Reviews for Two Gentlemen in Touraine

The average rating for Two Gentlemen in Touraine based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-07-03 00:00:00 Jamie Tennant Henry James has taken me on an interesting tour of France, starting in the Loire valley, then on to Brittany via Loches and Bourges, also visiting the Bordeaux region before heading south to Provence and then returning to Paris via the Burgundy region. However, I had to take some detours en-route. The first was to read Le Curé De Tours by Honoré de Balzac* as this novella is discussed at the start of James's tour which commences in Tours, the birthplace of Balzac. Mr James had a companion with him, but we weren't introduced; instead said companion was referred to as "my companion" or "we". This travel memoir certainly had me poring over my own photos of many of the places he visited. Here is my own photo of La Cathédrale de Saint-Gatien which features in Balzac's novella and in James's discussion of Tours. "Balzac, in the maturity of his vision, took in more of human life than any one, since Shakspeare, who has attempted to tell us stories about it; and the very small scene on which his consciousness dawned is one end of the immense scale that he traversed." The building of the cathedral commenced in the 12th century, but took centuries to complete. Of the entire tour he mentions how few tourists there were. One wonders what he would have said had he seen the vast numbers of tourists who now visit these historic sites in order to take their almost obligatory selfies. However, Henry James ponders and mentions the history of these places, and what he sees on the way: "… the women in the fields, the white caps, the faded blouses, the big sabots". The châteaux, cathedrals and other historic sites are of course still the same age-old buildings (give or take a restoration or two), but life has changed. Fortunately many of these places have been cleaned and given a new lease of life as some of the places he visited were dirty and dingy at the time. Of the erstwhile residence of Louis XI (known as the Spider King), Plessis-les-Tours, James comments: "The dreadful Louis is reduced simply to an offence to the nostrils." Of the Château de Blois, previously the home of several kings, he says: "This exquisite, this extravagant, this transcendent piece of architecture is the most joyous utterance of the French Renaissance." Today tourists are allowed to sit under a canopy decorated with the fleur de lys, and take selfies with which to proclaim "I was at Blois Castle!". This, however, you won't find today: "Every spot connected with the murder of the Duke of Guise is pointed out by a small, shrill boy, who takes you from room to room, and who has learned his lesson in perfection. The place is full of Catherine de' Medici, of Henry III., of memories, of ghosts, of echoes, of possible evocations and revivals. It is covered with crimson and gold. The fireplaces and the ceilings are magnificent; they look like expensive sets at the grand opera." The fireplaces and evocations are there but no small boy to expertly guide you. Château de Blois** And so Henry James visits several more châteaux, saying as he drives away from the Château de Chambord: "The light had already begun to fade, and my drive reminded me of a passage in some rural novel of Madame Sand." James is enchanted by Loches, and suitably impressed by the enormous cathedral at Bourges. He describes how he first saw it from a little side street - so did I: He also delighted in the gardens of the Archeveche at the cathedral: Of La Rochelle he says: "It was strange to think, as I strolled through the peaceful little port, that these quiet waters, during the wars of religion, had swelled with a formidable naval power. The Rochelais had fleets and admirals, and their stout little Protestant bottoms carried defiance up and down." He is impressed by the magnificent Carcassonne. "For myself, I have no hesitation; I prefer in every case the ruined, however ruined, to the reconstructed, however splendid. What is left is more precious than what is added: the one is history, the other is fiction; and I like the former the better of the two, it is so much more romantic. One is positive, so far as it goes; the other fills up the void with things more dead than the void itself, inasmuch as they have never had life. After that I am free to say that the restoration of Carcassonne is a splendid achievement." Carcassonne had recently (1853) been restored by the famous Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. James travels in the eighteen eighties. Carcassonne And so his travels continue around the country with his anonymous companion. Sometimes his comments are phlegmatic and on occasion they are acerbic; mostly his humour is wry. He describes the art and architecture, recounts historic snippets, there are literary references, comments on his lodgings and meals. He finds time to chat to a local here and there. On a train he finds himself with characters straight out of Balzac's La Comédie Humaine. In Burgundy he stopped briefly (between trains) at Beaune where he managed a very short visit to the Hospices de Beaune founded in the 15th century: *Le Curé de Tours is story #32 in Honoré de Balzac's magnificent opus La Comédie Humaine. These stories may be read out of sequence. **Photos are my own except for the photo of the Château de Blois which is from Wikipedia - attribution # Although I read a Kindle edition of Henry James's A Little Tour of France, I also own the beautiful Library of America edition: Collected Travel Writings: The Continent: A Little Tour in France / Italian Hours / Other Travels As the former is full of typographical errors, I suggest that you opt for the latter if you can as it is also beautifully illustrated.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-01-27 00:00:00 Kathleen Cook [image error]