Heath's Modern Language Series: La Mère de la Marquise. Edmond About
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Edmond About
Heath's Modern Language Series: La Mère de la Marquise
Publié par Good Press, 2020
EAN 4064066084608
Table des matières
INTRODUCTION
Edmond-François-Valentin About, the author of the accompanying story, was born at Dieuze, in Lorraine, on February 14, 1828. He followed the course of the French schools and in time was graduated from the École normale, whence his taste for classical studies led him to the French school at Athens. In 1853, About returned to Paris and began to write for the newspapers, especially for the Moniteur, Figaro, and Soir, and shortly after, in 1855, he published La Grèce contemporaine, a bright, though hardly just satire on the manners and customs of the people he had just left.
In the same year appeared About's first novel, Tolla, and although forced to withstand the accusation of plagiarism in this work, the following decade was the most fruitful of our author's life, the period in which he produced almost all of the novels and stories to which he owes his fame. The chief of these works are: Le Roi des Montagnes, 1856; Les Mariages de Paris, 1856; Germaine, 1857; Trente et Quarante, 1858; L'Homme à l'Oreille cassé, 1861; Le Nez d'un Notaire, 1862; Le Cas de M. Guérin, 1862; and Madelon, 1863. Le Roman d'un brave Homme did not appear until 1880. During these years About also tried the dramatic field, but without success.
In the meantime the emperor, Napoleon the Third, had learned to appreciate this quick and ready pen and was beginning to make large use of it for political purposes. The resulting newspaper articles in support of the government very soon made their author a favorite at court and he was, furthermore, liberally rewarded and encouraged in his work.
At this age About had no deep political sympathies, he supported the imperial policy because he was well paid for his writings, but in 1870 the mismanagement of the Franco-Prussian war opened his eyes to the shortcomings and deficiencies of the Bonapartist government and he became an ardent Republican. He lost no time in giving up his literary work that he might devote his whole energy to journalism in the endeavor to advance the cause of his party, and in company with Francisque Sarcey he founded the republican journal, Le XIXe Siècle. Already under the empire About had been a violent anti-clerical, having published as early as 1859 La Question romaine, against Romish influence in France, and he now turned his particular attention to combatting the Church of Rome in its relation to the republican government.
In 1884, Edmond About was elected to the Academy, but before he could be formally installed death overtook him, on January 17, 1885.
The characteristics of About's literary style appear as clearly in La Mère de la Marquise, which is included in Les Mariages de Paris, as in any of the author's longer works; we may briefly enumerate these characteristics as facility and variety of expression, a ready wit, a large and varied vocabulary, and the ability to sketch characters in a few, bold strokes. About's stories are written to entertain, they are bright and wholesome, they tell an interesting story in a straightforward manner, and beneath all is just enough serious satire to lend a pleasing proportion and balance to the whole.
In preparing this edition of La Mère de la Marquise the editor has sought to present a text, with vocabulary, suitable for students of French in the second year of the high-school course or in the first year at college. The story itself has been chosen on account of its quick action, the graceful and witty turn of the phrases, the easy, colloquial style, and the entire freedom from coarseness. The text is that of the last edition of Les Mariages de Paris, Paris, 1899; it is reproduced with the omission of only a very few extracts hardly suited to the class-room.
Murray P. Brush.
Baltimore
December 1902
LA MÈRE DE LA MARQUISE
I
Ceci est une vieille histoire qui datera tantôt de dix ans.
Le 15 avril 1846, on lisait dans tous les grands journaux de Paris l'annonce suivante:
«Un jeune homme de bonne famille, ancien élève d'une école du gouvernement,[1] ayant étudié dix ans les mines, la fonte, la forge, la comptabilité et l'exploitation des coupes de bois, désirerait trouver dans sa spécialité un emploi honorable. Écrire[2] à Paris, poste restante, à M. L. M. D. O.»
La propriétaire des belles forges d'Arlange, Mme Benoît, était alors à Paris, dans son petit hôtel de la rue Saint-Dominique; mais elle ne lisait jamais les journaux. Pourquoi les aurait-elle lus? Elle ne cherchait pas un employé pour sa forge, mais un mari pour sa fille.
Mme Benoît, dont l'humeur et la figure ont bien changé depuis dix ans, était en ce temps-là une personne tout à fait aimable. Elle jouissait délicieusement de cette seconde jeunesse que la nature n'accorde pas à toutes les femmes, et qui s'étend entre la quarantième et la cinquantième année. Son embonpoint un peu majestueux lui donnait l'aspect d'une fleur très épanouie, mais personne en la voyant ne songeait à une fleur fanée. Ses petits yeux étincelaient du même feu qu'à vingt ans; ses cheveux n'avaient pas blanchi, ses dents ne s'étaient pas allongées; ses joues et ses mentons resplendissaient de cette fraîcheur vigoureuse, luisante et sans duvet qui distingue la seconde jeunesse de la première. Ses bras et ses épaules auraient fait envie à beaucoup de jeunes femmes. Son pied s'était un peu écrasé sous le poids de son corps, mais sa petite main rose et potelée brillait encore au milieu des bagues et des bracelets comme un bijou entre des bijoux.
Les dedans d'une personne si accomplie répondaient exactement au dehors. L'esprit de Mme Benoît était aussi vif que ses yeux. Sa figure n'était pas plus épanouie que son caractère. Le rire ne tarissait jamais sur cette jolie bouche; ses belles petites mains étaient toujours ouvertes pour donner. Son âme semblait faite de bonne humeur