The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard

I acquired this gorgeous edition of the book having no idea what the story was about or who the author was. I couldn't help but start reading it and instantly fell in love with M. Bonnard and laughed out loud many times as he went on his adventures.

For me, the best part was his interactions and disbelief at seeing a fairy.

Although this story isn't a crime/mystery adventure as the title originally suggested to me, I was thoroughly entertained by this 19th century French literature told in diary form by an academic that just happens to love books more than life until he discovers something worth living for.

I enjoyed this a great deal. A reminder of the “genteel” times of the 19th century. While I wouldn't mistake it for life-changing literature, it was certainly a wonderful story, wonderfully told. I was particularly taken with the translation (by Lafcadio Hearn!)

The book is divided into two separate stories. The first is called "The Log" and the second "The Daughter of Clementine". Bonnard is the central character in both books, but it takes a little while to understand the other connections between the stories. Bonnard is an academic bibliophile who lives in an apartment in Paris surrounded by his books. He has never married. His closest companions are his cat Hamilcar and his world wise, but joyless housekeeper Therese.

In "The Log", Bonnard takes pity on a neighbouring young impoverishered couple and child and gives them wood to put on the fire for Christmas. This little act of kindness is repaid years later. The father dies and the widow remarries a rich aristocrat. A book, which Bonnard has show more long coverted, is given to him by Madame Trepof, his former neighbour, as a gratitude.

The next section of the book is entitled "The Daughter of Clementine". We learn more of Bonnard's background. In his youth he had fallen in love with Clementine, the daughter of one of his father's friends. The friendship between the father and friend broke down over a matter of politics, and Bonnard never saw Clementine again. She married a banker and they had a daughter Jeanne. Although once rich, Clementine and her husband die impoverished while Jeanne is still a child. By chance Bonnard meets Jeanne at the estate of the de Gabry's where he is to catalogue the library. Bonnard becomes determined to take an interest in the child and arranges to make regular visits to the school where she boards.

During these visits it becomes apparent that Jeanne is treated more as a servant than a pupil. Eventually Bonnard's vists are stopped after he rebuffs attempts by the Mme Prefere, the head of the school, to marry. He later learns that Jeanne is being treated badly and Bonnard rescues her from the school. However this is a crime because Jeanne is underage according to the laws of the time and he would be liable to be charged with abduction and corruption of a minor. Fortunately for Bonnard, Jeanne's legal guardian has suddenly left France after defrauding his clients, and no charges are laid.

Bonnard becomes her legal guardian and she lives with him in Paris. There she becomes reaquainted with a young man whom Bonnard was mentoring. Their love grows and they become betrothed. To give Jeanne a dowry, Bonnard decides to sell all his books, barring those given to him as souvenirs, including the book given to him by Madame Trepof as a mark of gratitude for his kindness when she was a new mother. However, while the rest of the household is asleep, he adds another rare volume to his already sequestered keepsakes, thus committing another "crime" by reducing the value of the dowry.

The book ends with the death of his young godson but with Jeanne and her husband still much in love and old Bonnard's wishes for God's blessings blessing upon them and their children and their children's children. show less

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2123/2123-h/2123-h.htm
This is a classic 19th century novel about a professor of archaeology who tries to do a good deed for his poor neighbor by sending her a Yule log for Christmas one year. Magically he receives the Yule log back again later on Christmas. But he finds that a part of the log has been hollowed out and inside is a manusccript entitled The Golden Legend, a rare work that he has been searching for years for unsuccessfully. His neighbor in the attic turns out to have been the Princess Trepof. This initial story is by way of prologue and the actual plot opens with Prof Bonnard cataloguing some ancient manuscripts for Mons. de Gabry at his chateau. In the pursuit of his work, he meets a winsome show more young girl named Jeanne who turns out to be the abandoned daughter of his first and only love. He and the girl become close friends and he eventually 'kidnaps' her, with her approval of course, so he can provide a home for her himself. This is his 'crime' and he would have been prosecuted except that the woman who has been acting as guardian for Jeanne absconds with all the money from the boarding school where she has been staying. Bonnard becomes her legal guardian, and after Jeanne marries, he retires to a cottage in the country to be near her and her children. It is a good, old, simple, sentimental story with a happy ending, which proves that not all French writers are as gloomy as Balzac. show less

marchbanks press
581/1500

http://www.anobii.com/forum_thread?topicId=3157660#new_thread Calendario: sett. 1: I parte sett. 2: II parte, cap. 1. - 2. - 3. sett. 3: III parte, cap. 4 fino a settembre-dicembre (escluso) sett. 4: cap. 4, da settembre-dicembre alla fine. In lettura epub in lingua inglese tratto dal Progetto Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2123

O crime de Sylvestre Bonnard' não é apenas um romance, mas dois, ligados pelo mesmo personagem, presente em ambos os textos - Sylvestre Bonnard, um acadêmico solitário, simpático, filólogo e pesquisador erudito. Com este livro, Anatole France começou a tornar-se famoso. O romance permaneceu por toda a sua vida - e mesmo depois dela - como sua obra de maior repercussão.