Mard-i Kūchak: Persian 1403

This first work by Alphonse Daudet (1840-1897) draws its material largely from the writer's biography. It is indeed him, this Daniel Eyssette, a child of the South exiled in the fog of Lyon after his father's bankruptcy, whom a teacher disdainfully calls "the little Thing." It is him again, this schoolboy terrorized by his students, then this poor young man, torn between dreams of glory and feminine temptations, wandering the streets of the capital... Likewise, the terrible Mr. Viot, head supervisor, the unfortunate servant known as "the black eyes," the black woman Coucou-Blanc, or the tender older brother, nicknamed "Mother Jacques," have the depth and flavor of life. Close in certain respects to naturalism, his portrayal of colleges and literary bohemia nevertheless possesses the touch of humor and poetry that made the success of Lettres de mon moulin. A novel about a humiliated childhood, bearing a dark social vision and an ambiguous moral that Jules Vallès would remember, Le Petit Chose remains a classic, between Dickens and Zola.