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BOURGET, PAUL - La Geole

Title: La Geole
Description: Paris: Librairie Plon / Plon-Nourrit et Cie, 1923. L'Edition Originale. First Printing. Leather. Custom half blue morocco over blue silk boards (Bound by MacDonald for Charles Scribner's Sons), spine in six compartments separated by raised bands, gilt lettering in one compartment, fleur-de-lys tool in remainder, gilt borders on covers, t.e.g, fore-edge deckle, marbled endpapers, original wrappers bound-in. In French. "The storytelling of M. Paul Bourget's novels is always original; the twists and turns are happily arranged and the characters clearly drawn. Such rare qualities would suffice to ensure their success and their author could limit his ambition, sure that he would achieve his purpose, to entertain his readers. But the novelist of "The Disciple" and "The Stage" sets higher goals for himself. Each of his novels tends to a moral end, poses a problem. The one he studies in "The Prison" raises the agonizing question of the struggle of the individual against heredity. Can man free himself from the burden that his ancestors place on him? Mr. Paul Bourget does not hesitate to assert that every individual must try to do so, and that there is always for him, in this struggle, the possibilities of victory, the duty which, following tragic events, imposed on his hero, Jean-Marie Via Lily. A whole atavistic past places the latter at the mercy of impulses that can automatically trigger the act of suicide. His mother, on the advice of a doctor, concealed this heavy inheritance from him and spared him too strong emotions. She even went so far as to hide from him the betrayal of his wife, whom he loves blindly. But the tragedy, despite everything, breaks out, and Jean-Marie Vialis, faced with the ruin of his happiness, arms his revolver. He would kill himself, as his father had done, if his mother, in a desperate impulse, did not reveal to him the reasons for his silence and the weakness she had for the hidden life of the unfaithful wife. She shows him new duties, reasons for living. She teaches her regenerated son to know how to suffer and to make sense of his pain. The dramatic power of this novel and the mastery with which the characters are drawn further increase the interest in the problems it raises and give more force to the very lofty lessons it offers us." (Le Figaro, March 31, 1923) (Google Translate)). Slight scuffs along edges, some underlining in pencil throughout, very brief gift inscription in pencil on first preliminary page (Xmas 1923), else fine; otherwise unmarked, tight, square, and clean. VERY GOOD. 12mo 7" - 7½" tall. 309, (1) pp. Very Good with No dust jacket as issued .

Keywords: Fine Binding; Literature; French Literature; Novels; Novels, Poetry & Literature Fiction Rare, Antiquarian, and Collectible Books

Price: US$ 120.00 Seller: Round Table Books, LLC
- Book number: 27974

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