The book mainly takes place at the end of the 19th century, a period the French call “la belle époque”. At this time, France was the center of the world and attracted artists and intellectuals from all over the world. But also the super rich. Among these was the Turkish-Jewish count Moïse de Camondo, who built a house in the Rue de Monceau in the French capital’s eighth arrondissement. BANKS FROM ISTANBUL: Moïse de Camondo came from one of the richest banking families in the Ottoman Empire. In 1869 he established himself in Paris. On the trail of the lost piece of furniture It is in this building (and surrounding parks and streets) that the story in “Letter to Camondo” unfolds. Author Edmund de Waal traces the lost time. Not through a piece of cake, as in “On the trail of lost time” by Camondo’s associate Marcel Proust. De Waal, on the other hand, tells through the things. And what objects these are! LONG FOOTSTOOL: “An invitation to read books in the afternoon”. A so-called duchesse brisée remains in the bedroom of de Camondo’s son Nissim. Photo: Christophe DELLIÈRE The top cabinetmakers of the time equipped the house, among other things, with the luxurious duchesse brisée combination furniture. A bookbinder ensured that all editions of the French art magazine Gazette des Beau-arts were bound in exquisite red morocco leather. The home owner himself was often seen in his brand new Renault Landaulet, which he used, among other things, to participate in the Paris-Berlin car race. Letter to the past In the First World War, what will become the great disaster of Count Moïse de Camondo’s life occurs. The son Nissim, who is a fighter pilot, is shot down over Germany. It is then that the father decides that the house he lives in will become a museum dedicated to his son. The Musée Nissim de Camondo stands in Paris to this day. IN MEMORY OF THE SON: The Nissim de Camondo Museum at 63 Rue de Monceau reopened in May this year after being closed during the pandemic. Photo: Christophe Delliere The author Edmund de Waal walks around this frozen-in-time image of a building. It raises questions in him. He puts them in the form of a letter to the deceased owner. The form is demanding. It could quickly become artificial, but it works. Pig chest of drawers De Waal is also a famous ceramicist with a distinct sense of the most sophisticated things we humans surround ourselves with. How could it be that the people of the time made things of such quality that it seemed as if they were made to last into eternity, as is the case when the Camondo family gets a new chest of drawers? As de Waal writes: EXPENSIVE FURNITURE: Count Moïse de Camondo had his own cabinet maker, a l’ébéniste, called Jean Henri Riesener. One of his works was this, a commode à rideaux. Photo: Christophe Delliere Ending up in the concentration camps, De Waal forms sentences with the same care as when he sits at the ceramic table, and they are almost further refined in Christian Rugstad’s translation. Rugstad also translated de Waal’s previous publication, “The hare with amber eyes”. In that book, de Waal inherits 264 Japanese belt buttons, so-called netsuke. These put him on the trail of his Jewish family, which he eventually discovers in Paris. Both in “The hare with amber eyes” and “Letter to Camondo” the journey ends for some of the family members in the concentration camps. But de Waal is careful not to let his books end there. This is the earlier chapter, when Jewish life in Europe was at its most glittering, that de Waal succeeds in making shine. news reviewer Photo: Forlaget Press Title: “Letter to Camondo” Author: Edmund de Waal Genre: Novel Publisher: Press Number of pages: 190 Date: September 2022 Hi! I read and review literature in news. Please also read my review of “Kairos” by Jenny Erpenbeck, “Etterliv” by Abdulrazak Gurnah or Franz Kafka’s “The Process” translated by Jon Fosse. JOIN LILLEBJØRN TO PARIS: Lillebjørn Nilsen found inspiration in the French capital for one of his most famous shows. The Norwegian singer takes you on a tour of Paris. Originally posted in 2009.
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“Letter to Camondo” by Edmund de Waal – Reviews and recommendations
