The Loves of Pelleas and Etarre

by Zona Gale

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

341 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1907

About the author

American author, playwright, and the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, in 1921 for Miss Lulu Bett , her dramatic adaptation of her novel of the same name.

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice book, and if the word "nice" applied to a book makes you raise an eyebrow quizzically, it's probably not for you. The eponymous Pelleas and Etarre are a couple in their 70s who love each other very much after 50 years of marriage, and that pretty much sums up the whole book. It's not so much a novel as a series of short stories in which the couple (whose names, for no clear reason -- there are no parallels in the stories -- are borrowed from Tennyson's Idylls of the King) encounter various romantic situations among young people, and set about aiding and abetting elopements, lending wedding dresses and the culinary services of their irascible Italian maid Nichola for the impromptu nuptials. Despite its one thread of sadness a son was lost in infancy, we are told, it really is too sweet to be taken in anything but small doses, and I find it curious that I liked it much better at age 18 than I do now at 44 (perhaps old-fashioned unabashedly sentimental books were more of a novelty to me at the time?) It was published in 1907, early in Zona Gales career. Apparently she became more astringent in later years.