
In a modest Flemish town, a quiet drama unfolds around a cast of ordinary townsfolk—doctors, police, and a young girl named Valentine—who become entangled in a peculiar event that claims the name of Saint Anthony. Maeterlinck’s subtle satire lifts the everyday into the uncanny, turning the familiar streets and canal-side homes into a stage for hidden doubts and whispered expectations. The play’s single‑act structure heightens the tension, letting each character’s quiet desperation and dry humor ripple through the scene.
The atmosphere is unmistakably Flemish: gray skies, somber canals, and the lingering echo of centuries‑old traditions. Yet beneath the provincial backdrop lies a deeper inquiry into faith, superstition, and the thin line between miracle and coincidence. Listeners will be drawn into a world where ordinary lives are suddenly poised on the brink of the extraordinary, inviting reflection on how belief shapes both community and the individual.
Language
en
Duration
~1 hours (80K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
United States: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1918.
Credits
Mark C. Orton and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Release date
2023-04-14
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1862–1949
A quiet revolutionary of modern drama, he filled the stage with mystery, silence, and inner life. The Belgian Nobel laureate is still best known for symbolist works such as Pelléas and Mélisande and for the enduring fantasy play The Blue Bird.
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by Maurice Maeterlinck

by Maurice Maeterlinck

by Maurice Maeterlinck

by Maurice Maeterlinck

by Maurice Maeterlinck

by Maurice Maeterlinck

by Maurice Maeterlinck

by Maurice Maeterlinck