Novel
Escal-Vigor
Georges Eekhoud · 1899
Synopsis
Smaragdis, a conservative island of the North. Count Henry de Kehlmark returns to settle in the castle of his ancestors, Escal-Vigor. Blandine, a local girl who has entered his service, becomes his mistress, then his friend when he falls in love with Guidon Govaertz, a young shepherd of eighteen whom his own family rejects. The two men live their love openly, with Blandine's support, and the village, which cannot bear it, gradually rumbles against the castle.
Context
The novel was published by the Mercure de France and was seized in bookshops in the summer of 1899. Its author was tried at the Bruges assizes for breaching the press law, and acquitted on 26 October 1900, supported by a petition signed by Zola, Gide, Mirbeau and Anatole France. The title, the name of the castle, is almost an anagram of Oscar Wilde. The historian Caroline Granier sees in it a utopia that sets the passion of two men against a morality founded on profit.
Who it is for
A short novel, in a rough and highly imagistic prose; the text is freely accessible on Gallica and was reissued in 2017.
Prizes and reception
One of the first modern novels devoted to love between men; translated into English as early as 1909 and again in 2025.
Sources for this page 4
The pages consulted to check this page.