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Obermann

by Étienne Pivert de SENANCOUR (1770 - 1846)

Fifth Year, the First Fragment

This is a 1903 translation of Étienne Pivert de Senancour's immensely influential work Obermann. Although it was almost completely ignored by the reading public when it was first published during the period of Napoleonic Wars in 1804, it was rediscovered almost 30 years later by the Romantics, praised by none less than Balzac and George Sand, as well as Franz Liszt and other illustrious persons of that time period. Obermann is an epistolary novel in the form of a journal intime, in which the inner life of the main character is the most important element, rather than the physical action. The story spans ten years, in which Obermann describes historical events, the progress of philosophical ideas, and, most strikingly, his emotional development. A.E. Waite succeeds to translate this work in a fittingly poetic way, transporting haunting images of loneliness, nausée, and lack of orientation. - Summary by Carolin

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Listen next episodes of Obermann:
Eighth Year, Letter LXIV , Eighth Year, Letter LXV , Eighth Year, Letter LXVIII , Eighth Year, Letter LXXIII and Ninth Year, Letters LXXIV and LXXV , Eighth Year, Letters LIII, LIV, LV and LVI , Eighth Year, Letters LVII, LVIII and LIX , Eighth Year, Letters LX and LXI , Eighth Year, Letters LXII and LXIII , Eighth Year, Letters LXIX and LXX , Eighth Year, Letters LXVI and LXVII , Eighth Year, Letters LXXI and LXXII , Ninth Year, Letter LXXXIX , Ninth Year, Letter LXXXVII , Ninth Year, Letter LXXXVIII , Ninth Year, Letters LXXVI and LXXVII , Ninth Year, Letters LXXVIII and LXXIX , Ninth Year, Letters LXXX and LXXXI , Ninth Year, Letters LXXXII, LXXXIII and LXXXIV , Ninth Year, Letters LXXXV and LXXXVI , Seventh Year, Letter L , Seventh Year, Letter LI , Seventh Year, Letter LII , Sixth Year, Letter XLI , Sixth Year, Letter XLIV , Sixth Year, Letter XLV , Sixth Year, Letter XLVI , Sixth Year, Letter XLVII , Sixth Year, Letter XXXVIII , Sixth Year, Letters XLII and XLIII , Sixth Year, Letters XLVIII and XLIX , Sixth Year, Letters XXXIX and XL , Sixth Year, Letters XXXVI and XXXVII , Sixth Year, the Second Fragment , Sixth Year, the Third Fragment , Supplement - Letter XCI, Without Known Date , Supplement - Tenth Year, Letter XC