The sleeping waters

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The river La Durance in Provence

The sleeping waters (original title: L'Enfant et la rivière ) is a development novel by the French writer Henri Bosco, first published in 1945 . It is one of the classics of French children's and youth literature .

action

Action structure

In five chapters, the novel tells the development of a friendship between the protagonist Pascalet and the gypsy boy Gotzo. The setting is the La Durance river in Provence and one of its islands .

Embedded in a framework narrative based on the adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn , a dream-like plot unfolds in which the friendship of the two boys and their abrupt end is described. Only after a catharic purification through a play of mysteries can the friendship continue.

As part of his narrative, Bosco uses a number of symbols , including the river and the water, the garden and a donkey. He also indirectly refers to a number of (children's) books, e. B. the adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn ( see above ), La gloire de mon père , Robinson Crusoe , Sleeping Beauty , Snow White , Oliver Twist , The Selfish Giant , and Princess Brambilla .

Course of action

action

Little Pascalet lives in the country with his parents and aunt Martine. Occasionally they are visited by the poacher Bargabot, who brings them a fish. When his parents travel for some time, Pascalet sets out to explore the river that is right next to the house and which he is otherwise forbidden to visit. During his explorations, he discovers an island that appears to be inhabited, as billows of smoke can be seen. When he finds an abandoned boat during a further investigation, he crosses over to the island. Here he discovers a little gypsy boy lying on the ground tied up by gypsies. After he frees the boy Gatzo, they both flee. You drive through the thicket of several overgrown canals and finally find shelter in a bay. Here they play. It's calm and peaceful. When they are about to get bored, they invent a monster that seems dangerous to them. In fact, the little girl Hyacinthe appears on a donkey and takes the gypsy boy Gotzo away with her. Left alone and sad, Pascalet stays behind and goes in search of his friend. When he returns to his home village, he finds that it is completely deserted: the entire village community has gathered for a puppet show. Your gaze is directed to an elm tree, in the background the ringing of a church bell can be heard. Pascalet followed the performance unnoticed by the village population.

Story in story

When the curtain goes up, the voice of an old man can be heard, telling you the story of a gardener from whose garden a beggar steals a peach. This turns out to be the "Holy Théotime", a mendicant monk. As punishment, a witch appears with a poisoned apple that she hands to the gardener's son. The boy who loses his memory now lives with the gypsies and steals himself to feed himself.

When another beggar appears in the gardener's garden, the gardener offers him a peach in memory of the event. However, the beggar rejects it, pointing out that someone else might want to eat it. When the gypsies send the little boy into the garden to steal fruit again, he finds the magic peach and bites into it. He then recognizes his parents, who in turn recognize their lost son. After the story has been told, the curtain falls.

Progress of the main story

Seized by history, the entire village breaks out in sobs. Hyacinthe is also in the audience. When the old storyteller is asked to identify himself, an old man with a white beard appears. Pointing out that he has told his own story and lost his own son, he asks the audience for a donation. At this moment the crying of the little Gotzo can be heard, who himself sat in the tree and from there followed the story. When he reveals himself, the entire village moves back into the village, relieved by the end of the story, beating the tambourine. Pascalet remains in the background unnoticed until Bargabot discovers him.

Pascalet flees and hides in his boat, where he finally falls asleep. When he wakes up the next morning, Bargabot is sitting next to him and offers him a coffee so that he can wake up faster. After another night outdoors, they both return home the following day. When the parents return from their trip, Aunt Martine does not reveal anything about the incident. She only notices that Pascalet sleeps badly and reads too many books. Pascalet falls into a deep melancholy because his friend Gatzo has disappeared from then on. After a few months have passed, Pascalet has another dream. When he wakes up from it, he hears the window scratching. Gatzo stands in front of it and leads Pascalet to a well. There he tells him that the storyteller Grandfather Savinien has died. Pascalet takes his hand and at that moment Aunt Martine opens the shutters. She asks who Pascalet is talking to and he lets Gatzo into the house. Aunt Martine decides to wash Gatzo and ask the parents if they want to take him in. After the parents do not object, both boys become brothers.

expenditure

French editions (selection)

  • Henri Bosco, Henri Gougaud: L'enfant et la riviere . Gallimard, Paris: 2001 ISBN 2-07-052917-7
  • Henri Bosco: L'enfant et la rivière . Edited edition by Chatherine Bernot. Ernst Klett, Stuttgart: 1999 ISBN 3-12-591170-2

German editions (selection)

  • The sleeping waters . Free Spiritual Life, 1999, ISBN 3-7725-2018-9
  • The sleeping waters . Translated by Renate Nickel, Wolfgang Stammler. Silberburg / Fleischhauer and Spohn, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 978-3-87230-111-6

Secondary literature (selection)

  • Baptiste Vincat: Un voyage intérieur: l'enfant face à la nature dans le cycle de Pascalet . In: Henri Bosco: Rêver l'enfance . Cahiers Robinson, n ° 4, Arras 1998, p. 135-145.
  • Robert Baudry: Le sommeil, porte d'un autre monde chez Henri Bosco . In: Henri Bosco: Mystère et spiritualité . J. Corti, 1987, p. 69-86.
  • Robert Baudry: Les signes symboliques (dates, noms, figures) dans l'art de Henri Bosco . In: L'art de Henri Bosco . Actes du II e colloque international Henri Bosco, J. Corti, Paris 1981, p. 54-84.
  • Andrée David: Le Même et l'Autre: jeux de miroirs dans L'Enfant et la rivière d'Henri Bosco . In: Cahiers Henri Bosco , n ° 30/31, 1990/91, p. 223-245.
  • Danielle Duboir-Marcoin: L'Enfant et la rivière, en cours moyen . In: Henri Bosco: Rêver l'enfance . Cahiers Robinson, n ° 4, Arras 1998, p. 207-220.
  • Pierre Verdaguer: Henri Bosco et l ' utopie méridionaliste . In: The French Review , Vol. 74, No. 1, Oct. 2000
  • A. Wertheimer: En quête du paradis terrestre . In: Cahiers du Sud , n ° 294, 1949, p. 261-284

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Symbol of life and soul
  2. ↑ Reference to Paradise
  3. ↑ see Entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem , but also symbol of the Gentile (see, for example, Herder Lexicon. Symbols . Herder, Freiburg: 1980)
  4. ↑ note the homonyms : French : «la pêche» (the peach), «aller à la pêche» (to fish) and the similarity with «le péché» (the sin)