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The Companion

by Victor Margueritte
adapted by Brian Stableford

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The Companion (1923) by Victor Margueritte is the second novel in the trilogy that begins with his 1922 controversial best-seller, The Bacheloress, and concludes with The Couple (1924).

In contrast to the victimized Monique Lerbier, heroine of The Bacheloress, who appears in this novel in a supporting role, Annik Raimber is, a staunch proto-feminist with unwavering integrity, who never comprises her principles. When confronted with marriage and a family, professional success, and security, but at the price of, alternately, subordination and subjugation, Annik resists, maintaining her optimism that she is on the right path toward self-fulfillment. But does her brand of fulfillment exist in a world of entrenched ideology?

The Companion is an exploration of both feminist self-direction and, more generally, the boundary between individuality and the pervading social norms. As its author, Margueritte, writes: "A logical consequence of my study of feminine mores, Le Compagnon claims, in fact, and loudly, the right to say everything, in accordance with the honest naturalist method."

Cover by Mike Hoffman

Published by Black Coat Press in January 2015
ISBN: 978-1-61227-361-7

The Brian Stableford Website