An interruption in my explorations into the Novel occurred mainly because I delved into criticism and metafiction. As an interlude it helped me to understand the art of writing fiction. The classifications and ramifications are so vast that I started to long for a comforting novel and tumbled into 3 books that I haven’t read. “Anne of Green Gables, Daddy Long Legs, The Lost Domain”
Both Anne of the Green Gables and Daddy Long Legs are novels of ‘Kindred spirit’ and can make you feel happy and content. They are novels about growing up, Childhood, struggle, Human relations, Love and Compassion. ‘The Lost Domain’ is also a novel about growing up, adolescence, school life, a Bildungsroman, the story of Grand Augustin Meaulnes,but it has a more complex narrative structure. Why is happiness fleeting? Do only sensitive people go through tragedies? Could not Yvonne have responded to Augustin earlier! Does Frantz becoming a vagabond have something to do with losing his fiancé and the estate? And what about our very own narrator who harbors a secret love for Yvonne? The grand adventurous Augustin carries a heart full of unquenchable fire and thirst. The novel weaves a dreamy, poetic atmosphere. The journey of Augustin to the castle and his chance encounter with the gorgeous Yvonne, who leaves an indelible imprint on his mind, the magical meadows, the changing seasons, the fishing expeditions and life on the outside full of mirth and bonhomie is reminiscent of Youth’s energy and enthusiasm. Alain Fournier’s novel is one of the most read and best loved French novels of all time. The novel’s enduring appeal comes from the fact that the author was tragically killed in the First World War and this is his only completed novel. The novel captures a pristine epoch in the personal history of the self: a time when Life was both an illusion and a reality.’ Childhood and Teenage. It gave bounteous moments of happiness but was swept away too swiftly by the ephemerality of time. The author becomes a teacher after he graduates from school and assumes the high seriousness of a Philosopher. Francois Seurel is the shadow that follows the life and events of his friend Augustin Meaulnes whose experience of youthful love and exhilaration is Byronic with a badge of honesty.
The novel is a recollection of nostalgia in rural France at the turn of the 20th century with castles, garden parties, musical operas, bicycles and codes of honor and chivalry. Both the friends are two sides of a coin, the author’s passion tempered by moderation and Augustin’s temperament being unrestrained and unfeigned. Ironically at the end Augustin comes back to reclaim his daughter, denying our narrator the one joy that was left for him after the death of Yvonne. One impression that surfaces again and again is “Not a book, but a dream” My first read was an enriching experience.