Isabelle (André Gide)
Isabelle is a short story by André Gide that - written in mid-1910 - was published in 1911 under the same title in the Éditions Gallimard / Paris.
The 25-year-old Gérard Lacase from the Sorbonne is doing his doctorate on the life of Bossuet in the 1890s . During his twelve days of literary studies in the remote, country estate-like castle of Quartfourche, near Pont-l'Évêque , he falls in love with the portrait of Mademoiselle Isabelle de Saint-Auréol. The Parisian man of letters is finally sobered up by reality.
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In addition to his research work in the castle library, the inquisitive Gérard is also interested in the people living on Quartfourche. The property is owned by the impoverished old Saint-Auréols - the baron and the baroness. Fortunately for the noble couple, the wealthy bookworm Monsieur Floche still lives in the castle with his wife. Madame Floche is the Baroness' younger sister. Casimir, a disabled child and grandson of the Saint-Auréols, puzzles Gérard. Over time, however, the mosaic comes together: Isabelle, the daughter of the Saint-Auréols, loved the Vicomte Blaise de Gonfreville from the neighborhood. Gérard finds a letter that says Isabelle wanted to run away with her lover. Nothing came of the escape. The viscount was killed in a hunting accident shortly before the date of his escape.
Gérard almost overslept the first encounter with Isabelle, who actually exists, and “experiences” the nocturnal event from a listening position; watches through a crack in the door as Isabelle asks her aunt and mother for money. The harsh word is spoken of the “ungrateful, degenerate daughter”. Gérard experiences a greedy Isabelle.
When Gérard visits Quartfourche again from Paris the following year, the Floche couple and the baron died. The baroness is paralyzed. Isabelle has put Quartfourche up for sale. The park trees fall victim to the ax. The property is encumbered with mortgages. Isabelle sleeps with the representative of the creditors. The woman tells Gérard the whole truth. Isabelle's lover, the Viscount, did not perish in a hunting accident, but was shot at Isabelle's behest by Gratien, a servant loyal to the Saint-Auréols. Isabelle insists that the whole thing was a misunderstanding. Isabelle would only have wanted the escape, which she suddenly felt no longer up to, would have been prevented. It turned out after the Viscount's death that Isabelle was pregnant. Later she gives birth to Casimir.
When asked by Gérard about her future plans, Isabelle gives answers from which the questioner recognizes that he had “fallen in love with a dream”. Months later, Isabelle is abandoned by the believer and runs away with a coachman; lets the son down. Casimir is staying with the Gratien family. Gérard buys Quartfourche at auction, marries in the neighborhood and ensures Gratien and Casimir a modest livelihood.
Sottie
Gérard only researches and reports on what has happened. Things already happened when he arrived at Quartfourche. This would-be writer appears to the reader as a first-person narrator , but he only reports the events at the castle to Francis Jammes , who later puts them on paper. Gérard Lacase's image appears ambivalent. The highly educated, skilful Parisian scholar suddenly behaves extremely silly when the second half of the text finally turns to Isabelle. Gide calls his story a sottie : Gérard sincerely asks the reader for indulgence, because he “didn't know love yet”. The fool, in love with a portrait, strolls through the park and calls Isabelle by her name! At this point, Isabelle is still a phantom to both the lover and the reader. At the end of the story, Gérard is completely disillusioned by Isabelle's appearance.
Self-testimony
- Diary of May 8, 1911: Gide writes that he worked in Bruges in the Verbeke u. a. checked the flags for "Isabelle".
reception
- In his Gide biography, Martin sees stories like "Isabelle" as preparatory exercises for the great novels that were written afterwards, the story of which is always developed "abstractly on a line". In addition, Martin thinks that Gide “cleaned debris” from all of his stories.
- In his epilogue, Lefebvre repeatedly refers to symbolic elements - e.g. B. to the Gidesche irony: Isabelle is called the chaste and Auréol is called the halo .
German editions
- source
- Raimund Theis (Ed.), Peter Schnyder (Ed.): André Gide: Isabelle . Translated from the French by Andrea Spingler. Collected works in twelve volumes. Volume VIII / 2, pp. 143-227. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt Stuttgart 1992. 511 pages, ISBN 3-421-06468-7
- German-language first edition
- André Gide: Isabelle. With 19 text illustrations by Rafaello Busoni. Translator: Fritz Donath. Spaeth Verlag Berlin 1926. 164 pages.
- expenditure
- André Gide: Isabelle. Translator: Maria Honeit. 156 pages. Fischer Library No. 137, Frankfurt 1956
- Peter Schnyder (Ed.): André Gide: Isabelle. Narrative. Translator: Andrea Spingler. 112 pages. dtv literature 13442, March 2006, ISBN 978-3-423-13442-2
- Secondary literature
- Claude Martin: André Gide . Translated from the French by Ingeborg Esterer. Rowohlt 1963 (July 1987 edition). 176 pages, ISBN 3-499-50089-2
- Hans Hinterhäuser (Ed.), Peter Schnyder (Ed.), Raimund Theis (Ed.): André Gide: Diary 1903–1922 . Translated from the French by Maria Schäfer-Rümelin. Collected works in twelve volumes. Volume II / 2. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt Stuttgart 1990. 813 pages, ISBN 3-421-06462-8
Web links
In French: The text in Gutenberg's : Isabelle
Individual evidence
- ^ Jean Lefebvre in the afterword of the source, p. 473
- ↑ Source, p. 6
- ↑ Jean Lefebvre in the afterword of the source, p. 474: The La Quartfourche castle is in Formentin .
- ^ Jean Lefebvre in the afterword of the source, p. 485, 7th Zvu
- ↑ Hinterhäuser, p. 256, 10th Zvu
- ↑ Martin, p. 115 below to p. 116 above
- ↑ Jean Lefebvre in the source, pp. 473 to 486