Hugues Viane lost his wife five years ago and moved to Bruges, a city he considered decaying and melancholy, in order to fully indulge his grief, seeing his deceased wife reflected around the city. He lives alone with only the company of his servant Barbe. One evening, having been to Church to reflect on his loss, he encounters a woman who he believes resembles his wife almost exactly. What follows is an unsettling affair in which he tries to turn her into the woman he loved while increasingly realising that it is an illusion. He never speaks to Jane, his new beau, about his former love and she is unaware that his obsession with her is based on her resemblance. Putting her up in a home separate from his, keeping their relationship a secret, this is not a healthy situation. When they fall out he has to consider whether he has fallen for Jane for herself or if it is merely the illusion of his former wife that sustains them. Her eventual demand to come to his home leads to the climax of the book.
Jane as a character is not particularly developed. We see her through Hugues’ eyes, and it is only approaching the climax of the novel that we begin to see more of her mindset. Tired of his strange behaviour she has begun to consider whether it is worth continuing the relationship merely to benefit financially - he is older than her and she suspects it would not be too long before she could inherit. For the most part you feel quite sorry for her but her behaviour in his home becomes quite uncomfortable, although we are left once more feeling that she is a victim of Hugues’ obsession.
Hugues begins by being quite a sympathetic character. Yes, he seem to indulge in his grief, but his emotions are painful and you feel for him. However, his behaviour toward Jane is frequently unacceptable and unhealthy. The power balance between them is uneven, although she does possess power in the chance resemblance to his wife - he would not want to lose her. This is not a love story however, it is one of dangerous obsession and the fetishisation of the dead. A sense of melancholy hangs over the whole book and Rodenbach works hard to bring the city itself into the mood of the book. In the original he published photographs alongside the text, and this has been replicated with more recent photographs in the current edition. These depict empty streets and canals, offering a somewhat haunting sensation very different to the experience of a modern visitor to the city. Locals are said to have been unhappy with the novel when it was originally published, depicting their city as a place of death and decay when they were attempting to revive it as a place of industry.
An interesting book that modern readers may find somewhat overwritten. The introductory essay by Alan Hollinghurst and essay ‘The Death Throes of Towns’ give us an insight in Rodenbach’s fascination with Bruges and his perspective on it as a city of faded glory. A strange, disturbing novel which evokes a very particular time and mindset.
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