"Funny Novel" Author: [France] Paul Scarron Nanjing University Press

【Book Introduction】

This book is the representative work of Paul Scarron, a French poet, novelist and playwright in the 17th century. As a model of French satirical literature, "The Comic Novel" is one of the four great masterpieces of French literature (novels) in the 17th century. It is also a must-read classic work of language in French universities and is included in the must-read list of literature for the 2020 French Teacher Qualification Examination.

Like all the comedy works of the time, The Comical Novel was written to "make people laugh", satirizing the human condition and mocking everything in the world. It is between the tramp literature describing tramps and poor beggars and the bourgeois comic stories. The book consists of two volumes. The narrator uses an omniscient perspective and the author's tone to tell a series of comic disputes between a comedy troupe and local residents when performing in a provincial town, showing the customs of a provincial town in France in the 17th century.

【Editor's recommendation】

This book is a landmark work in the formation period of modern French novels in the 17th century. It inherits the comic novels represented by Rabelais and Cervantes and the Spanish tramp novels, and opens up the erotic literature and libertineism of France. It is a representative work of French comic and satirical literature in the 17th century. As the "Prince of Comic and Satire", Scarron spent almost half his life "sitting in a bowl" and could not get out of bed to walk. He wrote poems, plays, novels, and political pamphlets. His laughter, anger, and scolding even inspired the satirical art of modern French media.

In this book, Scarron describes a series of funny stories that a troupe encountered in the French provinces through ridicule and parody. The book is full of witty remarks and makes people laugh. Besides the laughter, the book is also mixed with the reality and ugliness of real life, which is the embryo of French realistic literature. At the end of the song, this "useless man" with a distorted face is sympathetic.

About the Author