Claudine Married

1902
Colette
Claudine Married
C-

I don't care for either of Claudine's romances in this story.  The father-husband thing with Renaud is troubling, especially when they're both flirting with 14-year-old girls.  When she falls for the beautiful but boring and deceitful married woman Rezi, he encourages her and even finds a love nest for them.  Then he has a fling with Rezi himself.  Claudine finds out and returns to her father's country home.  (The Slugman has gotten sick of Paris by this time.)  The happy ending is supposed to be that Claudine reconciles with Renaud, planning to tell him, "I order you to dominate me!"  I'm just glad that Claudine plans to live in the country permanently, with the much more interesting "menage" of Papa, Melie, and Fanchette, while Renaud visits occasionally.

Two "1902" notes of interest.  This is the first work I own to mention "motor-cars."  Also, there's a "feminist" writer at a party, but it's a man and too minor a character for us to find out anything else about his writing.