''At the Sign of the Reine Pédauque'' (french: La Rôtisserie de la reine Pédauque) is a

historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

Anatole France (; born , ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie França ...

, written in 1892 and published the next year. The novel tells of the tribulations of the young Jacques Ménétrier at the beginning of the 18th century. Its most important source is the 17th-century occult text ''

Comte de Gabalis ''Comte de Gabalis'' is a 17th-century French text by Abbé Nicolas-Pierre-Henri de Montfaucon de Villars (1635–1673). The titular "Comte de Gabalis" ("Count of Cabala") is an occultist who explains the mysteries of the world to the author. It f ...

''.

Summary

Jacques Ménétrier is the son of Léonard Ménétrier, leader of a brotherhood of roast-meat sellers. Somewhat educated by Brother Ange, a dissolute

capucin The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. O.F.M. Cap.) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of Three " First Orders" that reformed from the Franciscan Friars Minor Observant (OFM Obs., now OFM ...

, Jacques replaces the dog Miraut in his job of turning the spit on which the chickens roast. He is soon taken under the protection of Mr. Jérôme Coignard, an abbot, who rebaptises him "the learned Jacobus Tournebroche" and teaches him

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

. The two of them are hired by Mr. d'Astarac, an

alchemist Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscience, protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in Chinese alchemy, C ...

researching

salamanders Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten ...

and

sylph A sylph (also called sylphid) is an air spirit stemming from the 16th-century works of Paracelsus, who describes sylphs as (invisible) beings of the air, his elementals of air. A significant number of subsequent literary and occult works have be ...

s in the works of ancient authors. The rants of d'Astarac, the debauchery of Mr. d'Anquetil, and the vengeance of the uncle of the beautiful Jahel result in the happiness destined for the master and student, Jérôme and Jacques.

Adaptations

Composer

Charles-Gaston Levadé Charles-Gaston Levadé (3 January 1869 – 27 October 1948) was a French composer. A pupil of Jules Massenet, Grand Prix de Rome in 1863, Levadé wrote chamber music, melodies, religious music, drama and opéras comiques. He was very successful in ...

adapted the novel into a four-act lyric comic opera in 1934. Tenor Jean Marny of the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief rival, the Comédie-Italienne ...

recorded an aria from the work, "Reverie de Jacques," on

Pathé Pathé or Pathé Frères (, styled as PATHÉ!) is the name of various French people, French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France starting in 1896. In the early 1900s, Pathé became the world's largest ...

sapphire disc 3175. ''Traktér U královny Pedauky'' (1967) is a Czechoslovak television film directed by Zdeněk Kaloč, starring

Josef Karlík Josef Karlík (19 March 1928, in Kroměříž – 30 October 2009, in Brno) was a Czech actor. He starred in the film ''Poslední propadne peklu'' under director Ludvík Ráža in 1982. Selected filmography * ''Jak dostat tatínka do polepšovny' ...

, Leopold Franc, Libuše Geprtová, and

Václav Postránecký Václav Postránecký (8 September 1943 – 7 May 2019) was a Czech actor, director, theater teacher and dubber. Selected filmography Film * '' At the Sign of the Reine Pédauque'' (1967) * '' I Enjoy the World with You'' (1982) * '' Černí b ...

. Running time 84 min.

References

External links

* * 1893 French novels Novels by Anatole France French historical novels Fiction about alchemy {{1890s-novel-stub