
Louis-Frédéric ROUQUETTE
L’Ile d’Enfer
I L’APPEL DES DIEUX DÉCHUS
II DANS LES BRUMES D’ISLANDE
III LA MONTÉE DU CALVAIRE
IV LA CHEVAUCHÉE DANS LA TEMPÊTE
V DORMIR SOUS LA NEIGE POLAIRE
VI UNE ROSE SUR UN ROSIER
VII AUX PORTES DE L’ENFER
VIII UN SOIR, AU COL DE SVINASKAR
A restless wanderer leaves the bustling streets of Paris, trading the clamor of cafés and crowded metros for the salty breath of the river Garonne. He pauses at a dimly lit bar, sipping a cold beer while his weather‑worn camera bag hints at a new adventure. The narrator’s mind drifts between the ordinary and the unknown, and a chance encounter with a grizzled dockhand nudges him toward a daring decision: to set sail for Iceland. The promise of icy horizons and uncharted seas awakens a yearning that Paris can no longer satisfy.
Boarding the old cargo vessel Yport, he finds himself thrust into the gritty rhythm of a working ship—creaking masts, shoveling cod, and the stern captain’s steady gaze. The journey begins under a scorching sun, the deck alive with the chatter of sailors and the hum of machinery. As the vessel slips away from the quay, the narrator feels both the weight of his past and the exhilarating pull of the unknown, ready to chase the fleeting promise of a new horizon.
Language
fr
Duration
~2 hours (160K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
France: Ferenczi, 1925.
Credits
Laurent Vogel (This file was produced from images generously made available by the Polona digital library)
Release date
2023-03-31
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
1884–1926
A restless French travel writer with a taste for faraway frontiers, he turned the snows of Alaska and the Canadian North into vivid adventure stories. Best known for Le Grand Silence blanc, he was once praised as a French-language answer to Jack London.
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