
audiobook
by Louis Sonolet, Paul Bourgette
LOUIS SONOLET
NÉCESSAIRE INTRODUCTION COMMENT JE RENCONTRAI PAUL BOURGETTE.
CHAPITRE PREMIER De l’amour.
CHAPITRE II Des femmes.
CHAPITRE III Du baiser.
CHAPITRE IV De la pudeur.
CHAPITRE V Des marchandes d’amour.
CHAPITRE VI Des intermédiaires.
CHAPITRE VII Des artifices.
CHAPITRE VIII De la conception de la beauté.
On a sun‑baked track along the Tinkisso, the narrator pauses beneath a solitary thatch‑roof and encounters an unmistakably colonial figure: Paul Bourgette, a prospector with a curious trade. Dressed in a battered khaki uniform and a well‑kept beard, he greets the travelers with a calm confidence that hints at a deeper agenda than mineral hunting.
Bourgette explains that his true “prospecting” is the study of women, a methodical, almost scientific search for the secrets of love in West Africa. He argues that in this region affection flows abundantly, while in Europe it is a costly sport reserved for the well‑off, and he has set himself up as a nomadic observer, moving from Senegal to the Ivory Coast to record his findings.
What follows is a witty, observational journey as the narrator follows Bourgette’s unconventional experiments, meeting locals, listening to their stories, and confronting the paradoxes of desire across cultures. The tone remains light‑hearted, inviting listeners to wonder how far a “prospector” will go in the name of the heart.
Language
fr
Duration
~4 hours (236K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
France: La renaissance du livre, 1911.
Credits
Gaëlle Vutron (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)
Release date
2023-03-04
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
1874–1928
A French man of letters with a taste for travel and public affairs, he wrote across genres and also helped shape schoolbooks for colonial classrooms. His life moved between Bordeaux, Paris, North and West Africa, and the literary world of the early 20th century.
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A major French novelist and critic of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, he wrote fiction that explored psychology, morality, and the pressures of modern society. His work was widely read in France and helped shape the literary conversation of his time.
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