Big Moln

John Fowles in his essay “Lost Paradise Alain Fournier” from the collection “Wormholes” (1997) wrote that the tragic story of the life of the French writer and the creation of his famous book itself “ constitutes the plot of the whole novel ” ^[3] .

Church of Saint-Martin in the municipality of Épinay-les-Flouriles , where Henri Fournier lived as a child

The book has obvious autobiographical features, in it are reflected the memories, experiences and feelings of the author ^[6] . Henri Fournier (real name of the writer) was born and raised in the Cher department in central France; his father, Augustin Fournier, and his mother were rural teachers. The provincial and rural life of his "small homeland" made an indelible impression of his childhood and had an unconditional influence on his subsequent literary work.

Literary scholars are reflected in the novel and other facts from his personal life. While studying in Paris, Henry met and made friends with Jacques Riviera , a future poet and famous literary critic. Riviere later married his sister Isabelle (1889-1971), to whom Fournier’s novel was dedicated ^[7] . The surviving long correspondence with the Riviera (almost daily on some periods) is evidence of the creative evolution of Fournier in his youth, as well as a valuable source for literary scholars. Describing the young people to whom friends belonged, the poet and critic Yu. V. Mandelstam wrote ^[8] :

In 1905, in Paris, Henry met a tall, fair-haired girl unknown to him, strolling along the Seine embankment in the company of an elderly lady, who, as she later managed to find out, was her aunt. This girl was Yvonne de Kevkurkur from a reputable and ancient aristocratic family. This meeting left an indelible and deep mark in his life. Interested in the girl and following where she lived, Henri began to come to her house, but managed to talk to her in sufficient detail only once. Their last meeting took place eight years later - in 1913, on the eve of the war, with which, as the writer had anticipated, he would not return. Yvonne by this time had married, having become the mother of two children. Despite the fact that during this period in Fournier's life there were other women, her influence in one way or another on the novel is recognized as undeniable. Fowles calls the role played by Yvonne de Chievcourt in the creative life of Henri Fournier, comparable to the history of Dante and Beatrice . According to the English writer: “ He never managed to get to know her better, to find in her those flaws that his fastidious gaze immediately found in any other woman with whom he was ever close ”, which played a large role in the character of the heroine of his novel and at its creation, and the book itself thus becomes a continuous metaphor of " both this meeting itself and the inherently impossibility of it" ^[3] . According to Dubinskaya M.V., a researcher of the novel Alain-Fournier, who devoted a number of literary works to him:

Fournier was a fan of English literature and spent some time in England. Among his favorite writers are Daniel Defoe , Charles Dickens , R. L. Stevenson , Rudyard Kipling . It is also believed that it was influenced by Margarita Ode's novel Marie-Claire ( Marie-Claire , 1910), who was also from the Cher department (Fournier is even called her spiritual son) ^{[10] [11]} .

During the work on the novel from 1906 to 1913, the author several times changed the name of his work: “The Nameless Land” ( Le pays sans nom ), “Wedding Day” ( Le jour de noces ) and “Big Meadow” ( Le Grand Meaulnes ), what is considered as the evolution of the creative idea and its implementation on the pages of the book ^{[9] [3]} . In 1910, Fournier informed the Riviera that “he is working on a fictional, fantastic part of the book, as well as on its“ human ”part, and each gives strength to work on another ” ^[3] .

The novel was originally published in the literary magazine La Nouvelle Revue française ( New French Review ). It was published as a separate publication in October 1913 ^[12] , a year before the death of the author during the First World War . The book was put up for the tenth Goncourt Prize of 1913, but did not receive it. The novel has gained great fame in France and loyal fans. As Andre Morois noted: “The reading public was shocked by the romantic worship of the hero of the book by a woman who was hardly known to her and the untimely death of the author ” ^[13] .

The action of the novel begins "on one Sunday of November 189 ... in the town of Saint-Agath in the historical province of Berry , in central France, with the appearance at the local school of the seventeen-year-old Augustin Moln, where his mother placed him to take a senior education course here classes.

Fifteen-year-old Francois Serel, on behalf of whom the events of the novel are described, is the son of the teachers of the school in which he also studies and on whose territory his family has been living for ten years, leading a modest but happy existence. Francois and Augustin settled together in the same room and immediately became friends. Prior to this, François had little contact with other boys, spending evenings after class alone and reading a lot. He did not take part in the games of his peers, which was partly due to some of his lameness due to pain in the thigh, as well as the demands of his strict but loving mother, who did not allow him to play with the local sloppies. Francois felt timid and unhappy, and the appearance of Augustin, who soon became very popular among the students of their school, was the beginning of a “new life” for him.

