Letters from my mill

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Moulin Alphonse Daudet (originally Moulin Ribet or Moulin Saint Pierre ) south of Fontvieille

Letters from my mill (French Lettres de mon Moulin ) is a collection of stories by the French writer Alphonse Daudet (1840–1897), which was first published in book form in 1869.

History of origin

The first twelve letters appeared from August to November 1866 in the newspaper L'Evénement ; further stories followed from October 1868 to October 1869 in Le Figaro . The first book edition with some changes was published by Hetzel-Verlag at the end of 1869. Another six stories were included in the final edition of 1879.

Some of the letters were written in collaboration with Paul Arène . The journalist and author Octave Mirbeau accused Daudet of plagiarism because of this , but Arène himself rejected all allegations and doubts about Daudet's authorship: “Your mill! because the mill belongs to you, undisputed, and even if we drew up the sales contract together [...]. ”The first letters appeared under the pseudonym “ Marie-Gaston ”(Gaston for Paul Arène), Daudet only signed from the sixth letter with his name.

content

Alphonse Daudet (1865)

At the beginning of the book, Daudet describes his move into the wind and grain mill in the Rhone Valley, which has been abandoned for more than twenty years, “in the heart of Provence”. From there he directs his letters to readers in “noisy, black” Paris. Three stories take place in Algeria , where Daudet spent the winter of 1861/62. In two letters he processed the impressions and memories of his stay in Corsica the following year; the setting for the rest of the stories is Provence . Daudet describes cheerful, ironic everyday occurrences (The Old Ones) , Provençal teasers (The Elixir of the Reverend Father Gaucher) , stories in the style of folk tales (Mr. Seguin's goat) , but also tragic events such as the sinking of the frigate Sémillante .

  • Explanation (Avant-propos)
  • Moving in (installation)
  • The Beaucaire stagecoach (La Diligence de Beaucaire)
  • Master Cornille's Secret (Le Secret de maître Cornille)
  • Mr Seguin's goat (La Chèvre de monsieur Seguin)
  • The stars (Les Étoiles)
  • The Arlesian (L'Arlésienne)
  • The Pope's mule (La Mule du pape)
  • The Sanguinaires Islands lighthouse (Le Phare des Sanguinaires)
  • The agony of the "Sémillante" (L'Agonie de la "Sémillante")
  • The customs officers (Les Douaniers)
  • The pastor of Cucugnan (Le Curé de Cucugnan)
  • The ancients (Les Vieux)
  • Ballads in Prose (Ballades en Prose)
I. The death of the Crown Prince (La Mort du Dauphin)
II. The district administrator in the countryside (Le Sous-Préfet aux champs)
  • Bixious wallet (Le Portefeuille de Bixiou)
  • The legend of the man with the golden brain (La Légende de l'Homme à la Cervelle d'or)
  • The poet Mistral (Le Poète Mistral)
  • The three silent masses (Les trois Messes basses)
  • The oranges (Les Oranges)
  • The two inns (Les deux Auberges)
  • In Miliana (A Milianah)
  • The locusts (Les Sauterelles)
  • The Elixir of the Venerable Father Gaucher (L'Élixir du Révérend Père Gaucher)
  • In the Camargue (En Camargue)
I. The departure (Le Départ)
II. The hut (La Cabane)
III. On the decency (A L'Espère)
VI. The red and the white (Le Rouge et le Blanc)
V. Vaccarès Lake (Le Vaccarès)
  • Homesickness for the barracks (Nostalgies de Caserne)

background

  • On a hill south of Fontvieille is the mill (or its reconstruction ) built in 1814 , which Daudet inspired and modeled on. He described it as a "ruin, [...] a decaying wreck made of stones, iron and old boards that hadn't been put under the wind for years." Today it bears the name of the writer and houses a small museum.
  • The purchase and move-in described in the letters are fictitious. Alphonse Daudet - contrary to the legend - never lived in the mill and was never the owner. The native of Provençale wrote the letters in Clamart and Paris.
  • Daudet developed a stage version of the story Die Arlesierin ; the first performance of the play in 1872 was a failure. Georges Bizet wrote the music for the stage , which he then orchestrated for L'Arlésienne - Suite No. 1 for large orchestra.
  • In 1954 the French-language film Lettres de mon moulin was made under the direction of Marcel Pagnol , who also wrote the screenplay for it. The three silent masses , The Elixir of the Revered Father Gaucher and Master Cornille's Secret were filmed .

literature

  • Alphonse Daudet: Letters from my mill . Reclam-Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-15-003227-X .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alphonse Daudet: Letters from my mill . 1999, p. 195 .