In the depths of the Sarladais, a land of ghosts, cool caves and woods, a teenage boy is sent to live with a thirty-five-year-old priest, but soon the man becomes more than just his teacher. Published in the United Kingdom for the first time. The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a gallant, almost magical book that is one of modern literature's esoteric, underground texts.
"This tale of spiritualised depravity is genuinely erotic. Whatever one might think of the strange division of morality and spirituality in this novella, it shows that descriptions of generous, world-encompassing desire are not solely the preserve of women." - Murrough O'Brien, Independent on Sunday
"The story has a spiritual as well as a sexual, dimension, and it is essentially pantheistic. None of the characters are named, and that's relevant to the novelist purpose, for they are vividly realised and shadowy by turns. It is flawlessly translated by Sue Dyson." - Paul Bailey, Daily Telegraph
François Augérias was born in 1925 in Rochester, New York. His father was French; a pianist, his mother a Polish émigrée. After his father died he returned to Paris, but spent his adolesence in Périgord, which was to be his refuge during a life of restless wandering. In 1945 he went to Algiers for a year, living with his reclusive uncle, a retired colonel, and in a Trappist monastery. This, and time spent with the monks of Athos, were profound influences on both his writing and his painting, often likened to modern icons. André Gide, who knew him, described his writing as a bizarre delight. Augérias died in a hospice at Domme in 1971 aged forty-six.
In the depths of the Sarladais, a land of ghosts, cool caves and woods, a teenage boy is sent to live with a thirty-five-year-old priest, but soon the man becomes more than just his teacher. Published in the United Kingdom for the first time. The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a gallant, almost magical book that is one of modern literature's esoteric, underground texts.
Reviews
"This tale of spiritualised depravity is genuinely erotic. Whatever one might think of the strange division of morality and spirituality in this novella, it shows that descriptions of generous, world-encompassing desire are not solely the preserve of women." - Murrough O'Brien, Independent on Sunday
"The story has a spiritual as well as a sexual, dimension, and it is essentially pantheistic. None of the characters are named, and that's relevant to the novelist purpose, for they are vividly realised and shadowy by turns. It is flawlessly translated by Sue Dyson." - Paul Bailey, Daily Telegraph
Author
François Augérias was born in 1925 in Rochester, New York. His father was French; a pianist, his mother a Polish émigrée. After his father died he returned to Paris, but spent his adolesence in Périgord, which was to be his refuge during a life of restless wandering. In 1945 he went to Algiers for a year, living with his reclusive uncle, a retired colonel, and in a Trappist monastery. This, and time spent with the monks of Athos, were profound influences on both his writing and his painting, often likened to modern icons. André Gide, who knew him, described his writing as a bizarre delight. Augérias died in a hospice at Domme in 1971 aged forty-six.
