But he never forgot the magic of his Provencal childhood, and when he set his memories to paper late in life the result was a great new success. My Father's Glory and My Mother's Castle appeared on the scene like a fresh breeze, captivating readers with its sweet enchantments. Pagnol recalls his days hunting and fishing in the hill country, his jaunts about Marseilles, his schoolboy diversions, and above all his family: his anticlerical father and sanctimonious uncle, his mild and beautiful mother, and many others. This bright and lively book sparkles with the charm and magic that were Marcel Pagnol's own.

    Translated from the French by Justin O'Brien.The six works featured in this volume are: "The Adulterous Woman" ("La Femme adultère") "The Renegade or a Confused Spirit" ("Le Renégat ou un esprit confus") "The Silent Men" ("Les Muets") "The Guest" ("L'Hôte") "Jonas or the Artist at Work" ("Jonas ou l’artiste au travail") "The Growing Stone" ("La Pierre qui pousse")

    Three anonymous, phantom-like people—two men and a woman—drift and muse in the game rooms, corridors and piano alcove of a seaside hotel or sanitorium. The narrator, a newcomer, loves the young woman. Much of the time these two converse, exploring their existence (or non-existence) and their relationship to a professorial man who is "not very old yet strangely ruined." The ambiguous condition of the three suggests the living death of a shared dream, hallucination or endless wait in limbo, where emotions still have sharp validity. At times the novel has the quality of a musical poem, with themes and variations played on certain words: calm, space, light, suffering.

    (This doesn't mean what you probably think it does.)He bears an extraordinary resemblance to Clementine's father, except that the latter's face is constantly harried. And no wonder! His daughter's amoral behaviour is enough to furrow the brow of any parent!Clementine is representative of laughter and l'amour ... and as far as we are concerned, l'amour the merrier!

    It is based on the poetic conception of death suspending all activities for three days during which he falls in love with a beautiful girl and through her realizes why mortals fear him. The mood of the play is established with remarkable skill and while it is charged with exciting moments, it is a perfect background for a love story that is as simple as it is appealing. The character who symbolizes Death is a very human person, with no conventional claptrap dragged in for mere effect. Here is a play that stimulates discussion and presents a novel and optimistic philosophy of the problems of love and death. This is one of the most popular and successful plays for amateurs.