The beauty of working in a bookstore is going over stock and finding something unique to read and own. The Sundays of Jean Dézert by Jean de Ville de Mirmont is such a book. Reading this book in the 21st century, the reader can gather a mixture of a Guy Debord study of boredom and alienation with elements of Andre Breton's great novel Paris Nadja. This 1914 novel is a beautiful exploration of Paris but through the eyes of an alienated civil employee as he seeks normalcy in all its bland wonder.
The character of Jean Dézert is one we see daily at work, or perhaps we recognize this figure within ourselves. Due to comfort and habit, Dézert lives in a very scheduled world. The novella brings out the textures and nuances of such a life, and even when he finds 'love' in some fashion, it is still part of the schedule or plan. Its author, Jean de La Ville de Mirmont, is a mystery to me. He died as a soldier in World War 1 a few months after writing this book. I have often praised Wakefield Press for its vision of focusing on modernist writers that fell through the cracks of time and attention. This is a great book.
You can purchase this book at your favorite bookstore, but you also can obtain it through this website: DAP/Artbook.
Thanks for the tip; it’s posts like this that make me take note.