Ondine (Ldp Theatre) (French Edition) by J. Giraudoux

by Jean Giraudoux

Produced in rough cut Vellum Pages

Genres: Plays, Classics, Theatre, France, Fiction, Fantasy, French Literature

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1938

About the author

Greek mythology or Biblical stories base dramas, such as Electra (1937), of French writer Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux, who also wrote several novels. He fathered Jean-Pierre Giraudoux.

People consider this French novelist, essayist, diplomat. and playwright among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. They note his work for its stylistic elegance and poetic fantasy. The relationship between man and woman or some unattainable ideal in some cases dominates themes of Giraudoux .

Léger Giraudoux, father of Jean Giraudoux, worked for the ministry of transport. Giraudoux studied at the Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux and upon graduation traveled extensively in Europe. After his return to France in 1910, he accepted a position with the ministry of foreign affairs.
With the outbreak of World War I, he served with distinction and in 1915 became the first writer ever to be awarded the wartime Legion of Honour.

He married in 1918 and in the subsequent inter-war period produced the majority of his writing. He first achieved literary success through his novels, notably Siegfried et le Limousin (1922) and Eglantine (1927). An ongoing collaboration with actor and theater director Louis Jouvet, beginning in 1928 with Jouvet's radical streamlining of Siegfried for the stage, stimulated his writing. But it is through his plays that gained him international renown. He became well known in the English-speaking world largely because of the award-winning adaptations of his plays by Christopher Fry (The Trojan War Will Not Take Place) and Maurice Valency (The Madwoman of Chaillot, Ondine, The Enchanted, The Apollo of Bellac).

Giraudoux served as a juror with Florence Meyer Blumenthal in awarding the Prix Blumenthal, a grant given between 1919 and 1954 to painters, sculptors, decorators, engravers, writers, and musicians.

He is buried in the Cimetière de Passy in Paris.

His son, Jean-Pierre Giraudoux, was also a writer.

Reviews

[Manny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd never thought about it before, but there's something fundamentally unsatisfying about the way mermaids are treated in literature. Like, in Peter Pan they only pretend they want to drown Wendy and let Peter rescue her when she's no more than slightly damp. In Splash!, we know perfectly well that in real life Tom Hanks would have run a mile when Daryl Hannah turned up. He'd have made some feeble excuse, then called his dull girlfriend to say that actually he loved her, he was just having trouble expressing his feelings. And in the original Hans Christian Andersen version of The Little Mermaid, why do the heroine's beautiful and remorseless sisters give her the dagger at the end and let her decide whether she's going to kill the prince, knowing that she won't be able to do it? Until this week, I'd have been prepared to go out on a limb and say we don't take mermaids seriously.

Well, hold the front page! Ondine suffers from none of the above problems.

[Isa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Medieval tales of supernatural women longing for a human lover and a mortal soul are common throughout Europe, from Melusine, to dragon and serpent women, to Ondine.
These mythical women's nature draws in the reader: while they are not good, (being supernatural), their motives are usually pure and the men are the ones who bring about the unhappy ending.

There is no duality to Giraudoux's Ondine, her supernatural nature is never seen as evil, especially because religion is not really brought into the story. Even so, she is delightful in her childlike wonder. The play is charming in its entirety and Ondine's enchantingly eerie ways give a touching insight into human nature.

A great read, recommended to all.

[fanny · Rating 3 out of 5]

that’s cool but the girl is kind of a psychopath

[David A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Merci Emilie j'ai adoré c'est devenu de plus en plus cosmique et émouvant en avançant.

[Akemi G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is brilliant! The book description may suggest an old-fashioned love tragedy, which is not inaccurate, but this is so much more. Witty, funny, surreal.

Ondines (or undine) are water spirits, some kind of relatives to mermaids. The heroine, simply named Ondine, is pure, honest, infinitely loving . . . exactly the type to cause problems in the human society. She falls in love with a man. Someone is destined to die . . .

This French drama is based on the German novella by Friedrich de la Motte Fouquee. I haven't read that older book . . . sounds less interesting than this.

(Read in Japanese translation. I just wonder why such masterpiece is so ignored in the US.)

[Myriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jean Giraudoux nous livre un texte plein de fantaisie poétique avec un regard nouveau et intéressant sur l'homme et sa relation avec le merveilleux et la métaphysique.

[Ines Kaddouri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good! At the same time, it's a romance soo
Though, obviously, some things were quite weird, but apart from that it was a really good read!

[eight · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Je savais bien qu'il devait y avoir une raison pour être fille. La raison est que les hommes sont aussi beaux..." comment ça mon reuf ?

