El cordero es una de las novelas tardías de Mauriac , publicada en el año 1954, en la que su extraordinario arte de escritor parece haber alcanzado su máxima madurez. En uno de esos sofocantes ambientes provincianos que sirven de indeciso campo de batalla entre el bien y el mal, escenarios predilectos de su narrativa, Mauriac presenta aquí un joven matrimonio en discordia, en cuya vida van a mezclarse otros personajes no menos torturados que ellos. El tema del odio que no acaba de manifestarse, quizá como una cara oculta y paradójica del amor, el tema del sacrificio, del que se ofrece como víctima expiatoria de los demás , la pérdida de la fe, que también se disimula para evitar el escándalo público , y el fariseismo imperante en esa digna burguesía bordolesa, componen un dramático cuadro que se impregna de sentido religioso, pero que evita siempre, toda abstracción y todo intento de apologética . Mauriac, sutil analista de las almas más sombrías y más turbias, se nos revela una vez más como un incomparable maestro de ese tipo de relatos que le dieron cama universal.

"I had to have a victim sacrificed for me alone"
By sally tarbox on 29 June 2018
Format: Hardcover
This 1954 novel is set in the early 20s and opens with a young man, Xavier Dartilongue, en route to the seminary, where he intends to study for the priesthood.
Xavier is aware of the "irresistible interest which other people always aroused in him"; his attention is drawn to a couple on the platform - the man coldly indifferent to his wife whom he is departing from. As Xavier and his fellow traveller start to converse, we become aware of the latter's hard-bitten, cynical mindset. Yet all the same, and for reasons that are never entirely made clear, the man (Jean de Mirbel) becomes determined to dissuade the youth from his vocation, persuading him to stay with him and his wife, to assist them through their marital discord.

The reader soon becomes aware of Xavier as symbolising Christ. From the first page we know he will lose his life; later de Mirbel recalls "He looked like a lamb brought to the sacrifice, with its feet tied together." In the family home, Xavier comes into contact not only with the peculiar relationship of the couple but with other characters- a foundling boy, taken in to satisfy the wife's maternal feelings, but now ignored and cold-shouldered ; the wife's stepmother - a harsh pillar of the Catholic church - and her secretary, the pretty, pleasant Dominique for whom Xavier soon develops feelings...

This is a very clever, staged work. Every incident in Xavier's time at the house reminds us of Jesus' life - the heavy ladder he has to carry, the thorns that tear his stockinged feet, the cockerels crowing, the scorn heaped upon him by those around him... There is a wealth of material for debate and study. I so wanted clarification as to the protagonists' motivations but it was not forthcoming- is de Meribel attracted to Xavier ? Was the latter murdered, or did he commit suicide...or was he snatched away by a divine hand?
Extremely inventive work if not exactly a satisfying read. ( )

“Yes, Michele, I know now that love does exist in this world. But it is crucified in the world and we with it.”

Xavier Dartigelongue is irresistibly drawn to the lives of strangers. Believing that he has a unique ability to sense Grace in others, he seeks to live among and to serve sinners, sacrificing himself for the salvation of others. But as a candidate for the seminary, Xavier has been advised by his Director of Conscience that rather than being a laudable quality, this is a personal indulgence that stands between him and God.

“The flesh finds profit in all things, turns all things to its advantage, even the state of Grace. That is true even of the saints, for they are saints not because of their ecstasies, but in spite of them.”

While traveling to enter the seminary, Xavier observes a man and a woman on the train platform. The woman is clearly distraught, while her companion, preparing to board, is callously unresponsive. When the man takes the seat opposite and introduces himself as Jean de Mirbel, Xavier recognizes him as someone of questionable local reputation. Although struggling to overcome the impulse to save this couple and continue on his journey, Xavier succumbs to pressure to accompany Jean to his estate, where he encounters far more domestic discord than he had anticipated. Unable to have children and wishing to adopt, Jean and his wife, Michele, have brought a young orphan, Roland, into their household on a trial basis. A bright, inquisitive child, Roland has become a major source of marital conflict. Tired of the demands of parenting, they plan to return the child to the orphanage, an occasion that can occur none too soon for Jean, who voices hatred for Roland, seeing him as “…a reproach incarnate, as a living mockery.” In her husband’s brief absence, Michele had also invited her father’s second wife, Brigette Pian, to join her at the estate, accompanied by her secretary, Dominique. Xavier and Dominique develop a strong, mutual attraction and shared concern for Roland’s welfare. Jean and Michele view these developing relationships as detracting from their own entitlement to Xavier’s attention and collude to remove all but Xavier from the household. But the de Mirbel’s plans come to a tragic end - the collective consequence of their possessive jealousy of Xavier, Madame Pian’s meddling, Xavier’s guilt over the sin of his sexual feelings towards Dominique and his failure to save any of their souls, and the well-intentioned but insensitive advice of the Curé of Baluzac.

The power of this novel is found in Mauriac's ability to create fascinating characters by deliberately withholding key information about their motivations, producing an absorbing, psychologically suspenseful narrative that poses difficult religious questions. The extent of Xavier’s religious fervor seems implausible, but is it a sign of true belief or simply the obsessive observance of a man who is all too human? His unconditional love for strangers does not extend to forgiveness within his own family. And he struggles with his plans to enter formal religious life, fearing that he is unsuited to the life of a priest.

The motivations of Jean and Michele are only insinuated as the cruelty of their acts falls just short of true malevolence, even while they are overtly concerned about their own salvation. What is the true nature of evil? Can one man’s redemption be found in the suffering of another? Is it man’s essentially depraved nature that Jean displays in his intentional manipulation of Xavier and demonstration of hatred for Roland, or just the symptoms of his own emotional neediness? The narrative hints vaguely at Jean’s own abusive childhood and refers in the end to his concurrent suffering and finding of peace. Through Xavier, he believes he has been cured of what can only be an emotional or moral disease.

“I had to have a victim sacrificed for me alone…I didn’t want to share him with anybody. The whole of his young life must be given for the redemption of mine. There must be nothing left over for others.”

What motivates Michele as she insists upon her own complicity?

“From the very first moment that I set eyes on Xavier, I was filled with a desire to unsettle him…we were in it together. I had served you as a decoy, as a means of attracting him, of keeping him here.”

In an introductory note, the author mentions that Jean de Mirbel, his wife Michele and mother-in-law, Brigitte Pian, are first introduced in an earlier novel that while not a sequel might provide insight into the nature of their characters.

“If, like many of my novels, The Lamb has to do with a crisis which develops in the course of a few days, the roots of that crisis are deeply sunk elsewhere. This quick- moving tragedy must be seen against a background of many years.”

Knowing Francois Mauriac to be a “Catholic writer”, I was not expecting the novel that I found. The Lamb raises perplexing questions regarding the nature of man, evil, faith and formal religion, while avoiding any suggestion of postulating or moralizing. This is not Mauriac’s most widely known or praised book and I am not a particular enthusiast of religious writing. However, I would highly recommend this novel to those who may be interested in the themes Mauriac explores, as summarized so eloquently in his Nobel Prize Banquet Speech: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1952/mauriac-speech....
Mauriac was certainly a worthy recipient of the 1952 Nobel Prize for Literature and deserves to be more widely read. ( )