Chéri is without a doubt the architect of his own despair, but his realization of the meaninglessness of his life and his subsequent efforts to change it broke my heart. Novels such as this usually seem to focus on female characters’ struggles with the repressive cultures they find themselves in, so Chéri and The Last of Chéri are unique: They focus on a young man, nicknamed Chéri (real name: Fred)-gorgeous, spoiled, privileged, and utterly trapped. For all their decadence and ostensible freedom, the characters in this book are just as repressed as Edith Wharton’s proper New Yorkers. Be as wild as you want, but take no actual risks. Specifically, you must never allow yourself to feel the more heartfelt emotions, like love, and if you do unfortunately fall victim to such emotions, please keep it to yourself. But this culture, like every culture, does have its own codes of conduct, and thus its own set of restrictions. Don’t ever bother to get married, but if you do, sleep around with other people. Just about everything is permitted in the Parisian society to which they belong: Become a courtesan. In some ways, the characters in these two short novels are utterly free.
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