30 May 2016

Marcel Pagnol: Le Château de ma mère | My Mother's Castle (1958)

This novel, translated as My Mother's castle, is a continuation of Pagnol's autobiographical work, being the second volume of the Souvenirs d'enfance cycle. Essentially, it traces Marcel's successful progress through school, although he prefers to play with his male friend Lili, prefers the natural world which he unsuccessfully attempts to escape into away from the continuation of his schooling.

Much is made of his holiday periods to La Bastide Neuve, near the village of La Treille now in the 11th arrondissement of Marseille. There's not as much hunting as in La Gloire to mon père, although the descriptions of the journeys on foot to their holiday home get a little repetitious. A perfectly readable novel which accelerates rapidly in time at the end, but nothing to shout about.

My Marcel Pagnol posts:
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Marcel Pagnol's Birthplace, Aubagne
Le Petit Monde de Marcel Pagnol, Aubagne
Claude Berri's Jean de Florette / Manon des Sources
Marcel Pagnol: La Gloire de mon père | My Father's Glory
Marcel Pagnol: Le Château de ma mère | My Mother's Castle
Marcel Pagnol: Marius
Marcel Pagnol in La Treille, Marseille
Marcel Pagnol: Le Schpountz

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