Novel
Stonecrop
Emberek a kövek között
Cécile Tormay · 1911
Opening lines
Megindult a lába alatt egy kő. Eleinte lassan gördült, aztán egyre sebesebben nyargalt le a láthatatlanba.
A stone began to move underfoot. At first it rolled slowly, then it raced ever faster down into the unseen.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from gutenberg.org
Synopsis
In the mountains of the Croatian Karst, a land of arid stone, scorched by the sun and battered by the bora, lives Jella, a wild young shepherdess raised by the heights. Driven out of her village, she finds refuge with a railway crossing keeper. At the nearby station arrives András Rez, a young Hungarian railwayman from the plains, and a passion is born between these two beings who have nothing in common.
Context
The novel appeared in Budapest in 1911, from Franklin; it is the author's first successful novel. It was translated into German as early as 1912, then into French by the novelist Marcelle Tinayre, and into English in 1922 under the title Stonecrop, in London and then New York; other versions followed in Swedish, Italian and several more languages. This French version was reissued under the title Fille des pierres by the éditions Viviane Hamy. The author's political engagement began only after the war.
Who it is for
A short, violent novel, which can be read in French in Marcelle Tinayre's translation; there is also an early English version.
Prizes and reception
Its author's first success, translated into many languages in the years following its publication.
Sources for this page 5
The pages consulted to check this page.