Louis Bertrand

Saint Augustine, alternatively recognized as Augustine of Hippo, emerged as a distinguished Christian theologian and philosopher during the concluding era of the Roman Empire. The individual in question has exerted a significant and enduring impact on Western Christianity and philosophy through his life, teachings, and written works. Augustine, who was born in 354 AD in Thagaste, situated in North Africa (present-day Algeria), experienced a formative period in his youth characterized by a quest for significance and a pursuit of intellectual inquiry. Subsequently, he had a conversion to Christianity and ascended to the esteemed position of bishop in Hippo Regius, a city which presently corresponds to Annaba, Algeria. Augustine's renowned literary masterpiece, "Confessions," represents a profound spiritual autobiography that delves into his transformative odyssey from a hedonistic existence to a life devoted to Christianity. Within his literary works, the author engaged with fundamental inquiries pertaining to the essence of human nature, the concept of free will, the existence of evil, and the inherent characteristics of the divine entity. The theological arguments within Christianity are still influenced by his perspectives on original sin and the notion of predestination. Louis Bertrand, a notable French novelist of the 20th century, is widely recognized for his biographical opus titled "Saint Augustine." The work of literature goes deeply into the life and intellectual contributions of the extremely famous Christian philosopher, Saint Augustine.

Louis Bertrand's Gaspard de la Nuit: Fantasies in the Manner of Rembrandt and Callot (originally published in 1842 in France) is credited as being the first Western collected work that stands on its own of the modern prose poem. Constructed almost like a hall of mirrors, Bertrand used the character of Gaspard to render these vignettes that are fantasies of life gone by. Written in the early 19th century, but mimicking life two, three and even four centuries before, the modern reader is presented with what a mirror does best: presenting both 'sides' of an image - ugliness and beauty. Each piece deftly paints its own scene. Bertrand uses his unique version of Romanticism and fuses it with his conception of the Gothic. His subject matter ranges from the beautiful dream to horrific nightmare, from kings and queens to low-born tavern keepers and bandits. Consisting of six "books" -- Flemish School, Old Paris, Night and Its Spells, Chronicles, Spain and Italy, and Sylphs -- this edition tries to follow Bertrand's initial instructions on how he wanted his manuscript to appear: full of images everywhere, including all of Bertrand's known drawings. Over 300 images are included, mostly period artwork. The book did not have much success at the time with the general public, but it did have a profound effect on a number of French writers (Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Mallarm , the Surrealists, Jacob, etc.). Bertrand's book inspired Charles Baudelaire to apply "to the description of our more abstract modern life the same method Bertrand] used in depicting the old days, so strangely picturesque." It was Gaspard that prompted Baudelaire's quest in Paris Spleen to attain "the miracle of a poetic prose, musical, without rhythm and without rhyme, supple enough and rugged enough to adapt to the lyrical impulses of the soul, the undulations of reverie, the jibes of conscience." And for Andr Breton, "Bertrand is Surrealist in the past." This translation seeks to be as faithful as possible to Bertrand's original manuscript.

Louis Bertrand's GASPARD DE LA NUIT: FANTASIES IN THE MANNER OF REMBRANDT AND CALLOT (originally published in 1842 in France) is credited as being the first Western collected work that stands on its own of the modern prose poem. Constructed almost like a hall of mirrors, Bertrand used the character of Gaspard to render these vignettes that are fantasies of life gone by. Written in the early 19th century, but mimicking life two, three and even four centuries before, the modern reader is presented with what a mirror does best: presenting both 'sides' of an image - ugliness and beauty. Each piece deftly paints its own scene. Bertrand uses his unique version of Romanticism and fuses it with his conception of the Gothic. His subject matter ranges from the beautiful dream to horrific nightmare, from kings and queens to low-born tavern keepers and bandits. Consisting of six "books"--Flemish School, Old Paris, Night and Its Spells, Chronicles, Spain and Italy, and Sylphs-- this edition tries to follow Bertrand's initial instructions on how he wanted his manuscript to appear: full of images everywhere, including all of Bertrand's known drawings. Over 300 images are included, mostly period artwork. The book did not have much success at the time with the general public, but it did have a profound effect on a number of French writers (Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Mallarm , the Surrealists, Jacob, etc.). Bertrand's book inspired Charles Baudelaire to apply "to the description of our more abstract modern life the same method Bertrand] used in depicting the old days, so strangely picturesque." It was Gaspard that prompted Baudelaire's quest in Paris Spleen to attain "the miracle of a poetic prose, musical, without rhythm and without rhyme, supple enough and rugged enough to adapt to the lyrical impulses of the soul, the undulations of reverie, the jibes of conscience." And for Andr Breton, "Bertrand is Surrealist in the past." This translation seeks to be as faithful as possible to Bertrand's original manuscript." A splendid translation of Bertrand, which makes available a text that brings to the light of day the underside of experience that has not yet been noticed. There is some curious mingling of the ordinary and the extraordinary in Bertrand, whose angle of vision and unique perspective have yielded an outstanding text."--Lawrence FixelPoetry. Translation.

