ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN
Émile Erckmann, Phalsbourg, 1822--Lunéville, 1899.
Alexandre Chatrian, Soldatenthal, 1826--Villemombles, 1890
Most of the literary work of these two men was done jointly, hence their hyphenated signature. Erckmann did most of the writing, Chatrian most of the editing and adapting for the stage. Their work consisted of short stories, novels and plays, particularly with scenes laid along the Franco-German (Alsatian) frontier, where they were both born. Their stories usually deal with incidents of the French Revolution, the Empire of Napoleon l and the Franco-Prussian War; they attacked war, and their stories are generally of a fantastic or idyllic type.
Important works: Madame Thérèse (1863), Histoire d'un Conscrit de 1813 (1864), L'Ami Fritz (1864, their best known novel), Le Juif Polonais (1869, their best known play, known in English as The Bells), Les Rantzau (1882, a play), and several collections of Contes. The Montre du Doyen is from the Contes Fantastiques (1860).
Edition: Most of their work has been published by Hetzel.
LA MONTRE DU DOYEN
[141.]--2. bourgmestre. This title is not applied to French mayors, but to those of Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, etc.
[142.]--13. plus d'une demi-lieue. The use of de instead of que, "than," occurs before numerals and is a survival of the Old French construction, which employed de (than) generally after a comparative (cf. the more general use of di in this sense in Italian).
27. grand concerto. Incorrect in Italian, where grande is usually written gran before a word beginning with a consonant (except s followed by another consonant); before a vowel grand' is used (grand'impero, great empire).
29. théologiens... philosophes. A playful reference to the students of Heidelberg University.
[145.]--10. jusque passé minuit. Note that jusque and not jusqu'à is here used; besides a following preposition (jusque sur, etc.), certain following adverbs may have the same construction (jusqu'ici, jusque-là, jusqu'aujourd'hui, etc.).
20. ce disant. A survival of the Old French construction where ce could be used as object without a noun. In modern French ce is usually either an adjective pronoun or it is the impersonal subject of a verb or it is the antecedent of a relative; the other uses have been taken over by ceci and cela. Another similar construction is sur ce, used by sovereigns in closing letters.
[148.]--8. que. To avoid repetition of comme.
[149.]--14. soit. The tendency, although usage varies, is to pronounce the t in this exclamation.
23. comme tu voudras. Note the tense, a polite future, where in English the present would be used; notice also, the tense on p. 148, l. 18.
[153.]--15. et toute la salle de rire. An example of the historical infinitive, which expresses the sudden result of a preceding action and is accompanied by a new subject.
28. plus qu'un. Notice the difference between this phrase and plus d'une (p. 142, l. 13).
[161.]--29. pas un d'entre eux. Note the insertion of entre; when spoken, un d'eux would not be clear; note also that entre suffers no elision (see note to p. 77, l. 11).
[164.]--14. après boire. An example of the present infinitive used after après (cf. il est parti après avoir bu un verre d'eau).
[167.]--6. à peine eus-je allumé. Note that à peine causes inversion and that it is used with the past anterior (see notes to p. 136, l. 4 and p. 3, l. 25).
[168.]--29. et que mon histoire vous ait intéressé. When que is used to avoid the repetition of si, the subjunctive is employed.