occasionally reread a classic, it feels good. Often, the is less quaint than it seems. This is primarily because we own have changed. If it is possible to remain a major player throughout his life, our tastes in literature are changing affinities. We deal only with the same text over the same angle.
When it is a classic youth, we take first a little slap. And yes, we realize that there time has done its work, even if one strives to keep our child's soul, daily life was a bit perverted. But no matter, it is also good to regress for a moment, even better able to share these readings with the children around us: our own, but everybody else that can be crossed.
This time I got back into a work of the Comtesse de Segur, " the Auberge de l'Ange Gardien .
In his real name, Comtesse de Segur is named Sophie Rostopchin (Anglicized version if it is to sleep outside with a billet as they say).
was a French woman of letters (writer sum), but birth Russian (St. Petersburg 01/08/1799 - 09/02/1874 Paris). His vocation of writing it came very late, at the age of 58 years to be precise. It was an attentive grandmother and like all grannies She loved telling stories. This time, she has just written down, but this is only part of his work. Still, it's one we know best, because it is linked to our own childhood memories, our early readers.
The plot of the Auberge de l'Ange Gardien is quite simple:
On the road, a soldier and his dog found two brothers, very young children sleeping at the foot of a tree. They spent the night, they are cold and hungry. They have no parents. Moutiers (the soldier) knows what to do with these lovely children and just assign them to the Auberge de l'Ange Gardien which is so justly his name ... Ms. Blidot and younger sister will Elfy wonderful adoptive mothers, but with the war, the friendship will suffer from the silence of Moutiers, which will once more appear as soon as peace returned ...
What was I thinking of this reading in my old age? (I'm 35 years old, but sometimes I feel like a granny lol)
Yes, I talk about reading and rereading not in this case because I did not read this title by by Comtesse de Segur during my younger years.
The first chapter was so sad that I really thought I would give up my (re) discovery of the author. I had the heavy heart and I could make the comparison between these two children and my daughters.
Obviously, our times are radically different and I am not even talking just characters of my daughters (probably too spoiled, certainly not as brave face of adversity), but they are children, children who are in misery (Paul and his brother, not mine, eh!), who suffer, in short, my mother's heart jumped!
Then it is the greed of the first innkeeper, who shocked me, even revulsion. I once made a connection with our time if mercantilist. Basically, nothing has really changed in this respect. Money, money, money! This is the sinews of war, but not only!
The frame of the whole work is highly predictable, but I say this probably because I'm an adult. A young player 8 or 9 years would say probably not the same thing. Especially since for him the gap between our present society and the time the story is told in the most consistent. Undoubtedly, for him, it would be prehistoric! How it no mobile phone? No television? Point microwave in the kitchen? And what about the water it takes to get well? " All
all is full of good feelings, limit the land of Care Bears is a mark next to SM! I exaggerate? Hardly, I assure you!
nearly everywhere we see the goodness, simplicity, mutual aid, charity for free (not just to have a return or to get good publicity). There are the bad guys, but again, it's very cartoonish.
In the world imagined by the Comtesse de Segur, it turns round and is poised to become one!
Note also that this book is dated to his time. It conveys the values that knew the Comtesse de Segur, but also all its readers.
Religion occupies an important place. Campaigns, but the towns were very pious. The priest was a central figure in his parish. His opinion relied heavily.
Patriotism is glorified. Today when we talk about national pride, we will ask you if you do not have your card at the FN. As for national identity, we forget, it will still run good ink! But at that time was normal. We dreaded these things with a disarming natural for one of our contemporaries.
This novel may seem naive (everything is predictable, the good and the bad, the ending ...) but I think it's more a quality defect. That's what makes the strength, beauty, timelessness of this book. This is a classic, period!
The ending is deliberately open. The Comtesse de Segur makes no secret she would write later, another book where readers will find the characters of "The Auberge de l'Ange Gardien .
All's well that ends well. we would like it that way sometimes in our real world!
My final score: 16 / 20
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