The Bull-Man and the Grasshopper

Stableford offers no clear rationale for translating this lamentable novella, originally published in France in 1876 by a now-obscure author whom Stableford considers a “heroic rebel against authority and orthodoxy.” Richepin has a colorful background, which included being prosecuted for obscenity, but his personal appeal fails to carry over to what Stableford calls a “flamboyant and eccentric melodrama,” especially given passages that modern readers will flinch at (referring to the natives of New Caledonia, Richepin writes that “the savages were touched, as all naive people are, by simple music”). The title characters are street performers who served in the Commune, a radical socialist government of France that ruled for just two months. They are deported to a New Caledonian prison for their involvement with that political movement, and both fall in love with the daughter of the prison warden, a triangle that ends in tragedy. This unappealing tale falls victim to flimsy characters, unmemorable prose, and a stock story line. (June)