[Sarra.o · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed my reading experience with this one. It was very entertaining despite the sad ending!

[am · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cet univers féerique doit être un véritable amusement pour les metteurs en scène. J'ai trouvé cette pièce très originale et très fraîche. J'ai beaucoup apprécié. Elle est très intelligente. J'adore cette atmosphère médiévale ordinaire avec la cour royale, ses chevaliers et ses paysans, mélangée au monde merveilleux de la mer. Ce que je trouve assez fort que là-dedans rien ne soit normal, mais que tout soit cohérent pour le spectateur et pour les personnages non habitués. C'est bien fait.

[Hélène Lamboley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Drôle, poétique, profond, intense. J’ai adoré cette pièce que je crois avoir déjà lu plus jeune mais sans doute sans l’avoir vraiment comprise car je ne m’en souvenais plus vraiment. Cette pièce était faite pour moi qui suis passionnée par les récits et légendes médiévales et fascinée par l’eau et ses symboliques. La magie de l’histoire, sa réflexion sur l’illusion théâtrale et fictionnelle de même ne pouvaient que passionner la professeure de français que je suis

[Jimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. The story was enjoyable if hard to follow at times. I’m not entirely sure what the point was though it seemed to be a tragedy. Ondine at the beginning is this naive teenager who is also a dangerous water nymph. Then in the final act she made Hans believe she cheated on him but it seems at the end that she didn’t. I’m really not sure what to think.

[Adeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

J'ai aimé le côté légende et féerie, l'idée de la nature et de l'humanité personnifiées... ...mais j'avoue que j'étais en même temps exaspérée par les deux personnages principaux. Leurs traits me semblaient exagérés et leurs actions sans profondeur... J'avais beaucoup aimé La guerre de Troie, mais j'ai eu du mal avec Ondine. Peut être que voir la pièce jouée me plairait davantage...

[Dalia Fawzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

اوندين هي اصل اسطورة عروسة البحر اللي بتحب ادمي و بينقلها معاه لحياة البشر اللي مليانة زيف و مواءمات هي مبتعرفش تتعايش فيها.
The mermaid
عموماً نصيحة جربو تعملو بيها : من آن لآخر حاولو تفصلو و تقرو fairy tales
هتفرق كتير لصحتكم النفسية :)

[yael · Rating 2 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐ Alors ok, c'est bien mais sans plus.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this play, a knight errant called Hans is welcomed by fishermen following a violent storm. The fishermen's adopted daughter falls in love with the knight, setting in motion a tale of love, hate and betrayal. Due to her supernatural condition, Ondine makes a pact to bind herself to a human, but her semblants warn her: Hans is destined to deceive her and Ondine will suffer amnesia. She tries to adapt to courtly life and must face Bertha, Hans's original fiancée.

Like a tragedy, this play shows how things start well and end badly. Giraudoux perfectly captures the failings of the human soul in its relationships with others and with nature in particular. Nature, personified by Ondine, whose purity is unparalleled, is afflicted by human failings. From strangers to lovers, fatality imposes itself between Hans and Ondine: if she is immortal and willing to relinquish her powers for a man, he, being fallible, will inevitably betray her. Gullible Ondine will face up to this harsh fate.

Underlying the story is a small dose of feminism: women, like nature, give life and bring happiness, as evidenced by the miraculous events that befall the fishermen after they adopt Ondine. However, Ondine is stubborn and wants to be able to do what the knight can do, which may link this play to Plato's myth of the Androgyne. The knight, on the other hand, has a narrow view of roles, bordering on separatism. However, Ondine is extremely naïve in that she is neither educated nor cultured in the same way as men on Earth. Instead, she possesses an innate state of nature that confers total empathy and purity.

Human beings are full of lies, selfishness, and intolerance, as demonstrated by both the Chamberlain and Hans. The poet reflects on the meaning and place of speech, as well as the ethics of delegating it to those who master it better than others.

Giraudoux offers us a fine reinterpretation of the original medieval tale in this absolute romantic tragedy. It's a delightful read by the lake!

