Kouzelné dobrodružství – Fournier Alain Henry (2023)

An illustrated edition of the world-famous French novel that first saw the light of day more than a hundred years ago, yet still enchants readers in many countries around the world, is complemented by dozens of original colored woodcuts by the French painter and engraver Hermine David. ***** The Magic Adventure is the only novel by the French writer Alain-Fournier, who perished in the first month of World War I. In it, the author tells the story of love – a love more dreamed than lived – of the seventeen-year-old adventurer Augustin Meaulnes and the beautiful and fragile Yvonne de Galais. The story is narrated from the perspective of the second main character of the novel, Meaulnes's younger friend François Seurel. It is love, both found and lost, friendship, and the mysterious, dreamlike world on the border between childhood and adulthood that the author depicts with admirable sensitivity, which are the main themes of The Magic Adventure. ***** The story, set in the 1890s, has a somewhat autobiographical basis – for example, Yvonne has a real-life counterpart in the author's life, as do some other characters. The novel was first published in installments from July to November 1913 in La Nouvelle Revue française. That same year, it was also published in book form for the first time in the fall.