Woman and Puppet

During the carnival in Seville, the Frenchman André Stévenol meets and falls under the spell of Conception 'Concita' Perez, a young Andalusian woman. His friend, don Mateo Diaz warns him off by describing his own history with the woman - a history of being repeatedly attracted and then rebuffed by her. Conchita continually flirted with other men to torture don Mateo. On each occasion he was made to feel guilty for his jealous thoughts and actions towards her, until he realised finally that he had been her puppet for fourteen months and in an explosion of passion he beat her. She then astonished him by declaring the violence a sign of the strength of his love and came to his bed. She was a virgin. Although the two then started living together, she continued her flirtatious behaviour towards other men and simultaneously became very possessive. Don Mateo left the country and travelled for a year to escape her. This is a fantastic novel which exposes and analyzes the contradictions in romantic feelings and the self-defeating psychology and twisted logic of love. Its setting is perfect for its theme: Carnival, Seville, Spain, 1896. Its characters, aristocratic libertines who live for their dalliances. When Don Mateo learns that his friend Andre Stevenol has arranged to meet Concepcion 'Conchita' Perez he tells him the story of his impassioned, disastrous, erotic, and obsessive pursuit of her which unfolded over months as she alternately promised herself to him then frustratingly withheld her affections, over and over again, insisting on his framing his requests just so, then abruptly and coldly turning her back to him. It is a short novel but one which expounds the internal conflicts and inconsistencies of the human heart in a way that only the richest most well-crafted artistic works can. In Conchita Pierre Louys has created a sexily inscrutable seductress who may just be an honest woman. Her willfulness and cupidity makes her so much more desirable than anyone Don Mateo has ever met before. And he is the aging, lecherous, bon vivant whose romantic philosophy crashes up against the will of a woman whose mystery and allure is more powerful than anything else he has ever encountered. There's a beautiful little grace note of an epilogue which is perfectly in keeping with the fable-like narration of this story. It adds yet another delicious irony onto this bonbon of a psycho-sexual continental soap opera about the decadent and their desires.