Gabriel Chevallier / Dubout - Clochemerle - 1945

Superb numbered edition 14310 on Arches vellum paper and illustrated by Dubout of this satirical novel which depicts the life of an imaginary Beaujolais village, the setting of a burlesque conflict that reveals the political, religious and social passions of provincial France in the interwar period -

The plot arises from an apparently innocent project by the mayor, Barthélemy Piéchut, who decides to install a public urinal near the church in order to improve the hygiene of the town, but this initiative triggers a disproportionate quarrel between the supporters of the Republican municipality and the conservative camp led by the parish priest and the Catholic notables -

The novel then unfolds a succession of comic scenes, petty plots, fiery speeches and comical incidents, where each character embodies a social and ideological type, from local officials to gossiping women and ardent militants -

Chevallier observes with irony the rivalries of church towers, the vanity of the town councillors, moral hypocrisy and the excesses of religious or anticlerical zeal, turning a simple matter of a public outhouse into a symbol of French ideological fractures -

Gabriel Chevallier / Dubout - Clochemerle - 1945 - Ernest Flammarion -
338 Pages.

Good condition of the binding, paperback in its original illustrated dust jacket, protected by an old crystal-clear sleeve, light signs of wear, a small foxing on the front cover and a tear in the crystal sleeve at the back, speckled edges, title and author on the front and spine, the village coat of arms of Clochemerle in color on the first cover -

Good interior condition, the work enriched with beautiful color illustrations in text and on plates including a frontispiece and on a double page after Dubout’s drawings, a fine numbered copy 14310 on Arches vellum, clean text, interior fresh -

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