Novel
Fermina Marquez
Fermina Márquez
Valery Larbaud · 1911
Synopsis
At the Collège Saint-Augustin, a Catholic boarding school near Paris where boys from many countries, chiefly Latin America, study, the arrival of a young Colombian girl, Fermina Márquez, accompanied by her aunt and her little sister, unsettles the older pupils. A few bold ones break the rules to approach her. Two rivals stand out: Santos Iturria, the school's champion, and Joanny Léniot, top of the class, who sets out to win her over with his intelligence.
Context
The novel first appeared in La Nouvelle Revue française, from March to June 1910, then in volume form from Fasquelle in 1911. The Collège Saint-Augustin is modelled on Sainte-Barbe-des-Champs, at Fontenay-aux-Roses, where the author was a boarder in the early 1890s. Put forward for the 1911 Prix Goncourt, the book did not win it. It is regarded as one of the first French novels devoted to adolescence, its rivalries and its first stirrings of feeling.
Who it is for
Twenty short chapters, about a hundred and fifty pages; a limpid prose that requires no preparation.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as a minor classic, the novel appeared in English in 1988 under the title Fermina Marquez, then in another version.
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