Victor Cherbuliez (1829–1899)

M. Cherbuliez scorns artifice and misdirection. His patriotic purpose is transparent from the first few chapters through to the end. He wishes (in the wake of France's disaster in the 1870 war) to reconcile his bickering countrymen and women of differing socioeconomic stripes by telling a simple love story that glorifies labor, honesty, reason, education, idealism and youth while satirizing the airy pretensions and extortioning schemes of both wealth and nobility. How well did he succeed? I would not have known of the existence of this writer but for the mention of his name in Henry James' Daisy Miller - I can't find him in the handbook of French literature in my possession - but it seems to me this book must have sold well. Personally I was sublimely stirred and deeply moved and hope any potential readers of today can take this entertaining story less as a period piece and more as a parable pointing to the evident benefits of reconciliation even for our own fragmented and bickering society.… (meer)