Henri Alain-Fournier – författare

The Lost Estate is Robin Buss's translation of Henri Alain-Fournier's poignant study of lost love, Le Grand Meaulnes.'I read it for the first time when I was seventeen and loved every page. I find its depiction of a golden time and place just as poignant now as I did then' Nick Hornby When Meaulnes first arrives at the local school in Sologne, everyone is captivated by his good looks, daring and charisma. But when Meaulnes disappears for several days, and returns with tales of a strange party at a mysterious house - and his love for the beautiful girl hidden within it, Yvonne de Galais - his life has been changed forever. In his restless search for his Lost Estate and the happiness he found there, Meaulnes, observed by his loyal friend Francois, may risk losing everything he ever had. Poised between youthful admiration and adult resignation, Alain-Fournier's compelling narrator carries the reader through this evocative and unbearably poignant portrayal of desperate friendship and vanished adolescence. Robin Buss's translation of Le Grand Meaulnes sensitively and accurately renders Alain-Fournier's poetically charged, expressive and deceptively simple style. In his introduction, New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik discusses the life of Alain-Fournier, who was killed in the First World War after writing this, his only novel.If you liked Le Grand Meaulnes, you might enjoy Gustave Flaubert's Sentimental Education, also available in Penguin Classics.

En vinternatt råkar Meaulnes, en romantisk hjältegestalt, hamna i ett gammalt slott, och berättelsen kretsar kring hans drömlika upplevelser där. Han blir indragen i en maskerad på slottet, och minnet av den magiska natten stannar för alltid kvar inom honom och sätter sin prägel på resten av hans liv. "Det underbara äventyret" är en roman om den första omvälvande kärleken. Det är en berättelse med en säregen stämning, en blandning av mystik och saklighet. Alain-Fournier (1886–1914) stupade på Västfronten året efter bokens publicering, och hans berömmelse bygger på detta enda verk, en psykologisk roman med starka inslag av både saga och realistisk berättelse. Baksidestext: ”Det underbara äventyret” av Henri Alain-Fournier är en roman om den första omvälvande kärleken. Det är en berättelse med en säregen stämning, en blandning av mystik och saklighet. Den förmedlar ett intryck av att det i människorna och naturen finns krafter som gör livet till en äventyr. Henri Alain-Fournier (1886-1914) hann endast fullborda denna enda roman under sin korta levnad. Den publicerades 1913, året innan han stupade på Västfronten. Med ”Det underbara äventyret” har han fått en plats i litteraturhistorien som författaren till en av de mest älskade och lästa franska 1900-tals romanerna.

'I read it for the first time when I was seventeen and loved every page. I find its depiction of a golden time and place just as poignant now as I did then' Nick HornbyThe Lost Estate is Robin Buss's translation of Henri Alain-Fournier's poignant study of lost love, Le Grand Meaulnes.When Meaulnes first arrives at the local school in Sologne, everyone is captivated by his good looks, daring and charisma. But when Meaulnes disappears for several days, and returns with tales of a strange party at a mysterious house - and his love for the beautiful girl hidden within it, Yvonne de Galais - his life has been changed forever. In his restless search for his Lost Estate and the happiness he found there, Meaulnes, observed by his loyal friend Francois, may risk losing everything he ever had. Poised between youthful admiration and adult resignation, Alain-Fournier's compelling narrator carries the reader through this evocative and unbearably poignant portrayal of desperate friendship and vanished adolescence. Robin Buss's translation of Le Grand Meaulnes sensitively and accurately renders Alain-Fournier's poetically charged, expressive and deceptively simple style. In his introduction, New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik discusses the life of Alain-Fournier, who was killed in the First World War after writing this, his only novel.If you liked Le Grand Meaulnes, you might enjoy Gustave Flaubert's Sentimental Education, also available in Penguin Classics.

Das beschauliche Leben des fünfzehnjährigen François Seurel ändert sich für immer, als ein neuer Schüler in die Provinzschule seines Vaters kommt. Augustin Meaulnes, von den Mitschülern nur »der große Meaulnes« genannt, ist ein schweigsamer, stolzer Junge und wird sein bester Freund. Eines Tages verschwindet Meaulnes für drei Tage und kehrt verwirrt, übermüdet und doch wie verzaubert zurück. Er habe sich in einem Wald verirrt, sagt er, sei in ein seltsames Maskenfest auf einem verwunschenen Schloss geraten. Von der Begegnung mit einem wunderschönen Mädchen ist die Rede und von einer Kahnfahrt auf einem winterlichen See … François weiß zunächst nicht, ob er den Worten seines Freundes glauben soll. Doch unter seiner Jacke trägt Meaulnes eine prunkvolle Seidenweste, und bald schon richtet sich das ganze Streben der beiden Freunde – »Schwärmer, Schlafwandler zwischen Traum und Wachen, enthusiastisch gebannt von den Reizen einer inneren Welt voller Schönheit und Liebe« (Ludwig Harig) – darauf, das »verlorene Land«, wiederzufinden, das auf keiner Karte verzeichnet ist.

Le Grand Meaulnes est un roman d''Alain-Fournier publié en 1913. Le roman est l''œuvre littéraire française la plus traduite et lue dans le monde juste après Le Petit Prince. Il totalisait à la fin du XXe siècle plus de quatre millions d''exemplaires vendus en format de poche.