Lire Le Grand Meaulnes c'est aller à la découverte d'aventures qui exigent d'incessants retours en arrière, comme si l'aiguillon du bonheur devait ...
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Sep 22, 2010
Esteban
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Dear Henri Alain-Fournier,
Some people claim you had great talent as a novelist. Many more would claim I don't. Is it fair that you died in World War I while I live, free to write this review and feeling like I'm having a bad morning because I didn't have all the usual ingredients for my breakfast shake? Your remains weren't identified until 1991, true, but do you know that without yogurt, steel cut oatmeal, goji berries and banana congeal like pond scum when blended with almond milk? More...
Some people claim you had great talent as a novelist. Many more would claim I don't. Is it fair that you died in World War I while I live, free to write this review and feeling like I'm having a bad morning because I didn't have all the usual ingredients for my breakfast shake? Your remains weren't identified until 1991, true, but do you know that without yogurt, steel cut oatmeal, goji berries and banana congeal like pond scum when blended with almond milk? More...
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Jun 02, 2009
Kelly
rated it: 
Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,
And my ending is despair,
Unless I be relieved by prayer...
This reminded me of Prospero's lament.
And no, folks, he was not in the least relieved by prayer. Or by better writing or characterization or anything else useful, for that matter. I was not at all motivated to indulgence.
An utterly crude, half-baked attempt at enchantment. In order to be in the proper mood to be enthralled with the Lost Esta More...
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,
And my ending is despair,
Unless I be relieved by prayer...
This reminded me of Prospero's lament.
And no, folks, he was not in the least relieved by prayer. Or by better writing or characterization or anything else useful, for that matter. I was not at all motivated to indulgence.
An utterly crude, half-baked attempt at enchantment. In order to be in the proper mood to be enthralled with the Lost Esta More...
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Jul 21, 2011
K.D.
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Alain-Fournier was the pseudonym of Henri Alban-Fournier (1886-1914), a French author and soldier. Le Grand Meaulnes (1913) was his only novel, filmed twice and is now considered one of the greatest works of French literature. He was a friend to Andre Gide (1869-1951) who wrote The Fruits of the Earth (1897), Strait is the Gate (1909), The Counterfeiters (1927) among many others. Alain-Fournier started work on a second novel Colombe Blanchet in 1914. However, that same year, he joined the army
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Jul 13, 2009
Helynne
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Although Le Grand Meaulnes (sometimes translated as The Wanderer or The Lost Estate) was written in 1913, which was more in the decadent or modernism era, this lovely, mysterious novel falls definitely into the category of late Romanticism. Just one year after publishing his one and only novel, young Henri Alain-Fournier was killed in a World War I battle at Epargnes in 1914. The literary world is so much the poorer for his loss as well as for the loss of many more novels he surely would
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Mar 02, 2008
Nancy
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One of the few books to which I have given 5 stars in a long while, Le Grand Meaulnes is likely one of the best books I've read in a very, very long time. Set in France of last century, the story is narrated by one Francois Seurel, the son of the local schoolmaster. Seurel's father takes in a new boy, Augustin Meaulnes, who is also known as "le grand Meaulnes." He's the kid in every group who is fearless and who is looked up to by all of the other kids, and he and Francois become very
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Jul 18, 2011
James
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A unique and dream-like book about youthful ardour and longing. The story of Meaulnes and his search for his lost love is unforgettable. Impulsive, reckless and heroic, Meaulnes embodies both romanticism and a search for the elusiveness of the world between childhood and adulthood. I found this book both enjoyable and thought-provoking in its exceptional depiction of romantic feeling. The result was a haunting ability to remain in my memory with a sort of nostalgia for the reading that I have r
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Sep 16, 2011
Mark
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"Man, this book is so French." That's the recurring thought I had as I read The Lost Estate. It seems many critics over the years have responded to this book as a elegy on the loss (or, more specifically, the leaving behind) of childhood. This is entirely accurate, of course, but to me it seems even moreso a classic French meditation on sadness.
This is not to say that French authors have a lock on depressing books, but aside from the works of Alexandre Dumas and Stendhal, mos More...
This is not to say that French authors have a lock on depressing books, but aside from the works of Alexandre Dumas and Stendhal, mos More...
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May 31, 2010
Justin
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This obviously slots into the 'either love it or hate it' category, and I wonder if the translator's to blame? I assume at least in part, since this is meant to be enchanting, but reads more like a science text-book. In part it might be the French/English divide, since you just can't get away with random tense changes in English- it comes off as confused or maddening; the endless ellipses and rhetorical questions and descriptive passages which for all I know are beautiful and haunting in French
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Sep 04, 2009
Brandon
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jan 29, 2012
'This novel--the only ever written by the author, who died on a French battlefield in 1914--reminds one of The Magus for good reason. Fowles himself has stated that he wrote The Magus "very much under the influence" of The Lost Domain. This was Fowles' favorite book growing up, and the parallels between the two books are obvious. The 1986 edition includes an afterword by Fowles.' http://www.fowlesbooks.com/novels.htm Okay, must have.
