My Father's Glory by Marcel Pagnol (Book Analysis) E-Book

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• Kategorie: Bildung
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• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 25

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Unlock the more straightforward side of My Father’s Glory with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!

This engaging summary presents an analysis of My Father’s Glory by Marcel Pagnol, an autobiographical tale which describes a summer the author spent in the Provençal countryside with his family. Due to his mother’s poor health, her husband and brother-in-law decide to take the whole family to a rural villa for the summer. There, 8-year-old Marcel learns much about life and nature, and even a little about hunting. My Father’s Glory is the first book in the Souvenirs d’enfance quadrilogy, a very successful series of books which focus on Pagnol’s memories of his childhood and are now regarded as classics of French literature. However, the author is famous not only for his novels, but also for his plays and films. He was the first filmmaker to be elected to the Académie française, and is widely considered to be one of France’s finest 20th century writers. 

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• A complete plot summary
• Character studies
• Key themes and symbols
• Questions for further reflection

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Leseprobe

Marcel Pagnol

French writer, dramatist and director

Born in Aubagne (France) in 1895.Died in Paris in 1974.Notable works:Marius (1929), playMy Father’s Glory (1957), novelMy Mother’s Castle (1957), novel

Marcel Pagnol was born in Aubagne in 1895. His father was a teacher and his mother was a seamstress. He studied English at Aix-Marseille University and then decided to follow in his father’s footsteps by becoming a teacher.

He was very successful in Paris thanks to his plays, which prominently feature the region where he grew up (the famous Marseillaise trilogy: Marius, 1929; Fanny, 1931; and César, 1936). He was also interested in cinema and directed more than 20 films (including Heartbeat, 1938).

In 1946, he was elected to the Académie française. He began his career as a novelist in 1957 with his Souvenirs d’enfance (“Childhood Memories”) series and The Water of the Hills in 1963. The Water of the Hills is the collective name for two of his most famous books: Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring.

My Father’s Glory

Regionalism and orality

Genre: novelReference edition: Pagnol, M. (1986) My Father’s Glory and My Mother’s Castle. Trans. Barisse, R. California: North Point Press.1st edition: 1957Themes: memory, Provence, childhood, family, hunting

My Father’s Glory is the first book of the Souvenirs d’enfance series. It was published in 1957 together with the second book in the series, My Mother’s Castle. These books were then followed with Le Temps des secrets ("The Time of Secrets", 1960) and Le Temps des amours ("The Time of Love", an unfinished work published posthumously in 1977). Pagnol began to write in prose for the very first time, and explained this decision in the book’s preface. He distinguishes this type of writing from the theatrical writing that he had practiced for a long time.

My Father’s Glory is an autobiographical book: it is 62-year-old Marcel Pagnol himself who is writing down these memories from his childhood, which he dedicates “to the memory of those I loved” (p. 5). He brings up distant childhood memories, with the book being more a collection of minor events than novel with a real plot.

Summary

Marcel’s childhood

“I was born in the town of Aubagne, beneath the goat-crowned Garlaban, in the days of the last goat-herds” (p. 15), Marcel tells us. He lives in this little town for more than three years, but he has only a few memories of it, foremost among them his father’s boules games.