The novel is devoted to dozens of literary, critical works, comments, etc., relating to its most diverse aspects and topics ^[14] .

The novel is written in a lyrical manner, as imbued with nostalgic memories of the past childhood and youth, school, friendship and love, childhood dreams. The book combines a dynamic plot and romantic intrigue with a realistic depiction of French provincial life of the late 19th century ^[1] . In 1922, A. V. Lunacharsky , mentioning “the novel of an unknown writer Alain Fournier,” cites the characteristic opinion of the French critic Kolen, who calls it “ amazing and interesting in mixing the most clear and detailed realism with a dream and fantasy ” ^[15] .

The novel reflects such rich literary traditions as the “story of a young man” and the “ upbringing novel ”. Louis Aragon compared the main character of the only Fournier’s novel with the protagonist of the book by I. Goethe, “The Years of Wilhelm Meister’s Teaching ” (the very origin of the concept of a “parenting romance” goes back to this Goethe novel), finding much in common in their plot schemes and themes, but, naturally There are also differences not only in the artistic style and aesthetics of these novels, but also in different eras of their creation. According to Aragon, "despite the unreality of this book ... it is the Last Judgment of a society in which Castles are doomed to destruction." Researchers find influence on the debut novel of Fournier and the works of F. M. Dostoevsky ^[16] . In a correspondence with the artist Andre Lot and J. Riviera regarding the manuscript of his novel, Alain-Fournier often mentions Dostoevsky’s novels “ The Brothers Karamazov ”, “ Humiliated and Offended ”, as well as the story “ Eternal Husband ”.

Henry Miller noted that one of the main topics of the book is the contact of children with the adult world, where " they sacrifice themselves for dreams and dreams " and especially suffer when faced with love. In his opinion, some, like Alain Fournier and his “Big Moln” “ simply cannot get out of this secret order of the young ”: “ Sometimes they leave us a small book - a testament of the true and ancient faith, which we read with tears in our eyes, marveling at the witchcraft charm, realizing, but realizing too late, that we are peering at ourselves, that we are crying over our own destiny ” ^[17] .

John Fowles called the novel the greatest novel in European literature on youth ^[3] . After reading the novel back in his school years, Fowles noted that he had a strong influence on him, and when he wrote his first novel “The Magus ”, he was very much influenced by the French writer ^[3] . According to the English novelist and specialist in French literature, this book by Alain-Fournier “is influenced by something that lies beyond the limits of the actual literature ”, which he tried to express in his novel, and the experiences described in it are an integral feature of youth: “The hero Henri Fournier, unlike my character, is clearly and unreasonably young ” ^[18] . Like many critics, Fowles considers Augustin Molln’s forbidden estate as a literary metaphor for the “lost paradise”, which was also reflected in his novel ^{[18] [3]} . Fowles also admits a special attitude to the author and his work: “... I read almost everything that he wrote, as well as several books about him; I made a pilgrimage to almost all the places described in his books, as well as to where he lived. In short, I am a crazy fan of Fournier’s work and still feel closer to this writer than any other novel writer, now living or deceased ” ^[3] .

Frederic Begbeder , noting that “the most moving and unique that remains of Alain-Fournier’s only novel is his boyish timidity, the more enduring that Lieutenant Fournier died on September 22, 1914 at the age of 28 during an attack in the Sen forest -Remy-oz-Eparge "in his collection of essays" The best books of the twentieth century. The last inventory before the sale ”, wrote ^[4] :

Literature

Henry Miller indicated the novel on his list of “One Hundred Books That Have Most Affected Me” ^[17] . According to a 1999 survey of French teenagers in France, the novel entered the list of four “books of the century” of the past century along with such masterpieces as The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery , The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway and The Outsider » Albert Camus ^[19] . Jean Cocteau wrote that Fournier’s novel and his book “Terrible Children” are typologically close, correlated and have their own history: “ their fate is different from the fate of other books, even if they are a thousand times more beautiful ” ^[20] . Roman Fournier influenced the work of Michel Tournier (" Forest King "), Valerie Larbo . In 1988, the writer Guillaume Orgel published a sequel to the Big Moll called La Nuit de Sainte-Agathe .

