"L'envers d'un homme de bien" by Max Daireaux is a novel written in the early 20th century. The story probes the polished façade of Monsieur Brossard, a prosperous Parisian administrator and bibliophile, to reveal a vain, calculating ego masked as virtue. After years beside his ailing wife, her death and the approach of war expose his hypocrisies and self-deceptions. It’s a compact psychological portrait of bourgeois respectability under strain.The opening of the novel presents Brossard’s world: a salon remade into a pompous library, his ceremonious management of servants, and his cool condescension toward his sick wife, Thérèse. He parades dignity at work and indulges his sensual bibliophilia with clandestine erotica dressed in pious bindings, just before Thérèse suddenly dies—an event he receives with concern for appearances more than grief. He performs exemplary mourning at the funeral, recalls a sterile marriage, then quickly resumes comforts: rearranging her rooms, burning unused mourning cards while reading, and turning her boudoir into his secret “Enfer.” Sorting her papers, he finds devout writings and a “promise” to offer thanks at Lourdes, which he brandishes to enhance her posthumous sanctity. As war looms, his bravado in public clashes with private fear; he seeks nightly reassurance with his colleague Lamorille and Cécile, hears upbeat but alarming tidings from their soldier nephew, and, in a sleepless panic, prays in Thérèse’s room. There he seizes on her vow and…
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