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  • Anatole France’s Merrie Tales: Brother Joconde

    France is of course not the only nation to have fought wars, harboured grudges and perpetuated stereotypical slurs against those whom we in Australia call the “Poms”. I needn’t even mention the Scots. Despite connections with the Royal Family, Germans have of course also had a somewhat difficult relationship with their fish and chip eating… Read more

  • A.C. Gunter’s Baron Montez: 8. The Stenographer’s Dream

    A refreshing and dramatic change in the narrative treatment. Our narrator has disappeared into the history he has related for readers. Now Gunter uses the form of diary extracts as a literary device to introduce a new pivotal character: Miss Louise Minturn. Rather than the story continuing to be told in third person by an… Read more

  • Anatole France’s Merrie Tales: The Miracle of the Magpie

    While the previous chapter was about boasting, this one, ‘The Miracle of the Magpie’, which plays in the town of Le Puy-en-Velay in the beautiful Auvergne district of France, seems to be all about mocking. Mocking the beliefs of people “elbowing their way” to the place where they seek a pardon for their sins. Oh,… Read more

  • A.C. Gunter’s Baron Montez: 7. “NO! BY ETERNAL JUSTICE!”

    In her letter Jesse does not describe or elaborate on her dire predicament. It is only following the arrival of Larchmont’s brother, Harry, back in Paris for all to be revealed in personal dialogue between the two. Given the generous insights of our narrator, our good readers may hazard a guess at what has occurred… Read more

  • Anatole France’s Merrie Tales: Olivier’s Brag

    Perhaps a word of warning about this story by Anatole France from the year 1909. The ending in particular might offend, so be prepared to make an allowance for attitudes in it being 112 years old—the original French chanson de geste eight centuries earlier than that. The story, a satire, is mainly about boasting. The… Read more