The novel ranks ninth in the list of “ 100 books of the century according to Le Monde ”; The first fifty books from this list were dedicated by Begbeder, an essay book ^[4] , which saw an undoubted plot and thematic similarity between the book by Alain-Fournier and the famous novel by Scott Fitzgerald “The Great Gatsby ”: “ there, and here there is a third-party narrator, telling about hopeless love the main character, yes, plus against the background of secular receptions . " The literary critic A. I. Startsev found thematic similarities and common features between these novels, referring them to the atmosphere of romantic expectation in the novel, the artist’s extraordinary sensibility, a keen sense of deceived hope and “ irresistibly beckoning and slipping away, not truly verifiable happiness ”. In addition, in his opinion: “ Here and there, an unquenched thirst for a poetic perception of the world runs into an inert and hostile reality, and here and there the hero is defeated, collapses with the collapse of his illusions ” ^[21] . Julian Barnes, a contemporary British writer and expert in French literature, called Fournier’s book “ one of the latest explosions of late romanticism ” and also saw a number of similarities between these novels, finding it obvious that the narrator of Fournier’s novel was the predecessor of Nick Carraway, on behalf of whom the narrative in the Great Gatsby. " According to Barnes, who could not reliably establish whether the American writer had read the French novel, this connection between the books is quite possible. Barnes cites this fact: the first translator of Fournier’s novel into English was Harry Crosby , a millionaire who lived in Paris, an American publisher and poet from the Lost Generation who rotated in the same Parisian circles as Fitzgerald ^[2] . British critic John Dugdel ( John Dugdale ), in addition to the explicit roll of the names of both novels, also draws attention to other similarities: the mysterious personalities of the main characters, the general plot scheme, the theme of obsession with love, the presence of a party, which is the center of composition of both books ^[22] .

It is interesting that with the translation into English of the name of the novel “ Le Grand Meaulnes ”, insurmountable difficulties arise largely due to the ambiguity that forms when it is literally transmitted ^[3] . On this occasion, there was even a joke that the names of the novel in English are more than the translations of the book itself ^[2] . Among the name translations are the following: The Great Meaulnes, The Wanderer, The Lost Domain, Meaulnes: The Lost Domain, The Magnificent Meaulnes, The Wanderer or The End of Youth, Le Grand Meaulnes: The Land of the Lost Contentment, The Lost Estate ( Le Grand Meaulnes ) and Big Meaulnes ( Le Grand Meaulnes ). Often the title of a novel in English-speaking countries is conveyed with a French title, as for example, this happens with Victor Hugo 's novel Les Misérables .

John Fowles noted the undoubted influence of the book Alain-Fournier on his work and especially on the novel "Magus". So, in the preface to his second edition, which was released in 1977, where he pointed out the literary influences to which his first novel “owed his existence”, he wrote that “ I have most adhered to the scheme of the Bolshoi Moln Alain-Fournier - so hard that the new edition had to remove a number of overly frank borrowings. The parallels in literary criticism will not make much of an impression, but without their French prototype, “Magus” would be radically different ” ^[18] . According to Fowles, the main idea of ​​his novel is “ a response that he awakens in the reader,” which brings him closer to the aesthetic and literary credo of Alain Fournier “... I need to create a world that would be able to interest other people in my personal memories - for these memories constitute the innermost essence of my soul ” ^[3] . According to the English writer, despite literary criticism and accusations of sentimentality, inconsistency with the spirit of the French novel and immaturity, the book deservedly has many admirers: “ For many years, those who literally from the first pages have been awed by Fournier’s novel have remained hot for life fans, not paying attention to very cool and rather strict estimates of adults ” ^[3] .

The book also influenced the work of modern English writer David Mitchell . According to him, he “ read the novel either at 18 or at 19 and could not understand why he captured me so. It is impossible to explain in words, but it is. The book is beautiful. " ^[23] . Mitchell mentions Fournier’s book in almost every major essay, and plays a particularly important role in the novel, which is translated into Russian as “Black Swan Green” .

Among the fans of Fournier’s novel are Jack Kerouac , Nick Hornby , Rose Tremayne ^[22] .

Popularity and memory

In Paris, during the German occupation of France , an underground group of the Resistance Movement “Friends of Alain-Fournier” ( Les Amis d'Alain-Fournier ), led by Jean Cassoux and received its name due to the fact that its gathering place was in the publishing house “Emil- Paul ”, where the novel was first published ^{[24] [25]} .