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Dec 11, 2010
Snehal
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This was a trying exercise; the central theme - essentially, that childhood may be transient but immaturity can be forever, is not unworthy of elaboration, but the execution is poor. The main character is under-developed, the gender roles are an illustration in stereotyping, the ideals espoused are cloyingly quaint and the rapid shifts in mood and tone are unsettling.
There isn't much by way of literary merit, at least not in the translated version, and the significance lies elsewhere; More...
There isn't much by way of literary merit, at least not in the translated version, and the significance lies elsewhere; More...
Jan 29, 2012
Danielle
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What I most liked about this book is that it led me to consider the craft of writing and literary theory. First published in 1913, on the eve of World War I, it seems to straddle a line between realism and symbolism and is worth reading for a taste of what it must have been like to live in a shifting literary landscape. It's also interesting to consider this novel in the context of Proust's "Remembrance of Things Past," which Proust also began to publish in 1913.
The writin More...
The writin More...
Feb 11, 2010
Sonia
rated it:
Je garde de ce texte une impression de rêve fâné, d'été pluvieux et de fin d'enfance. Il s'agit sans doute d'un roman qu'il ne faut pas lire trop tard, et je tente de préserver son souvenir, qu'une nouvelle lecture viendrait sans doute irrémédiablement altérer.
Peut-être que ce texte, paru en 1913 (la même année que Du côté de chez Swann) marque la césure entre la littérature d'avant et celle d'après la Première Guerre mondiale. Henri-Alban Fournier, dit Alain-Fournier mourra un an p More...
Peut-être que ce texte, paru en 1913 (la même année que Du côté de chez Swann) marque la césure entre la littérature d'avant et celle d'après la Première Guerre mondiale. Henri-Alban Fournier, dit Alain-Fournier mourra un an p More...
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Aug 06, 2007
Shanti
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One yearns for the perfect love and if challenged will accept despite failure. However, what happens when the strongest desire is met; does the seeker remain satiated or should the quest never have ended. A lifelong wait for the love of a wanderer's life should perhaps never end.
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Mar 15, 2011
Adam
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Although I really dislike doing so, I can’t help but review this book by drawing primarily on comparisons to others.
Le Grand Meaulnes has the slow, penetrating prose of Richard Yates (nod to the translator) but the plot of a Restoration Comedy. The disconnect here was difficult for me to ignore. The sentences, like Yates’, are powerfully melancholic and the book would best be described as a tragedy; however, the many coincidences/chance meetings/relationship “mishaps” that are suppos More...
Le Grand Meaulnes has the slow, penetrating prose of Richard Yates (nod to the translator) but the plot of a Restoration Comedy. The disconnect here was difficult for me to ignore. The sentences, like Yates’, are powerfully melancholic and the book would best be described as a tragedy; however, the many coincidences/chance meetings/relationship “mishaps” that are suppos More...
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(1 person liked it)
Dec 03, 2011
Jim
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I can't remember where, exactly, but I came across more than one recommendation for this book and so, bought a copy and promptly placed it unopened in my bookcase, where it sat for well over five years. This spring-cleaning, it caught my eye and I though wtf? Why not let this be the year?
This is Alain-Fournier's only novel, thanks to WWI, but it shows great sensitivity and potential for future books-that-might-have-been. He captures the deep feelings of youth and its heartfelt codes of More...
This is Alain-Fournier's only novel, thanks to WWI, but it shows great sensitivity and potential for future books-that-might-have-been. He captures the deep feelings of youth and its heartfelt codes of More...
Sep 01, 2010
Jeff
rated it:
So nearly a great book.
This tale is spread accross 3 'books'. It is not my intention to 'spoil' in this review, because I recommend it.
Book 1 is outstanding and could have been written yesterday. Great characters, teasing dialoge and what a set up....
Book 2 wonders what to do with it...
Book 3 gets it wrong.
The epilogue is simply not needed.
But it is still worth reading. I would recommend it to any desperately self doubt More...
This tale is spread accross 3 'books'. It is not my intention to 'spoil' in this review, because I recommend it.
Book 1 is outstanding and could have been written yesterday. Great characters, teasing dialoge and what a set up....
Book 2 wonders what to do with it...
Book 3 gets it wrong.
The epilogue is simply not needed.
But it is still worth reading. I would recommend it to any desperately self doubt More...
