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Two Novellas: Francine Cloarec's Funeral & Benjamin Rozes
Two Novellas: Francine Cloarecʼs Funeral & Benjamin Rozes – published in 1881, and written by Léon Hennique – are two delightful sketches or snapshots capturing French life during the French Second Empire or early Third Republic.
The author, Léon Hennique (1850-1935), studied painting as a young man before turning to writing. This will be of little surprise to readers of Francine Cloarecʼs Funeral, which feels like a painting: one steps back in time into a tableau by Monet or Renoir on reading it. Benjamin Rozes is of similar style, but also different. Both stories are light, entertaining, charming, and endearing.
Léon Hennique was a friend of, and collaborator with, Émile Zola, the founder of Naturalism, as well as with J.-K. Huysmans, with whom he co-authored a theatrical play, Pierrot sceptique (not included).
Available as a large-print edition; and for Kindle.
The author, Léon Hennique (1850-1935), studied painting as a young man before turning to writing. This will be of little surprise to readers of Francine Cloarecʼs Funeral, which feels like a painting: one steps back in time into a tableau by Monet or Renoir on reading it. Benjamin Rozes is of similar style, but also different. Both stories are light, entertaining, charming, and endearing.
Léon Hennique was a friend of, and collaborator with, Émile Zola, the founder of Naturalism, as well as with J.-K. Huysmans, with whom he co-authored a theatrical play, Pierrot sceptique (not included).
Available as a large-print edition; and for Kindle.
118 pages, Large-Format
First published January 1, 1881
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 23, 2021
For those who cannot read it in French, there is a faithful translation into English of these two novellas now: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5.... For my review of same, see https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
May 23, 2021
Very nice stories by the more-or-less unknown (today) author in the Naturalist genre of writing: Léon Hennique, who, however, was one of the 6 authors whose work was also included in the Les Soirées de Médan. The others Emila Zola, J.-K. Huysmans, Guy de Maupassant, Paul Alexis, and Henri Céard.
As the back cover to this book suggests, reading these stories is like stepping back in time by 150 years, to a time in France, during the French Second Empire (1852-70) when Napoleon III had embarked on a full-scale modernization of France -- particularly the railroads (which was done for military purposes among other things, and ironically given the Battle of Sedan), telegraph wires, the broad boulevards in Paris under Haussmann's direction, etc. Ah for those days of seeming relative modernization when life was simpler, quieter, slower. At least in retrospect. Would that they might return. One will have to re-locate to the countryside to get a feeling of them again, and turn off the television, telephone, etc. Maybe even read this book.
In all transparency, I translated this work.
As the back cover to this book suggests, reading these stories is like stepping back in time by 150 years, to a time in France, during the French Second Empire (1852-70) when Napoleon III had embarked on a full-scale modernization of France -- particularly the railroads (which was done for military purposes among other things, and ironically given the Battle of Sedan), telegraph wires, the broad boulevards in Paris under Haussmann's direction, etc. Ah for those days of seeming relative modernization when life was simpler, quieter, slower. At least in retrospect. Would that they might return. One will have to re-locate to the countryside to get a feeling of them again, and turn off the television, telephone, etc. Maybe even read this book.
In all transparency, I translated this work.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews