The Aspirations of Jean Servien

Downloads: Under 100
Pages: 108

Read PDF online Download Save

About this book

The Aspirations of Jean Servien is by Anatole France, in a translation by Alfred Allinson, and says that Jean Servien was born in a back-shop in the Rue Notre-Dame des Champs. Jean's father was a bookbinder who worked for the Religious Houses, and Jean was a little weakling child whose mother nursed him as she sewed the books, sheet by sheet.

A big man says he has written his translation in dark, ice-cold garrets, on chandlers' wrappers, snuff papers and the backs of playing cards, and gives his name as the Marquis Tudesco, of Venice. A scene at a gate has Jean following a woman through bramble bushes, exulting to feel the thorns scratch and tear his flesh, and seizing her by the hand to kiss it. A man asks himself whether he has denounced a man as hostage, and his fears are soon allayed because Colonel Tudesco was only a wind-bag, and could not really arrest people.

About the author

Anatole France

Anatole France (1844-1924) was a French novelist and Nobel laureate celebrated for his irony, elegance, and skeptical wit. He was one of the most admired French writers of his era.