Novel
Fram, the Polar Bear
Fram, ursul polar
Cezar Petrescu · 1931
Synopsis
On an evening of farewells, the Struțki circus gives its last performance. Fram, the polar bear star, usually enters the ring without a trainer and performs acrobatics with almost human gestures; that night, he has forgotten his tricks and leaves the ring. Taken very young in the polar lands, then sold by the sailor Lars, he is sent back home with the help of a former hunter and left on an icy island with no people. He has never learned to hunt: in the polar night, amid storms and hunger, he looks for a way to live and befriends a bear cub.
Context
The book appeared in 1931 according to the Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia. The bear bears the name of the Fram, the ship of Fridtjof Nansen; in the story, it is the sailor Lars who christens it so. A reading sheet places the last performance in the winter of 1924, when the tamer Miss Ellian presents her twelve Bengal tigers. Luce Vidal gave a French text of it with Hachette in 1959, Andreea Gheorghițoiu an English translation in London in 1975; it also exists in Russian and in Lithuanian.
Who it is for
A children's novel, in Romanian; readable in French since 1959 and in English since 1975, in old editions.
Prizes and reception
Paul Cernat, cited by Evenimentul zilei, counts it among the best Romanian children's books of all time.
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The pages consulted to check this page.