[Atefe Dtr · Rating 4 out of 5]

این نمایشنامه برای من جز همون دسته‌ای بود که وقتی می‌خوندمش خیلی برام جذاب نبود اما همین که شروع میکنم به فکر کردن و نوشتن ازش جذابیتش خودشو نشون می‌ده.
ماجرای درام این نمایش برمی‌گرده به اسطوره‌ی یونانی که اولین بار تو کتاب پارسلسوس مطرح شده. برای من اینکه «اوندین» چرا مونث بوده جالب بود و وقتی فهمیدم به اعتقاد یونانی‌ها برمی‌گرده که آب مونثه یهو یادم افتاد که تو زبان فرانسوی و ایتالیایی هم آب مونثه. این تاثیرات به جا مونده تو دنیای امروزی برای من جالبه:)))
خود داستان اوندین هم زیبا بود. اینکه عشق برای یه انسان و یه موجودی که روح نداره چجور تعریف میشه. اوندین، کاراکتر اصلی داستان، شخصیت هنجارگریزی بین هم‌نوعاش محسوب میشه که می‌خواد عشق رو تجربه کنه و دنبالش می‌ره، می‌ذاره عواطف توش نفوذ کنن و جلوشو نمی‌گیره.
پایان داستان واقعا تلخ بود اینکه هانس با مرگ و اوندین با فراموشی این عشق رو از بین می‌برن:))
🐾

[Justine Vergier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ondine is a beautiful play... If you forget about Ondine and Hans. They're both so superficial, Ondine with her constant changes of emotions and Hans, the perfect representation of a flawed man, so perfect that it's annoying, really annoying. What beautiful about this, is the secondary characters. The adoptive parents, the king and queen, the poet, Bertha... They all have this humanity in them, that makes them so human and interresting.

[Andréa Lechner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another of my audition pieces for the Paris Conservatoire, I absolutely adore this text. Not a play in the classic sense, but a dreamy Wagnerian escapade. I directed part of it in Buenos Aires as I did my finals before going to France to study drama. I loved imagining how Giraudoux's world might have looked when he first wrote the play, and enjoyed working with superb actors and our own handmade sets. I remember my brother rigged the lighting and put the music together. A wonderful memory.

[Audra · Rating 4 out of 5]

So beautiful and poetic. 4 stars because the cheeky “play within a play” stuff in act 2 annoyed me (wowww so clever). Also because Ondine acts like a pick-me and all the characters can be kind of stupid and melodramatic. Like shut up sometimes, you know? But what can you expect from what is basically a fairytale, I guess. I can totally imagine Audrey Hepburn in this play (she played ondine on broadway in the 1950s). This is a compliment, even though I described Ondine as a pick-me earlier.

[Carolyn Page · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read it mostly because it had starred Audrey Hepburn and Mel Ferrer in the Broadway production (I really don't get the drama over Mel, he reminds me of a bugeyed trout) but I was surprised to read some lines that were familiar to me! I didn't care really for it overall, but I'm glad I finally got around to reading it.

[Chen Pang · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first with Jean Giraudoux. I'm not a man of theater, or an appreciator of theater myself. However, Giraudoux's use of old and new and creative writing really caught me off guard. You couldn't help falling in love with the drama and the romance he wrote about.
I also want to thank Jonas Mekas for bringing this great author into my life.

[Clara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Très bon départ avec le premier acte mais la suite m'a vite refroidie.
J'ai du mal avec les pièces de théâtre en général de toute façon.
Celle-ci reste toutefois très agréable et rapide à lire en traitant de la bêtise humaine en amour.
Dommage que mon édition spoilait l'histoire entière au début.

[Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jolie pièce de théâtre plutôt féerique et imaginative par son mélange de registres et son rythme dynamique. L’histoire m’a un peu endormie cependant par moments malgré sa fantaisie, et je suis un peu gênée de certains passages même s’ils sont là pour montrer une certaine sottise humaine à l’approche du surnaturel

[Bamdad · Rating 4 out of 5]

غریب، سرسام‌آور، مضحک و در عین حال رویاوار. درست مثل کاراکتر "اوندین"
کتاب را لیلی گلستان به خوبی به فارسی برگردانده است. کار سختی است فهم ژیرودو، چه برسد به ترجمهٔ آن!. زحمات عباس آگاهی، عبدالله کوثری و لیلی گلستان در زمینهٔ ترجمهٔ آثار ژیرودو به فارسی ستودنی است.

[Alice Rovani · Rating 3 out of 5]

le dévouement perlé au fil tragique et donc usé d’Ondine ombrage les jeux hilarants avec son ignorance de l’étiquette (vous êtes même quelque peu graveleux, ce n’est pas pour déplaire). Végétarisme et animisme agréables, mais vraiment Hans tu chois ridicule

[Filip Bieger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une pièce à propos de la relation entre l’Allemagne et la France. Ondine, la France, et Hans, l’Allemagne. Deux amants qui ne peuvent jamais s’aimer. Giraudoux aimait bien les allemands, malgré avoir les combattu pendant le premier guerre mondiale.

[Subilia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Génial.

[Talyn Edelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite scripts.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a very long time since I read a play, especially a French surrealist play. Have no idea really what all the hidden meanings were, but loved it.