Marie Gauthier

Le Bossu Quartre.

I’m sorry, it’s a full-blown obsession now.

It’s a shame I can’t actually read or speak French, because there are boatloads of Paul Féval novels available in his native tongue. But there are no English editions available that I can find, just this:

Brougham, John, 1810-1880.
The duke’s daughter, or, The hunchback of Paris : a drama, in three acts, and a prologue / dramatized from M. Paul Feval’s Le petite parisien by MM. Anicet Bourgoise and Feval as Le bossu ; adapted for the English stage.
New York : Samuel French & Son, [ca. 1883]

It’s miraculously available at the Amherst College library, but for use in the library only — it’s with the Archives and Special Collections. Foiled again!

mariegauthier

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7 responses to “Le Bossu Quartre.”

  1. Andrew

    According to Wikisource, in the original French novel, Lagardère is engaged to the daughter. So that’s the original idea, although in some of the movie adaptations he ends up with the mother instead.

    Besides, what’s so creepy about him ending up with the foster daughter? It worked for Woody Allen! 🙂

  2. mariegauthier

    That’s what Lance said — but in case you men haven’t noticed, Woody Allen + Foster Daughter = CREEPY.

  3. sara

    Foster or biological parent, if you first encounter a person’s genitals while changing their diaper, this is a SIGN that you should never encounter them in another context. I agree, creepy!

  4. mariegauthier

    Exactly!

  5. Andrew

    Just to play devil’s advocate… given the era it is completely likely that Lagardère never encountered Aurore’s genitals when she was a baby… Presumably some wetnurse or other lady in the troupe would have taken care of that. 🙂

  6. mariegauthier

    Point taken. But since my original distaste was based on the movie version, wherein indeed Lagardère changed diapers & also spoke of doing so, while your supposition might be historically likely, it is not germane to the discussion at hand. :>P

  7. Lance

    It is interesting to note that we are all talking about this story 150 years after it was written. Does anyone know if foster daughter marrying the foster father was common in those days? Or was the author being provocative? — like a good writer should.

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