Love of the Lord (1968) — “a fresco capturing the eternal adventure of a man and a woman” (deadly love like that of Tristan and Isolde) depicts events of 1936 taking place in Geneva in the era of the League of Nations. Solal, a Jewish diplomat surrounded by annoying Eastern relatives, wins the heart of Ariane, a new Madame Bovary—the wife of a rather dull Belgian official.
This book goes back to “Song of Songs” (passionate flesh, the Old Testament) and “A Thousand and One Nights” (complete freedom of narration), but also to Chaplin’s “The Dictator” and his Monsieur Verdoux (a puppet-man; a “Jewish” look at social chaos). “Love of the Lord” — the comprehensive and unique book—has justifiably been compared with “In Search of Lost Time,” with “Ulysses,” with “Lolita.” It is an incredible, passionate, utterly original novel about love, written in French in the 20th century. Neither before nor after Cohen has anyone written so about human relationships.
In 2012, a film based on this novel was released, starring Russian fashion model Natalia Vodianova in the lead role.