this is the situation for them no matter where they visit or stay. These Americans, who are certainly not the "ugly" Americans that we might expect, cannot relate to post-war France or its people. They try their hardest, but there is no point of common reference for them to fall back on. They are acting like they would act at home. It doesn't work in France. This is a marvelous novel whose impact, unfortunately, is diminished by the author's afterword, which he calls "Some Explanations," which is in the form of a dialog between the author and the reader. I wonder if the sublety of the story forced Maxwell's editor to induce the writer to add this. In any event, it is a fine novel. Recommended."
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