The hussar on the roof (novel)

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The Hussar on the Roof is an adventure novel by Jean Giono published in French in 1951. It is part of the "Hussar Cycle", to which, according to the order in which they were written, the following novels belong:

  • (orig. Les Récits de la demi brigade )
  • Angelo Pardi (orig. Angelo ),
  • The Nonna (orig.Mort d'un personnage ),
  • The hussar on the roof (orig. Le Hussard sur le toit ),
  • Unbridled happiness (orig. Le Bonheur fou ).

However, The Hussar on the Roof represents the chronologically first novel in the series and was also published first.

The 1995 film of the same name based on the novel The Hussar on the Roof with Juliette Binoche in the female lead.

action

Giono tells the story of Angelo Pardi, a young aristocrat and colonel of the hussars who belongs to the Carbonari . Around 1832 he had to flee his homeland Piedmont after killing an Austrian officer in a duel. He crosses the Alps and reaches Provence , where a cholera epidemic has just broken out. In search of Giuseppe, a friend who also belonged to the Carbonari's childhood companions, he arrives in Manosque while cholera is raging there. Suspected and persecuted as a well poisoner, he takes refuge on the roofs of the city and from there explores the abandoned houses in search of food. By chance he meets Pauline de Théus for the first time , who receives him without fear of contamination.

After leaving the rooftops, a nun persuades him to help her clean up those who have died of cholera. Although he sees the task as completely pointless, he does it out of pride and in memory of a doctor who bravely stood up for the sick and who died of cholera in Angelo's presence.

To contain the epidemic, the city will be evacuated and the remaining residents will have to move to the neighboring hills. Angelo meets the wanted Giuseppe there, but cholera and persecution by political opponents force her to flee. They want to meet again in the mountains of the Drôme near Sainte-Colombe . However, the country is completely cordoned off from the army. At a barrier he meets Pauline de Théus again, who tries to travel to her husband near Gap (Hautes-Alpes) . Together they manage to break through the barrier. During the onward journey, the two get a little closer.

Eventually, however, they are caught by the military and quarantined in Vaumeilh . They escape the quarantine and travel on together. After an ambush and a night outside, they find an abandoned property with a wine cellar. Angelo talks about his mother, an Italian duchess and romantic with revolutionary ideas, and Pauline about her childhood and her husband forty years her senior, whom she genuinely loves.

The next day they believe they are close to their destination and safe from cholera, so they recklessly share their food with a well-read stranger. A few hours later, Pauline collapses and vomits. Angelo tries everything to save her from cholera and takes care of her all night. Miraculously, she survived the fever.

Despite their love for one another, they end up going their separate ways. After Angelo has accompanied Pauline to her husband, he sets off to do his job as a revolutionary.

literature

  • Anglard Véronique, Les romans de Giono , Seuil, Paris 1997