La Fortune de Gaspard
La Fortune de Gaspard (German: Gaspards Glück / Vermögen ) is a novel by the French writer Sophie de Ségur . It was written in 1866 and published by Hachette . It is the author's first literary work dealing with the industrial revolution in France . In the foreground is the enormous social rise of Gaspard Thomas. The work is "one of the most mysterious novels of the 19th century".
action
Gaspard and Lucas are two brothers who could hardly be more different. While Gaspard prefers to spend his time at school and with his books, Lucas prefers to work in the fields on his parents' farm and finds school lessons extremely boring. His résumé of attending school: “You are locked in a room for three hours, learn things you don't know, are scolded and beaten by the teacher.” Gaspard, on the other hand, does not like working on the farm at all, he would rather be a scholar later and Construct machines. His great role model is the industrialist Monsieur Féréor, who owns a large factory in the village. When asked by his father whether he seriously believes that he will one day earn as many millions as Féréor, Gaspard replies very confidently: “Why not? Since he deserves it, I can do it too. ” When his father once banned Gaspard from going to school because he needed it for field work, the son defies the instructions and goes to class anyway. For this he is badly mistreated by the father. After the father has realized that he has gone too far with his punishment, he now allows his son to attend school. When Gaspard reports the incident to the schoolmaster, the latter calls him a "martyr of science". Gaspard is top of the class and wins the school's top honors year after year.
When Gaspard was fourteen years old and once again won the best school awards, he was approached at the school festival by a German factory owner, Mr Fröhlichein, who lived in the neighboring town. He should come to him, begin an apprenticeship as a mechanic and become a foreman. Gaspard's father immediately declines because factory workers have a bad reputation for drinking and not going to church. Gaspard continues to attend school and a year later collects the highest school awards again. In addition to Mr. Fröhlichein, an employee of Monsieur Féréor also appears and tries to win Gaspard for his factory. Both outdo each other with salary offers. In the end, Monsieur Féréor visits the father personally on his farm, makes the son a very good offer and takes him with him.
Gaspard earned the trust of the factory owner, won his affection more and more and rose through his tireless diligence in his career. A new employee has an idea how to improve production and entrusts it to Gaspard. He improves it and presents the new invention to Monsieur Féréor. He is so excited about it that he suggests adopting Gaspard out of gratitude. Since Féréor has neither a wife nor children, Gaspard would be the only heir to his fortune. He has a new factory built to produce with the new process.
Suddenly Mr. Fröhlichein reappears. He offers Gaspard his daughter Mina for marriage on the grounds that he does not want the two factories to compete. When Gaspard declines with thanks, Mr. Fröhlichein threatens to ruin Monsieur Féréor's factory. Gaspard and his future adoptive father discover that an employee betrayed the invention to a competitor. After the formal adoption, Gaspard self-sacrificingly agrees to marry Mina, whom he has never seen before, in order to save the factory. Féréor advises against it, but Gaspard replies: “If she is ugly, we will not look at her, if she is stupid, we will not speak to her, if she is malicious and angry, we will put her aside and not care take care of them. ” As a reward, he receives five million francs from Féréor. The story has an unexpected ending.
filming
The novel La Fortune de Gaspard was made into a film by director Gérard Blain and shown on French television on May 3, 1993.
Web link
- Reading on Wikisource (French)
Individual evidence
- ^ Quotation from the French philosopher Marc Soriano sophiedesegur.pagesperso-orange.fr , accessed on July 13, 2020 (French)
- ↑ La Fortune de Gaspard (1993) imbd.com , accessed on July 13, 2020 (English)