" Je me souviendrai longtemps de la ga t irr v rencieuse qui me prit, lorsque, pour la premi re fois, dans Stamboul je me trouvai en pr sence de la Sublime-Porte. C'est droite, en montant la longue rue tortueuse qui conduit Sainte-Sophie, - une rue tranquille et peu commer ante, comme celles qui conduisent la cath drale dans nos villes de province. Le petit tramway jaune, qui nous tra nait cahin-caha, s' tait arr t , pour relayer, devant une curie chevaux pratiqu e m me le mur du Vieux-S rail. Nous roulions entre une double rang e de fa ades mornes, aux rares ouvertures: une porte apparut, toute semblable la porte coch re d'un jardin abandonn , avec des ferrures mang es de rouille et une esp ce d'auvent qui s' tend de chaque c t . Pr cipitamment, je descendis du tramway, je consultai mon Baedeker: c' tait bien Elle, - la Sublime-Porte, dont le nom seul v que de si fastueuses images Le contraste tait ce point violent entre la merveille esp r e et ce que j'avais sous les yeux, que je ne pus ma triser un clat de rire, au grand scandale des soldats turcs, qui, du poste voisin, m'observaient. En vain je la consid rai, cette Sublime-Porte, m' vertuant y d couvrir quelque chose d'extraordinaire. Tout ce que je constatai, c'est qu'elle est fort d labr e et qu'elle ferme mal. Et je m'en allai, cruellement d u..."

Un peu partout, sur les murs de nos places et de nos gares, m me les plus humbles, on peut voir de superbes affiches en couleurs, qui, de tr s loin, requi rent imp rieusement l'attention. Cela repr sente une ville de f erie envelopp e dans toutes les flammes et toutes les pourpres du couchant, avec des maisons vermeilles, un minaret octogone coiffe d'un toit pointu, et, au premier plan, des chameaux pleins de dignit , qui d filent d'un pas circonspect de figurants bien styl s; - ou, rang s sur le quai d'un port, entre deux palmiers, des hommes au teint basan , noblement drap s dans les plis de leurs burnous, ou encore une dame brune, accroupie devant les cr neaux d'une terrasse, en veste broch e et culotte de gaze paillet e d'argent, derri re laquelle une petite n gresse brandit un parasol; - et, les uns et les autres contemplent avec l'expression la plus sympathique, ou un air de tendre m lancolie, un beau paquebot blanc et rouge voguant sur les flots paisibles d'une mer toute bleue. Cette ville en or, qui semble faite uniquement pour le plaisir des yeux, c'est Tunis, - et ces aimables et magnifiques personnages qui consid rent leurs h tes d'Europe avec un si affectueux int r t, ce sont nos bons et loyaux sujets d'Alg rie et de Tunisie...

Ludwig XIV. - der Sonnenkonig - gilt als Inbegriff des absolutistischen Herrschers. Seine militarischen Erfolge und sein prachtiger Herrschaftsstil machten ihn zum Vorbild aller Fursten in Europa. In diesem Werk zeigt Louis Bertrand nicht nur den Herrscher, sondern auch den Menschen, der sich hinter dem Bild des dekadenten, barocken Monarchen verbirgt. Von der Geburt bis zum Tod verfolgt der Autor alle Facetten des Lebens und der Regentschaft Ludwigs XIV. und zeigt insbesondere das Verstandnis von Macht, Kultur und Wissenschaft im 17. Jahrhundert. Die vorliegende Ausgabe ist ein hochwertiger Nachdruck der Originalschrift von 1927.

" Pr cis ment parce que j'arrive Barcelone, je ne dirai rien ni des v nements qui s'y sont d roul s, l' t dernier, ni des mesures de rigueur que le gouvernement espagnol a cru devoir y adopter et qui ont soulev un tel tapage dans la presse fran aise et europ enne. Personne, en Catalogne, ne m'a parl de ces sujets, sans que je l'y eusse d'abord invit , et encore m'a-t-on r pondu partout, - m me dans les milieux socialistes et r publicains, - avec cette r serve, ce flegme, cette pond ration qui distinguent le caract re catalan. Tandis que, chez nous, toutes les cervelles taient l'envers, - l -bas, elles taient bien tranquillement dans leur assiette. Sans doute, les Barcelonais ne se dissimulent pas la gravit de la crise dont tous ont eu souffrir, mais ils la consid rent comme un simple accident, une perturbation inattendue et passag re dans la vie laborieuse de leur grande cit , qui en a vu bien d'autres Quand on prononce devant eux le gros mot de r volution, ils r pliquent, en riant, que c'est Paris et non Barcelone que la r volution a eu lieu. Si l'on insiste, ils vous donnent entendre que vous vous m lez peut- tre de ce qui ne vous regarde pas..."