The Bachelor

Vallès, Jules, 1832-1885Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.3

Word count: 582K words
Chapters: 59

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Le bachelier by Jules VallèsAuthor: Vallès, Jules, 1832-1885,Language: French, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Jan 16, 2005

Editor's review

Le bachelier is the second volume of Jules Vallès's autobiographical trilogy, telling in the first person the experience of a young man from the provinces who comes to Paris to study and earn a living but repeatedly meets with setbacks. The novel has a strong tone of social criticism and self-mockery: the protagonist starves in the Latin Quarter, takes odd jobs as a tutor and copyist, and witnesses how the upward path promised by the education system fails. With a colloquial,跳跃, and ironic style, Vallès interweaves personal hardship with the atmosphere of the era; it is both a bildungsroman and a record of survival among lower-class educated youth in nineteenth-century France. For Chinese readers, its value lies in offering an unseemly, angry narrative of youth that contrasts with the common success-story model of growth; it is moderate in length and impactful in language, suitable as supplementary reading for understanding French realism and the autobiographical novel tradition, and also for readers interested in the issue of "the educated person's prospects."

Who it's for

A good fit for

French majors or readers with French reading ability who want to encounter nineteenth-century French autobiographical fiction
Readers interested in education, class, and the prospects of youth who are willing to read critical coming-of-age narratives
Readers studying French realist literature and social history who can use it as supplementary reading to Vallès's trilogy

Not a good fit for

Beginners with no French foundation who cannot find a reliable Chinese translation
Readers expecting a tightly plotted traditional coming-of-age novel with a happy ending
Readers with low tolerance for colloquial,跳跃 narration and an ironic tone

Reading tips

First understand the overall order of Vallès's trilogy; this is the second volume, and it can be read against the previous work to understand the protagonist's development.
While reading, note details of the narrator's hunger, job-seeking, and studying, and make brief notes connecting them with the social background.
For the French original, read through a chapter first, then review unfamiliar words and colloquial expressions, avoiding word-by-word lookup that interrupts the rhythm.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Can I read this book without knowing French?

The original is in French; without French you will need to rely on a reliable Chinese or English translation. Check that your edition is unabridged and use the translator's preface to learn about Vallès and the trilogy background, otherwise the colloquial narration may cause you to lose the thread.

Is this book in the same series as L'Enfant?

Yes. It belongs to Vallès's autobiographical trilogy based on his own experiences; this is the second volume, telling of the protagonist's studies and struggle to earn a living after arriving in Paris. It is best read in order, or at least with knowledge of the previous volume, to understand the character relationships and narrative tone.

Do I need to know French history to read it?

You do not need to study it systematically first, but understanding nineteenth-century French education and the situation of provincial youth flooding into Paris to make a living will make the protagonist's frustration and anger easier to understand. Brief background introductions before or after reading are enough; do not get bogged down in historical details.

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About the author

Vallès, Jules, 1832-1885 Author

Jules Vallès (1832–1885) was a French writer best known for his autobiographical trilogy Jacques Vingtras, of which the two works held in this collection, L’enfant (The Child) and Le bachelier (The Graduate), form part. His writing draws heavily on personal experience, with a blunt, pungent style that often criticizes the educational system and social injustice of the Second Empire, showing sympathy for the poor and the young. Vivid in language and intense in feeling, his works blend reportage with literary imagination and hold a place in the French traditions of realism and autobiographical fiction, inspiring later writers concerned with personal growth and social oppression. Public information about the details of his life is limited, so this note focuses only on the themes and style of his works.