Alain-Fournier – författare

'I am looking for something still more mysterious: for the path you read about in books, the old lane choked with undergrowth whose entrance the weary prince could not discover.'The Lost Domain (1913) is an adventure story as well as a lyrical homage to life in pre-war rural France. One of France's best-loved and most read novels of all time, it is a tale of growing up, friendship, love, and loss, threaded through with traits of romance, fantasy, and make-believe. François Seurel, the son of a schoolteacher, recounts events of his adolescence that revolve around his friend Augustin Meaulnes, a bold dreamer who stumbles into an elaborate fête at a mysterious 'lost domain', falls in love, yet seems destined never again to find the bewitching location nor his beloved. Much of the narrative circles round the question of whether the past can ever be revived. The simple pleasures and sensory delights of rural childhood, the exhilarations and disappointments of youthful discoveries, and the poignant confrontation of dream and reality are combined in prose that modulates between face-paced and poetic. At just twenty-seven years old, Alain-Fournier died in action in 1914, the year after the publication of The Lost Domain, which remains a nostalgic portrait of the France that was shattered by the First World War. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

The arrival of Augustin Meaulnes at a small provincial secondary school sets in train a series of events that will have a profound effect on his life, and that of his new friend François Seurel. It is Seurel who recalls the impact of le grand Meaulnes, disruptive and charismatic, on his schoolmates, and the encounter that is to haunt them both. Lost, and alone, Meaulnes stumbles upon an isolated house, mysterious revels, and a beautiful girl. When he returns to Seurel it is with the fixed determination to find the house again, and the girl with whom he has fallen in love. But the dreamlike days in the lost domain are evanescent, and Meaulnes is torn between his love and competing claims of loyalty and friendship. Alain-Fournier''s lyrical novel captures the painful transition from adolescence to adulthood without sentimentality, and with heart-wrenching yearning. Romantic and fantastical, it is the story''s ultimate truthfulness about human experience that has captivated readers for a hundred years. In her Introduction to this centenary edition, Hermione Lee considers the qualities that have established its reputation.

The arrival of Augustin Meaulnes at a small provincial secondary school sets in train a series of events that will have a profound effect on his life, and that of his new friend François Seurel. It is Seurel who recalls the impact of le grand Meaulnes, disruptive and charismatic, on his schoolmates, and the encounter that is to haunt them both. Lost, and alone, Meaulnes stumbles upon an isolated house, mysterious revels, and a beautiful girl. When he returns to Seurel it is with the fixed determination to find the house again, and the girl with whom he has fallen in love. But the dreamlike days in the lost domain are evanescent, and Meaulnes is torn between his love and competing claims of loyalty and friendship. Alain-Fournier''s lyrical novel captures the painful transition from adolescence to adulthood without sentimentality, and with heart-wrenching yearning. Romantic and fantastical, it is the story''s ultimate truthfulness about human experience that has captivated readers for a hundred years. In her Introduction to this centenary edition, Hermione Lee considers the qualities that have established its reputation.

'I am looking for something still more mysterious: for the path you read about in books, the old lane choked with undergrowth whose entrance the weary prince could not discover.'The Lost Domain (1913) is an adventure story as well as a lyrical homage to life in pre-war rural France. One of France's best-loved and most read novels of all time, it is a tale of growing up, friendship, love, and loss, threaded through with traits of romance, fantasy, and make-believe. FranAois Seurel, the son of a schoolteacher, recounts events of his adolescence that revolve around his friend Augustin Meaulnes, a bold dreamer who stumbles into an elaborate fA te at a mysterious 'lost domain', falls in love, yet seems destined never again to find the bewitching location nor his beloved. Much of the narrative circles round the question of whether the past can ever be revived. The simple pleasures and sensory delights of rural childhood, the exhilarations and disappointments of youthful discoveries, and the poignant confrontation of dream and reality are combined in prose that modulates between face-paced and poetic. At just twenty-seven years old, Alain-Fournier died in action in 1914, the year after the publication of The Lost Domain, which remains a nostalgic portrait of the France that was shattered by the First World War. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

'I am looking for something still more mysterious: for the path you read about in books, the old lane choked with undergrowth whose entrance the weary prince could not discover.'The Lost Domain (1913) is an adventure story as well as a lyrical homage to life in pre-war rural France. One of France's best-loved and most read novels of all time, it is a tale of growing up, friendship, love, and loss, threaded through with traits of romance, fantasy, and make-believe. FranAois Seurel, the son of a schoolteacher, recounts events of his adolescence that revolve around his friend Augustin Meaulnes, a bold dreamer who stumbles into an elaborate fA te at a mysterious 'lost domain', falls in love, yet seems destined never again to find the bewitching location nor his beloved. Much of the narrative circles round the question of whether the past can ever be revived. The simple pleasures and sensory delights of rural childhood, the exhilarations and disappointments of youthful discoveries, and the poignant confrontation of dream and reality are combined in prose that modulates between face-paced and poetic. At just twenty-seven years old, Alain-Fournier died in action in 1914, the year after the publication of The Lost Domain, which remains a nostalgic portrait of the France that was shattered by the First World War. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.