Men of Good Will [Hardcover]

Jules Romains (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1933

MEN OF GOOD WILL BY JULES ROMAINS CONTENTS Preface Book One : The Sixth of October 1 Paris Goes to Work on a Fine Morning 2 Painters at Work. Woman Asleep 3 Nine oclock in the Morning at the De Saint Papouls and the De Champcenais 4 Schoolmaster Clanricard tells the Children about Europes Great Danger 5 The Comings and Goings of MadameMaillecottin 6 Juliette Ezzelin is Dispirited. Jean Jerphanion is Inspirited 7 Quinette the Bookbinder 8 Wazemmes the Apprentice 9 Quinett, the Stranger, and Blood, Sampeyre 11 Wazemmess First Adventure. How Germaine Baader Awakened, and What she Thought About 12 A Discreet Inquiry 13 The Difficulties of Painting and the Pleasures of Betting 14 A Radical Deputys Disclosures to his Mistress 15 A Child of his Time 16 Two Forces. Two Menaces 17 A Little Boys Long Journey 18 Introducing Paris at Five oclock in the Evening 19 The Rendezvous 20 Wazemmes Meets his Future 21 The Refuge 22 The Lady in the Bus 23 Wasemmess Ideas about Women and Love 24 Parisian Workers 25 Walemmes, the Lady, and People Publishers Note Summary Book Two : Quinettes Crime 1 Maurice Ezzelin Reads the Paper 2 Bustle at Quinettes 3 The Spell of the Street 4 A Talk in Church 5 Leheudrys Mistress 6 Haverkamps Plans and Wazemmess Love Affair 7 Quinette on the Scene of the Crime 8 The Paper Shop in the Rue Vandamme 9 A Safer Hidingplace 10 A Loss of Virginity 11 Gurau is Hemmed In 12 Quinettes Sleepless Night 13 Contact with the Police 14 Council of War at De Champcenaiss. The Gurau File, and a Strange LoveScene 15 Jerphanion Meets Jailer. Gurau is All Alone 16 Heads on die Table 17 On the Banks of the Canal 18 A Profitable Conversation 19 Quinette Drowses Before Dawn 20 Wednesday Night Summary Index of Characters PREFACE I HONESTLY believe that a preface is useless except when it is indispensable If I have decided to write this one to Man of Good Will, I imply that I consider it to be indispensable. It is so for this reason, in the first place : the work whose publication begins with this volume will be of very considerable dimensions. The reader will not necessarily realise that fact beforehand. If he does not realise it, he may gather an erroneous impression of this opening volume, and may apply a criterion of judgment to it which is lacking in foundation. It is obvious that you judge a building in different ways if it is intended to be selfsufficing or if, on the contrary, it constitutes only a portico. Onlookers who pass by it while it is under construction and air their opinionsl about the purpose1 and proportions of the portico will probably be very far wide of the mark if they fail to appreciate the fact that the architect has so far covered only a small part of the site. Some people may pull me up here and point out to me that thoughtful architects surround their site with a high paling as long as the building is unfinished, in order to spare their contemporaries errors of judgment which may make them blush afterwards.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Epic novel cycle by Jules Romains, published in French in 27 volumes as Les Hommes de bonne volonte between 1932 and 1946. The work was an attempt to re-create the spirit of French society from Oct. 6, 1908, to Oct. 7, 1933. There is no central figure or family to provide a focus for the narrative, and the work is populated by a huge cast of characters. Each volume presents a different view of society and distinct incidents, including crimes treated in the manner of a detective story (as in Le Crime de Quinette, 1932), domestic scenes (Eros de Paris, 1932), and historical events (Verdun, 1938). The finest sections, such as the victory parade after World War I, exemplify the interest in collective life and emotion that is the basis of Unanimisme, the literary movement founded by Romains. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Random House (June 1933)
• ISBN-10: 9997530446
• ISBN-13: 978-9997530448
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,188,701 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars hard to find, February 6, 2001

By 

Orrin C. Judd "brothersjudddotcom" (Hanover, NH USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Men of Good Will (Hardcover)

The Death of a Nobody (1911)(Jules Romains [Louis Farigoule] 1885-1972)(translated by Desmond McCarthy and Sidney Waterlow)

[I]n particular, it is with the literary movement known as unanimism (Romains coined the word 'l'unanisme' and used it in print for the first time in 1905) that his name is associated. Most simply, unanimism is the literary exploration of the life of groups as distinct from the study of the dynamics of the individual person. It claims for the group a special status over and beyond the individual; the central task of the literary work is to examine and articulate the character, personality, and particular qualities of groups of all sorts, from the transitory collectivity of human beings who huddle under an awning during a quick shower to families and business and professional associates who spend significant parts of their lives together in subtle patterns of proximity. Under Romain's leadership, unanimism flowered into something more than a cult; it became a generic name for a religious and social discipline, for a philosophic stance, and for an interpretive art. The mystery of the group became the cardinal problem for the contemporary mind and it was to this problem that Romains addressed himself. -Maurice Natanson, Afterword to the Signet Classics edition (1961)

The Death of a Nobody is the first installment in what grew into a 27 volume cycle of novels, essays, poems, and plays called Les Hommes de bonne volonté (Men of Good Will), in which Jules Romains developed his theory of unanimism. It concerns the death of Jacques Godard, a retired railroad engineer, who lived by himself in a flat in Paris. His death is depicted as an event which effects a few acquaintances, his fellow tenants, his aged father, and a young stranger. Romains suggests that Godard continues to exist for a time, to the extent that these people recall him, but with the death of his parents, is finally forgotten. Romains uses a nearly cinematic technique, depicting various characters;' reactions to death in narrative sequence, but as if they are occurring contemporaneously. The novel is interesting both for this stylistic innovation (keep in mind that when the book was written, cinema didn't even really exist) and for the philosophy expounded, but I'd imagine after a couple of entries in the series it would get pretty tedious. This one is mercifully brief and worth reading.

GRADE : B