Oct 28, 2011
Jo
rated it:
I have just re-read this book for the third tine, the first having been in French for A level French at school. It has always haunted me and I still enjoyed the mystical sense of searching for the lost estate and his childhood. I did wonder more at what special charm Le Grand Meaulnes had, as this wasn't so obvious in this reading. I did want him to get a grip and stop being so morose once he had found what he had searched for for so long. having said that, I enjoyed it and there is an atmospher
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Feb 08, 2012
John Mark
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Dec 19, 2011
Chrock
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The French was difficult, I read it bit by bit very slowly, I needed to have seen the film to help to give me the atmosphere, sense of location, given that, I was eventually caught up in it, wanting to get the story, and having a distant and hazy sense of the quality of the writing, and a somewhat less distant sense of the youthful romanticism, which I seem now to be capable of enjoying. At least, I enjoyed it in this context. Enjoyed? Appreciated, rather, or acknowledged as a serious state of m
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Dec 04, 2011
S.B.
rated it:
French people's imposition of dreams upon reality. The title is a misnomer, there is not a lot of wandering going on, more searching than anything else. It includes a lot of descriptions of people and places which gets tiresome. I liked the story, more and more this type of kitschy story-telling becomes increasingly meaningful as it gets less complex and less self-conscious. I shouldn't call it kitsch, maybe quaint is the right word.
...a violent storm was brewing under the dreary s More...
...a violent storm was brewing under the dreary s More...
Jan 29, 2012
Samir Jorge
rated it:
Libro adolescente, si nos piden un adjetivo que le sea transversal. Augustin Meaulnes, el personaje que marca la novela, es el joven por excelencia: aventurero, ensimismado, rebelde. Pero no es él quién narra su leyenda, sino que François Seurel, compañero, amigo, hijo de los regentes del colegio. Funciona, de cierta manera, como un faro cuando todo se aleja, cuando todo está consumido y nos tentamos a perdernos en la atmósfera que crea Fournier. Porque en ese aire habita una fantasía sutil, una
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Oct 14, 2010
Adam
rated it:
An elegy to lost love, an evocation of the sad inevitability of time, in the form of a modern chivalric romance: a questing youth stumbles upon an engagement party that seems an enchanted otherworld, falls in love therein, tries forever to return, but is foiled by the slow, dread entanglements of the everyday world and his own failings—he finds the woman, but never again the enchanted moment. The tale is told with an almost minimalist delicacy. Magical and melancholy.
Favorite quote: We More...
Favorite quote: We More...
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May 28, 2010
Zee
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When I first read the synopsis for this book, I thought it was going to be about Fauns and nymphs and other mythological beings. It's not about any of those, but I was happy to discover that it played on the themes of lost childhood in a way that isn't seen anymore. If I were to describe the novel itself, I would say ithas a quiet oriental enchantment, that works its way through the pages, creeps up on you, and holds you in its thrall. The novel itself is full of grand romance, of the bitter-swe
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Aug 08, 2010
Claudia
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How these characters will haunt me...not a scary kind of haunting, just a gentle shiver of my shoulders haunting. Written by a young man who was killed in WWI, this is, as critics have said, a sentimental novel of love and friendship that only a young man could write, an author who was not jaded by life. Francois meets Augustin, 'le grand Meaulnes,' at school and is immediately intrigued by the mysterious classmate. I kept being reminded of DEMIAN and his pull on Sinclair's imagination. But ther
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May 15, 2010
Katri
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A strange, haunting book about adolescence and growing up, and about the enchantment and madness of spending your life on supposedly grandiose but ultimately self-absorbed romantic quests at the expense of your happiness and especially that of other people.
I must say I did not like the character of Meaulnes at all. I think he's obnoxious, self-absorbed and empty, and there's no reason for everyone to be worshipping him as much as they do. It didn't detract my enjoyment of this book, More...
I must say I did not like the character of Meaulnes at all. I think he's obnoxious, self-absorbed and empty, and there's no reason for everyone to be worshipping him as much as they do. It didn't detract my enjoyment of this book, More...
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May 22, 2009
Whitaker
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Dec 02, 2008
Denis
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One of France's most beloved books - as mysterious, fascinating, elusive, and romantic today as when you read it as a teenager. The writer died very young during WWI, so it's impossible to know what else he would have written. But his only novel is such a treasured book that he ranks among the great French novelists of all times. Richly atmospheric and evocative, his story has the same dreamlike quality as some impressionist paintings, and evokes the complexities of childhood and the painful pas
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May 12, 2010
Eddie
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When I was about 10 I spent what felt like an entire summer playing in a marsh with a friend. The marsh was a gradual discovery. Each day, as our courage increased, we penetrated deeper into it, crawling and hopping from tree mound to tree mound, until we had mapped out quite a large area in our imaginations. And of course we were the only two who knew about it. This area of the marsh became our sprawling fort, with significant crossings and islands given names from my primary reading matter of
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