The books of the recognized classic of children's and youth literature, Hector Malo, became the property of European prose of the 19th century. In his writings, the French novelist not only reliably described scenes of the hard life of the declassed lumpen proletariat, but also reflected his own ideals and liberalistic views.
The works of Hector Malo, along with the works of Balzac and Hugo, are considered classics of French literature of the 19th century. Few is a major realistic talent adjoining the school of Honore de Balzac. Experts assess the writer's realism as conditional, since there is a certain amount of sentimentalism and idealization in it. Such a literary style was generally characteristic of the prose of that time, addressed to children. Malo had neither Balzac's royalty, nor Maupassant's sparkle, nor the riot of Dumas' imagination. He was simple and consistent in his work; gently, meekly and unobtrusively taught goodness. Just as one can teach only a child, while the young soul is receptive to the pure source.
Biographical information
The full name and pseudonym of the novelist Hector Malot is Hector Henri Malot. Hector Henri Malo was born in the provincial town of La Bouy on the Lower Seine (France) in 1830. He received his primary education in Rouen, his professional education in Paris. His father was a notary and dreamed that his lawyer son would continue the family business. But Hector refused to work in this field, fully devoting himself to literary creativity. After living a long and hard life, the writer passed away in 1907 at the age of 77.
Being a respectable and respectable person, Malo led a measured and calm lifestyle. There were no sharp turns or dramas in his personal life in the fate of the writer. But this was not a reason for the memoirists to call his biography uninteresting. Even in the most boring and banal existence, sometimes simple and eternal truths are hidden. Here are some examples of this:
- The legal education received by Hector assumed that he would have formed an academic, clerical manner of expressing himself. Despite this, Little managed to create a completely different style of expressing his thoughts. His books are written in a lively, imaginative, accessible language.
- From his youth, Hector was distinguished by a kind attitude towards people, a sincere interest in their fate. Being a close friend of the writer and pamphleteer Jules Valles, with whom he was united by political views, Little helped him with money and supported him morally. This was especially true of the period of the revolutionary's exile in London. Thanks to the assistance, Malo was able to see the light of the Valles manuscript "Child" (L'enfant). For his open and direct character, Hector received the nickname "Honest Little" among his friends and fellow writers.
- Often, through his works, the writer tried to point out the flaws of society and put into practice his liberalistic views. Emile Zola often criticized Malo for the fact that in his novels the author's position is very prominent, turning them from a narrative into a statement of his ideals.
The literary legacy of Hector Malo
Dedicating himself to literary creativity, Hector Malo combined the work of a prose writer with the activity of a journalist. In the popular magazines of that time, "Vek" (Le Siècle) and "Time" (Le Temps), he published notes, essays, articles. With great success, the publicist ran the "literary feuilleton" column in the Opinion nationale. Hector Malo's popularity as a novelist began with a trilogy written between 1859 and 1866. The books Lovers, Spouses and Children have been combined under the title Victims of Love. Later, working with large literary forms, the writer became the author of about 60 works. In his book La Vie moderneen Angleterre, Little advocated the benefits of physical labor and the English education system based on it. Justice is one of his most famous romance novels.
The time of work as a literary contributor to the Journal of Education and Entertainment became fruitful for Malo. The editorial board, headed by Pierre Etzel and Jules Verne, included famous writers, talented illustrators, prominent scientists and educators. They strove to “teach and educate while entertaining,” and demanded that the authors of publications adhere to this canon as much as possible. I was a little imbued with this idea and decided to write a book for children. It was published in 1869 and was entitled The Adventures of Romain Calbri. The publication was decorated with engravings by the famous French artist Emile Bayard.
The book tells about the fate of a tomboy from a fishing family, who, after the death of his father, remained under the care of his uncle, a usurer. Having escaped from him, Romain wanders across France. Experiencing amazing events, the boy strengthens his character on the way to his cherished dream - to become a real sailor. The readers liked the adventure story. Inspired by his success, Malo decided to continue creating literature for children. A few years later, he published the book "Without a Family", completely unaware that this work would make him famous all over the world.
The story of a foundling boy, Remi, who, wandering around strangers, does not stop looking for his parents, was presented to the reader's judgment. He steadfastly endures all adversity, never despairs and as a result finds his real family, finds a home. The third book "In the Family" (1893) tells about the kind and brave orphan girl Perrin, who sets off on a long and dangerous journey. Her goal is to find her relatives by all means.
Everything that Little is written in the genre of a children's story is a true, emotional and touching story about the life and trials that fell to the lot of a lonely child, about the plight of ordinary people in France in the 19th century. Despite the sad pages and dramatic situations, the narrative is animated by funny and funny episodes from the life of the children, flavored with humor, decorated with pictures of folk life. The epigraph to the works of Hector Malo may well be the lines he wrote about his characters: "Fate does not turn away for a long time from those who have the courage to fight it."
