Novel
Astrea
L'Astrée
Honoré d'Urfé · 1607
Opening lines
Avpres de l'ancienne ville de Lyon, du coſté du Soleil couchãt, il y a vn pays nommé Foreſts, qui en ſa petiteſſe contient ce qui eſt de plus rare au reſte des Gaules : Car eſtant diuisé en plaines & en montagnes, les vnes & les autres ſõt ſi fertiles, & ſituées en vn air ſi tẽperé, que la terre y eſt capable de tout ce que peut deſirer le laboureur.
Near the ancient city of Lyon, towards the setting sun, there is a country called Forez, which in its smallness contains what is rarest in the rest of Gaul: for being divided into plains and mountains, both are so fertile, and set in so temperate an air, that the earth there can yield all that the husbandman may desire.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from archive.org
Synopsis
In fifth-century Gaul, in the country of Forez, on the banks of the Lignon, shepherds and shepherdesses live. At the beginning of the book, Astrée, who believes Céladon unfaithful, drives him away and forbids him to appear before her again. In despair, he throws himself into the Lignon; he is thought drowned, but nymphs, among them Galathée, take him in. Around their story, which this separation suspends, are embedded many love stories told to Astrée by shepherds and visitors.
Context
The first part appeared in 1607, the second in 1610, the third in 1619. The author died in 1625 without having completed the novel, which his secretary, Balthazar Baro, continued; the whole comprises sixty books and more than five thousand pages. The name of the shepherd, who wore green ribbons, was given to a shade of green and to porcelains of that colour, celadons. The critical edition directed by Delphine Denis from Honoré Champion gave the first part in 2011.
Who it is for
A very long novel, in seventeenth-century French, to be read part by part; there is also a comic-strip adaptation.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as one of the most influential works of French literature of its time, it left a lasting mark on European letters.
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