Novel
Angéline de Montbrun
Laure Conan · 1884
Opening lines
Chère Mina,
Je l'ai vue—j'ai vu ma Fleur des Champs, la fraîche fleur de Valriant,—et, crois-moi, la plus belle rose que le soleil ait jamais fait rougir ne mériterait pas de lui être comparée.
Dear Mina,
I have seen her, I have seen my Flower of the Fields, the fresh flower of Valriant, and believe me, the loveliest rose the sun ever made blush would not deserve to be compared with her.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from gutenberg.org
Synopsis
At Valriant, an isolated house facing the sea not far from Gaspé Bay, Angéline de Montbrun lives with her father Charles, whom she idolises. Maurice Darville, brother of her friend Mina, asks for her hand; her father consents, but not before his daughter turns twenty, and Maurice leaves to study in France. On his return, the happiness of the betrothed seems complete, when M. de Montbrun kills himself with his own gun on coming back from hunting. Broken with grief, Angéline falls one day in the street and is left disfigured.
Context
The text first appeared as a serial in La Revue canadienne, in Montreal, from June 1881 to August 1882, then in book form in Quebec in 1884, from Léger Brousseau, with a study by Abbé Casgrain. He wanted to reveal the author's identity there; she opposed this, and the passages were withdrawn. The form is double, letters then diary, with between the two a narrative in which a narrator tells what happened. Gilles Marcotte saw in it the first novel of interiority.
Who it is for
A short book in an elevated, devout language; the second half takes the form of a private diary.
Prizes and reception
The first psychological novel published in French Canada according to the Canadian Encyclopedia, and one of the first novels written by a woman.
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