On the list of the 100 best books of all time
None of the works created by Hector Malo brought him such fame as the story "Without a Family". The work was awarded the Prize of the French Academy. Adventures were read not only by children, but also by adults. It is noteworthy that the author had to write this literary work twice. The book, published in 1878, includes a restored version of the original manuscript. Pages of the originally written text were lost during the siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War. Spent a lot of effort to recreate the previously written from memory. And it was worth it! The classic novel of French children's literature of the 19th century, published by Hector Malo, has been in the top list of one hundred examples of world literature for children and youth for almost a century and a half.
"Without a Family" was the most read among children of that time. During the author's lifetime, the story was translated from French into many European languages. In Russia, before 1917, at least 7 abbreviated translations into Russian were made. Nowadays, readers' interest in the fate of the French commoner boy still does not subside. "Without a Family" continues to be reprinted. An example is the series “A Book for All Seasons” (publishing house “ENAS-kniga”), the heading “Books for Thinking Children” on the electronic resource e-reading.
The story Little about how the boy Remi walked his difficult path, with love and warmth meeting everyone who happened to be near, is recognized by experts as one of the best examples of educational literature of the late 19th century. Many modern parents and school teachers share the opinion expressed by one of the readers: in order to educate a young soul, to teach kindness and empathy, it is enough from the French authors to let the child read only two books - "Les Miserables" by Victor Hugo and "Without a Family" by Hector Malo. The mercy of the priest, who forgave Jean Valjean for the stolen candlesticks, and the soulfulness of ordinary people who surrounded the boy Remy, saved their soul, did not allow her to perish and become bitter. These two books are worth many volumes, many morals and edifications.
The artistic uniqueness of the works of Hector Malo
In the books of the French novelist, written about children and for children, much rightfully attracts attention: an entertaining plot, and the unusual fate of the heroes, and a diverse social background, and the author's lively, intelligible speech. Geographical information is organically interwoven into the narrative, the details of the folk life of France in the 19th century are vividly traced. As for literary features, the author of the story "Without a Family" uses several writing techniques:
- The work presents different genres of fiction, the ratio of which in the text is dictated by the plot. The first part contains the features of a typical parenting story; the beginning of the second part is a classic travel story; in the second half of the second part, there are signs characteristic of adventure literature.
- The storyline is captivating and expertly designed. Strengthening the tension of the plot, as well as increasing the interest of the reader, is achieved by the technique of secrets. The adventures of the young hero are accompanied by ambiguities and riddles, his real name, as well as the position of the characters are revealed only at the very end of the book.
- There are no maxims and edifications "from the author" in the text. He does not teach anything, but simply invites on a trip to France, which the reader sees through the eyes of a wandering child. At the same time, there is an invisible image of the road. She seems to be divided into the stages of the boy's life: learning, growing up, survival and, finally, finding a family and a home.
- Throughout the story, the author invariably accompanies the heroes, evaluates his characters, empathizes with them. This is Malo's very personal style of writing.
The story is written in brilliant, simple and accessible language. In French schools, children learn their native language using it. In our country, the book has become a popular textbook on the French language for various educational institutions; enters the curriculum for French literature; included in all recommended catalogs of books for children and young people.
Visualization of images of literary characters
It is difficult to imagine a more cinematic story than a children's adventure story. A literary and artistic story about the wanderings of the foundling boy Remy has been filmed more than once.
In France, films were shot in the pre-war period (1913, 1925, 1934), and then in 1958. Following the film adaptation of 1981, together with the film studios of the Czech Republic and Germany, the French created a film story of the same name (released in 2000). One of the main roles (the traveling actor and musician Vitalis, who became the boy's friend and mentor) was played by the popular actor Pierre Richard. A full-length animated version (1970) was released in Japan, which was dubbed at the Soyuzmultfilm studio. Later, Japanese animes were filmed with slightly different titles: "Remy Homeless Boy" (1977), "Remy Homeless Girl" (1996, studio Nippon Animation).
A bright and light film story about the wanderings of the hero of the story "Without a Family" was presented in 1984 by Soviet filmmakers of the Lenfilm studio (director - Vladimir Bortko). Sasha Vasiliev and Yan Khviler starred in the main children's roles. The composer Vladimir Dashkevich wrote wonderful songs for the film on the verses of Yuliy Kim. After leaving the cinema, the children sang enthusiastically: “You will see, you and I will certainly be lucky! Because unlucky for too long. " The film premiere in 2019, the work of the French director Antoine Blosser, is one of the recent screen adaptations of Hector Malo's story “Without a Family”.
