The Secret Room by Alain Robbe-Grillet
"The Secret Room" by Alain Robbe-Grillet presents a surreal and haunting narrative steeped in tension and visual imagery. The story begins with a shocking scene involving a woman lying on the floor, injured and restrained, in a vast room filled with ominous details such as a helix-shaped staircase and a silver incense burner. The macabre quality of the setting is amplified by the woman's blood juxtaposed against the vibrant colors of her surroundings, creating a striking visual contrast.
As the narrative unfolds, the reader witnesses a man in a black cape, who appears both threatening and troubled, interacting with the woman. The story employs a fragmented timeline, rewinding and fast-forwarding through the events, which heightens the sense of disorientation and unease. The woman's struggle and the man's actions are depicted with a focus on visceral detail, emphasizing themes of power, vulnerability, and fear.
Robbe-Grillet's work, rich in surrealist elements, invites readers to explore deeper layers of meaning as it disrupts conventional storytelling techniques. The atmosphere of the secret room serves as both a physical and psychological space, inviting reflection on the nature of violence and the human condition. This compelling narrative is an intriguing exploration for those interested in avant-garde literature and surrealism.
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The Secret Room by Alain Robbe-Grillet
First published: "Le Chambre secrete," 1962 (English translation, 1965)
Type of plot: Surrealist
Time of work: Unspecified
Locale: An underground room
Principal Characters:
A naked woman , chained to the floor and bleedingHer assailant , a man dressed in black
The Story
A macabre scene unfolds before the reader like a motion picture in slow motion as a close shot of crimson streaks slowly pulls back from a small detail without context opened to reveal a broad shot of a vast room with massive columns and a great staircase shaped in a helix that rises up into the darkness. A silver incense burner issues out scrolls of smoke, providing partial context for a woman stretched out on the floor with blood streaming from a gruesome wound to one of her breasts. As from out of the corner of an eye, readers catch a glimpse of a man in black, flowing cape, a mere silhouette fleeing to the top of the stairs.
Switching from a distant shot to a close-up view of the woman, the narrator describes the shape of the woman's white, soft body, the colorful Oriental rug on which she is lying, and the purple color of the plush cushions that prop up her body. This secret chamber seems to stretch out for some distance, and its immensity suggests there are probably other strange and chilling scenes similar to this being enacted in other niches and passageways. The woman appears to light the room with her glowing white body.
Rewind. Now the scene seems to be played backward. The darkly dressed man is again at the foot of the steps and has taken his first step up the winding staircase. These steps narrow as they wind upward, leading to a temple or theater. As the mysterious man reaches the third step, he turns to look at the bound and helpless woman for the last time, his black, swirling cape revealing a red lining with intricate gold embroidery. He looks concerned and frightened, as if something unexpected will happen as his hand reaches for a balustrade that is not there. He looks at the woman chained in a cross-shaped configuration. She is fastened to the thick columns and floor by iron rings that are used to restrain animals. Her right arm and leg are obscured by the darkness, but the left arm and leg can be seen in the most minute detail. The chain has cut into her ankles and the rug is crumpled, apparently from her vigorous struggle.
The man looks at her face, upside down from his perspective. He notes her large eyes and her wide-open mouth, which appears to scream, but emits no sound. He is seen only in profile and appears to be happy. His cape with the gold embroidery blocks the view of the woman's wound from the reader, but the narrator takes care to describe the blood flowing from the wound across her body.
The scene rewinds again, moving closer to the actual attack. The man is now kneeling over the woman's body as she breathes more and more rapidly. Her head turns from side to side and her mouth twists open as he tears open the flesh of her breast. Her mouth opens wider, she struggles more violently, and is then silent.
Again temporal linearity is destroyed as the scene fast-forwards to the previous moment and the man is once again at the top of the stairs, about to enter a little doorway of light. The woman's color and the light emitted from her body begin to fade. The smoke from the burner straightens its wavy pattern as it rises toward the top of a canvas.