''The Solitude of Compassion'' () is a 1932 short story collection by the French writer Jean Giono. The stories focus on rural life in

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

. The book was published in English in 2002, translated by Edward Ford.

Stories

# The Solitude of Compassion (Solitude de la pitié) # Prelude to Pan (Prélude de Pan) # Fields (Champs) # Ivan Ivanovitch Kossiakoff (Ivan Ivanovitch Kossiakoff) # The Hand (La main) # Annette or A Family Affair (Annette ou une affaire de famille) # On the Side of the Road (Au bord des routes) # Jofroi de Maussan (Jofroi de la Maussan) # Philmon (Philémon) # Joselet # Sylvie # Babeau # The Sheep (Le mouton) # In the Land of the Tree Cutters (Au pays des coupeurs d'arbres) # The Great Fence (La grande barrière) # The Destruction of Paris (Destruction de Paris) # Magnetism (Magnétisme) # Fear of the Land (Peur de la terre) # Lost Rafts (Radeaux perdus) # Song of the World (Le chant du monde)

Reception

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' wrote in 2002: "Although most of the pieces here, first published in France in 1932, are set in the hamlets and countryside of Provence, they bring us into a world that is dark, spiteful, and lugubrious: a world of hard-hearted peasants bent on squeezing the life out of their neighbors much as they squeeze oil from their olives. ... Like

Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most of ...

, Giono takes us into an unpleasant world shot through with strange and unexpected beauty."

Adaptations

The story "Jofroi de Maussan" was the basis for the 1934 film ''

Jofroi ''Jofroi'' is a 1934 French drama film directed by Marcel Pagnol and starring Vincent Scotto. It tells the story of a man who has sold his orchard. When the new owner wants to cut the trees down, the former owner threatens with suicide. The film is ...

'' directed by

Marcel Pagnol Marcel Paul Pagnol (; 28 February 1895 – 18 April 1974) was a French novelist, playwright, and filmmaker. Regarded as an auteur, in 1946, he became the first filmmaker elected to the Académie française. Although his work is less fashionable ...

. Between 1987 and 1990, France 2 made a series of six Giono adaptations under the title ''L'ami Giono'', of which three were based on stories from ''The Solitude of Compassion'': ''Jofroi de la Maussan'' (1987), ''Solitude de la pitié'' (1988) and ''Ivan Ivanovitch Kossiakoff'' (1990).

References

External links

Publicity page
at Éditions Gallimard's website 1932 short story collections Books adapted into films French-language books French short story collections Works by Jean Giono {{1930s-story-collection-stub