Tartarin of Tarascon

A short and very amusing little novel (88p). Our hero, Tartarin, is a Quixote-like character, his imagination fired by adventure stories and his accumulation of weapons. But while he finds life in provincial southern France dull - at local hunting trips the men are reduced to throwing their caps in the air and shooting at them due to a paucity of wildlife - Tartarin also has a luxury-loving Sancho Panza side to his character, and consequently has never had a real adventure.
"Quixote-Tartarin firing up on the stories of Gustave Aimard and shouting "Up and at 'em!" and Sancho-Tartarin thinking only of the rheumatics ahead and murmuring "I mean to stay at home."
But after an encounter with a lion in a local menagerie, the rumour goes about show more that Tartarin is off to hunt lions in Algeria, and reluctantly he has to make the journey...
His adventures in Africa are highly entertaining and comical featuring a Moorish lady-of-the-night, a camel, a not-to-be-trusted Montenegrin prince ... and even a lion.
Great translation renders the original in convincing Victorian English. show less

10/10

This undoubtedly reflects a nostalgia rating -- but for all of that it has stood the test of time rather well.

I was put back on this magical mystery tour by a chance remark of Fionnuala's in her 2019 year-in-review comments: that a tartarin is both a braggart, and a finely woven cloth. Both connected in my mind with the indefatigable Tartarin de Tarascon, who, braggart though he was, took us all on a (finely-woven) magic carpet ride, in the year when we were 10 or 11.

Other than the fact that 39 children (yes, class sizes were that big, back then, and more) probably didn't understand half of the nuances and jokes that were delivered, we were all completely mesmerized by the adventure, the journey and the delivery. You couldn't show more hear a pin drop, in that classroom, for a half hour every afternoon, as M. Dufault became Tartarin for us.

I would suggest that never had we heard, in our little hamlet, stories that were so rich, wherein the words and descriptions were swimming with such meaning and taste one could almost eat them with a spoon.

Enfin, devant le guéridon, un homme était assis, de quarante à quarante-cinq ans, petit, gros, trapu, rougeaud, en bras de chemise, avec des caleçons de flanelle, une forte barbe courte et des yeux flamboyants, d'une main il tenait un livre, de l'autre il brandissait une énorme pipe à couvercle de fer, et, tout en lisant je ne sais quel formidable récit de chasseurs de chevelures, il faisait, en avançant sa lèvre inférieure, une moue terrible, qui donnait à sa brave figure de petit rentier tarasconnais ce même caractère de férocité bonasse qui régnait dans toute la maison. Cet homme, c'était Tartarin, Tartarin de Tarascon, l'intrépide, le grand, l'incomparable Tartarin de Tarascon.

This was the first of many stories that M. Dufault would read to us, through the full of one scholastic year: alternating between French and English novels, we explored the furthest horizons of the imagination. More than most, Daudet remained in our hearts and engendered in us a desire to immerse ourselves in books -- to explore every corner of where these magical pages would take us.

More than half of that class of schoolmates became teachers: professors, instructors, lecturers, in various levels of schools, from elementary to university. They didn't all specialize in literature, of course, but they certainly brought their flare for the dramatic into their students' lives.

Daudet's rich imaginings, his deliberate exaggeration of the mundane and trivial; his colourful, exotic, incandescent descriptions of bird, beast and man, all gave us the breath to pursue our dreams.

Daudet was a much troubled soul; and no doubt, some of his literature would not gain an audience in today's more culturally sensitive world. (Thank goodness humankind does have the capacity to evolve in a positive way, from time to time.) But for all of that, I don't care, because I can distinguish between what was and what is; and I can distinguish between the spirit of adventure, and the cold heart facts of a cruel society.

He will always remain both Quichotte and Pansa for me -- the best of both worlds -- as I suspect he has remained for the other 38 that listened with me, in those old school days. Merci, M. Dufault, wherever you are. show less

Tartarin is the prefiguration of a Mediterranian type, being rather economical with the truth. He could be Quijote and Sancho in one person.

Le charme de la Provence, le soleil de la Provence, la gaieté de la Provence, toutes ces qualités se retrouvent dans ce plaisant chef d'oeuvre avec la douceur de vivre qui pouvait exister au siècle passé dans une petite ville du Midi. Douceur de vivre que savoure Tartarin mais qui pèse un peu à ce bourgeois épris d'héroïsme. De là, son goût de la vantardise qui finira par le lancer - pas trop rassuré - dans sa rocambolesque épopée africaine. Il y déploiera l'énergie et la persévérance qui feront de lui un héros, un héros attendrissant et un peu comique, mais un héros tout de même.

Ongelofelijk vermakelijk, zeer vertellende stijl vol ironie; ondertoon van kritiek op het burgermannetje. Typerende overdrijvingen, in lijn van Rabelais.
Verdediging zuiderse mentaliteit.

Romanzo del XIX secolo in lingua originale. Presentazione di Jacques-Henry Bornecque

Adaptado para niños - Versión abrebviada