ABSTRACT
When Marguerite Yourcenar died on 17 December 1987, she had almost finished Quoi? L’Éternite (1988), the final volume of her autobiographical trilogy. The book had been impatiently awaited, for in the first two volumes the autobiographer, as a “character,” especially as an adult character, is remarkably absent. Souvenirs pieux (1974; translated as Dear Departed) deals mainly with the maternal side of the author’s family, and Archives du Nord (1977; rendered as How Many Years) concerns itself with paternal ancestors and the life of her father, Michel de Crayencour. Unfortunately, Quoi? L’Éternitedisappoints in many ways. First, Yourcenar barely keeps her promise about examining her own life. Though she provides glimpses of herself as a child, the book once again focuses on her father. The fundamental disappointment of Quoi? L’Éternite, however, comes not from our speculations as to what Yourcenar might have written, had she lived longer; and not from our frustrated curiosity about her personal feelings or private life.
