
LES
A vivid portrait of mid‑century rural France unfolds as the old world of isolated farms meets the restless wind of modernity. The narrator, raised among the fields, watches young laborers swapped for soldiers or sailors, steam engines roar into distant valleys, and newspapers crackle through mountain hollows. Everyday rituals—old prayers, seasonal festivals, the rhythm of the plow—are shown just as they are being pulled apart by new institutions and restless ideas, hinting at a quiet, inevitable transformation.
Within six lyrical pastorals, the book gathers the folklore that once animated peasant imagination: witches whispering in the woods, mischievous sprites leaping over hearths, hidden treasures promised by ancient talismans. These stories echo timeless human wishes—searches for happiness, glimpses beyond death, bonds with the natural world—while remaining rooted in the simple, sun‑lit landscapes of the countryside. Listeners will taste the bittersweet mix of tradition and change that defined a generation on the brink of disappearance.
Language
fr
Duration
~5 hours (295K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Laurent Vogel, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr)
Release date
2015-06-28
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1806–1854
A 19th-century French writer from Brittany, he turned local legend, everyday life, and social observation into books that reached a wide audience. He is also remembered for an early speculative novel that imagines the future with surprising boldness.
View all books
by Émile Souvestre

by Émile Souvestre

by Émile Souvestre

by Émile Souvestre

by Émile Souvestre

by Émile Souvestre

by Émile Souvestre

by Émile Souvestre