The Solitude of Compassion
by Jean Giono
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The Solitude of Compassion, a collection of short stories never before available in English, won popular acclaim when it was originally published in France in 1932. It tells of small-town life in Provence, drawing on a whole village of fictional characters, often warm and decent, at times immoral and coarse. Giono writes of a friendship forged in a battlefield trench in the midst of World War I; an old man's discovery of the song of the world; and, in the title story, the not-unrelated show more feelings of compassion and pity. In these twenty stories, Giono reveals his marvelous storytelling through his vivid images and lyrical prose, whether he is conveying the delicate scents of lavender and pine trees or the smells of damp earth and fresh blood.. show less
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Jean Giono is often discovered through film (Horseman on the Roof) or singularly through 'the man who planted trees'. Read on would be my advice.
Of the limited translations available;reading the Solitude of Compassion, Joy of Man's Desiring and Second Harvest would leave you in no doubt as to the his remarkable talent. Where Zola is brutal and Tolstoy reforming of the pastoral, then Giono is uplifting and poetic.
Of the limited translations available;reading the Solitude of Compassion, Joy of Man's Desiring and Second Harvest would leave you in no doubt as to the his remarkable talent. Where Zola is brutal and Tolstoy reforming of the pastoral, then Giono is uplifting and poetic.
Los cuentos constituyen un retrato conmovedor y nostálgico de la vida rural en la Provenza, al tiempo que tocan los aspectos más íntimos y universales del alma humana: la amistad forjada en la guerra, la conexión con la tierra o el descubrimiento, en la vejez, de la fragilidad de la vida.
Apr 13, 2018Spanish
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199+ Works 6,927 Members
Jean Giono was born in France on March 30, 1985. He was an author about whom Germaine Bree and M. Guiton have written, "When Giono's first novel, Colline (Hill of Destiny) appeared in 1929, it struck a fresh, new note. . . . After Proust and Gide, Duhamel and Romains, Cocteau and Giraudoux, what could be more restful than a world of wind and sun show more and simple men who apparently had never heard of psychological analysis, never confronted any social problems, never read any books. . ." (An Age of Fiction). Raised by his shoemaker father in a small town in the south of France, Giono's fiction has its roots in the peasant life of Provence. Horrified by his experiences in World War I, Giono returned to the world of his youth, which became the world of his imagination. After the shock of World War II, his novels seemed to gain in stature. One of his best is Horseman on the Roof (1951), his chronicle of the great cholera epidemic of 1838. Giono was honoured with the Prince Rainier of Monaco literary prize in 1953, awarded for his lifetime achievements, was elected to the Académie Goncourt in 1954, and became a member of the Conseil Littéraire of Monaco in 1963. Giono died of a heart attack in 1970. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Belongs to Publisher Series
Gallimard, Folio (330)
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Solitude de la pitié
- Original title
- Solitude de la pitié
- Original publication date
- 1932
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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- Members
- 71
- Popularity
- 440,769
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.25)
- Languages
- English, French, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 8
- ASINs
- 7