British writer and critic Graham Robb , specializing in French culture and author of a number of biographies of great French writers, in his book Discovery of France. A fascinating journey of 20,000 kilometers along the innermost corners of the most interesting country in the world ”, one of the tasks of which is to try to break down stereotypes about the country, the main one of which is“ France and everything French is limited to Paris ”, explains this unusual centennial popularity of the novel in first of all, the unexplored provincial side of the “other France” - this deep world, the desire to believe that it still exists and the persistent nostalgic feelings of the French towards their “small homelands” ^[26] :

There are several sites dedicated to the writer and his work. Popular tourist thematic routes are being developed related to the life of the author and his heroes ^[27] . The Society of Friends of Jean Riviera and Alain-Fournier (AJRAF - Association des amis de Jacques Rivière et d'Alain-Fournier ) has been awarding the young authors the Alain-Fournier Prize since 1986 ”( Prix ​​Alain-Fournier) ^[28] , holds regular meetings, conferences and other events with the aim of perpetuating and popularizing his work, as well as everything connected with it ^[19] . In 1994, in Epinoy-le-Fleurel in the French department of Cher , where the future writer spent his childhood and where his parents taught, the School-Museum ( Maison-école du Grand Meaulnes ) was created on the basis of the abandoned school of the XIX century, dedicated to the memory of Alain- Fournier and his novel ^[29] , in which the school was described as follows:

The novel was translated into Russian by the outstanding Russian translator (primarily French literature) Maurice Waxmacher . The Russian writer Raul Mir-Khaidarov described the anecdotal situation that arose between him and Vaksmakher when they accidentally met in Peredelkino . Khaidarov did not know that Vaksamacher was a translator of Fournier’s novel, but the novel itself made a huge impression on him throughout his life, and he admired “ not only the text, but also the brilliant translation ”. In conversation with Waxmacher, he began to extol the book of Fournier; his interlocutor was noticeably interested and began to ask clarifying questions. At parting, Khaidarov told him: “ It ’s a pity that you didn’t read this great book, if you would have liked it, I recommend it ” ^[30] :

Music

In 1916, Maurice Ravel , while in the hospital and recovering from the operation, read the novel “Big Moln”. This book fascinated him so much that he decided to write a play for cello and orchestra based on her motives, about which he wrote to his friend: “ I just read the Bolshoi Moln. Do you know this book? If not, read it soon. For a long time already I did not hold in my hands a novel that would give me so much pleasure . ” However, the composer never realized the idea of ​​this play ^[31] . In the mid-thirties of the last century Maxim Jacob wrote music for the planned film adaptation of the novel by Andre Barsak , but the film was never created.

In 1951, the Dutch composer Rudolf Georg Escher wrote the orchestral play “The Anthem of the Big Molna”. Written in 2004, symphony No. 4 of the contemporary French composer Michel Bosque has the program heading "Big Moln" ^[32] .

Popular French music and songs have a number of references related to Fournier’s novel: Michel Sardoux ( Le Surveillant Général ), Renault Séchet ( La mère à Titi ), Francois Feldman ( Les valses de Vienne ), Marcel Amon ( L'École ) , Claude Bartzotti ( Où c'était ). The British musician, author and performer Jack Peñate in his 2007 debut album “ Matinée ” recorded the song “My Yvonne”, containing a reference to the novel and its heroine.

Cinema

• “Big Moln” ( Le Grand Meaulnes , 1967) is a French film directed by Jean-Gabriel Albicocco .
• “A Magical Adventure” ( Czech Kouzelné dobrodruzství, 1982) is a Czech film directed by Antonin Kahlik .
• “Big Moln” ( Le Grand Meaulnes, 2006) is a French film directed by Jean-Daniel Verhaeghe .

• 100 books of the century according to Le Monde

• Alain Fournier, A. Big Moln / per. with fr. M.N. Waxmacher. - M.: Fiction , 1960. - 208.
• Begbeder, F. The best books of the twentieth century. Last inventory before the sale. - M .: FreeFly, 2005 .-- 192 p.
• Brenner J. My history of modern French literature. - M.: Higher School , 1994. - 351 p.
• Dubinskaya M.V. “The Spiritual Calendar” by Alain-Fournier's novel “The Big Moln” and poetics of artistic time by F. M. Dostoevsky // Bulletin of the Kostroma State University named after N. A. Nekrasova: the main issue. - 2014. - T. 20. - No. 3. - S. 159-162.
• Dubinskaya M.V. Three steps of Alain-Fournier to spiritual realism in three versions of the title of the novel "Big Moln" // Bulletin of Kostroma State University. - 2016 .-- T. 22, no. 1. - S. 68-73. - ISSN 1998-0817.
• Litvinenko N. A. Genre poetics of the Alain-Fournier novel "The Big Moln": to the problem of romantic traditions // Literature of the 20th century: results and prospects of study. Materials of the Fourth St. Andrew's Readings: a collection of scientific articles. - M .: Econ-Inform, 2006. - S. 155-162. - 216 p. - ISBN 5-9506-0191-2 .
• Fowles, J. Mole holes. M .: Machaon , 2002 .-- 640 p. - ISBN 5-18-000421-7 .

• The site of the Society of friends of Jacques Riviera - Alain Fournier