The Madwoman of Bellac and The Apollo of Bellac #
Author Jean GiraudouxDate July 9, 2025Rating 4/5
This is the second book I have read in French, and for that reason, I probably did not understand a great deal of what was going on. This is in part due to the way these plays are written, specifically in how a lot of speakers speak in very long drawn out paragraphs that feel like they contain very complicated vocabulary. Of course, it is complicated for a guy that doesn’t really speak French, but I can’t say if it is actually complicated for a fluent French speaker (probably not).
Regardless, this is a pretty funny book! Even with the little I understood, I still found the way that Giraudoux writes stories and characters to be rather humourous.
I would say that this edition is created pretty well. It has a dictionary / explanation for certain terms and phrases used throughout the plays that may be rather complicated, which are well written and quite useful to providing context to people who may not be as tuned into French culture or society (or language). This is definitely a good book for a person that speaks and reads French better than me, but also for people who are more interested in French playwrights and older French literature.