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The Solitude of Compassion
The Solitude of Compassion, a collection of short stories never before available in English, won popular acclaim when it was originally published in France in 1932. It tells of small-town life in Provence, drawing on a whole village of fictional characters, often warm and decent, at times immoral and coarse. Giono writes of a friendship forged in a battlefield trench in the midst of World War I; an old man’s discovery of the song of the world; and, in the title story, the not-unrelated feelings of compassion and pity. In these twenty stories, Giono reveals his marvelous storytelling through his vivid images and lyrical prose, whether he is conveying the delicate scents of lavender and pine trees, or the smells of damp earth and fresh blood.
174 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1932
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201 people want to read
About the author
Jean Giono
334 books345 followersJean Giono, the only son of a cobbler and a laundress, was one of France's greatest writers. His prodigious literary output included stories, essays, poetry, plays, film scripts, translations and over thirty novels, many of which have been translated into English.
Giono was a pacifist, and was twice imprisoned in France at the outset and conclusion of World War II.
He remained tied to Provence and Manosque, the little city where he was born in 1895 and, in 1970, died.
Giono was awarded the Prix Bretano, the Prix de Monaco (for the most outstanding collected work by a French writer), the Légion d'Honneur, and he was a member of the Académie Goncourt.
Giono was a pacifist, and was twice imprisoned in France at the outset and conclusion of World War II.
He remained tied to Provence and Manosque, the little city where he was born in 1895 and, in 1970, died.
Giono was awarded the Prix Bretano, the Prix de Monaco (for the most outstanding collected work by a French writer), the Légion d'Honneur, and he was a member of the Académie Goncourt.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 9, 2020
No wonder Henry Miller prefaced The Solitude of Compassion, Miller who sang the "Gospel of Jean Giono" for many years. He compared Giono to Emerson, Tolstoy and Thoreau. Rightly so. Giono is an author who overhangs, who sends his sentences like unstoppable judo moves. "a tall dovecote that spits silently pigeons white and pointed like quince seeds." And the reader hits the floor, he slams the tatami asking for mercy and Giono begins a new paragraph with a grin "So you want more?" And you say yes, and he throws you on the floor again and again. Manosque, Haute Provence, far from Marseilles far from Pagnol, the jealous native of Aubagne, whom Giono sued for plagiarism. The Solitude of Compassion includes a short story, Jofroi de la Maussan, of which Pagnol made a movie. There is much better in this incredibly rich short book: Joselet, the sorcerer magician; The hand, the story of the blind man who knows that it is 5 am in the morning by touching the grass, because it is the hour when earthworms come out; the great barrier and the agony of the hare and its offspring. And then there is Ivan Ivanovitch Kossiakoff, a wordless friendship in the trenches, between a Frenchman and a Russian; and of course Pan's legendary Prelude; A prodigious monument of a novel. Gothic because it deals with violence which erupts in cut off rural communities, among workers leading meager lives, violence that arises from nature hidden forces, gothic because it is about magical mysteries revealed to a stunned narrator. Pure magic realism. Short stories that stay with you.
May 27, 2022
Un recueil de nouvelles puissant, mêlant critique du capitalisme, de la violence, pour un retour à la nature, un rapport sain à la vie. Grâce à des descriptions vives, souvent extrêmes (« Prélude de Pan »), Giono arrive à retranscrire toute sortes d’émotion, entre la déroute et la tristesse, et nous immerger dans un cadre bucolique. Avec un style unique, poétique par moment, Solitude de la pitié est un ouvrage singulier à lire à tous ceux qui souhaitent continuer la découverte de l’auteur.
April 27, 2016
Glorious! A masterpiece in short stories. At first I thought of Isaac Bashevis Singer. Then I thought of Hemingway. Then I just thought of Jean Giono. These may be the most tranquil stories you may ever read; they will fill your heart with peace.
September 11, 2017
2,5/5. J'ignore encore pourquoi, mais ce livre ne m'a pas plus. Pourtant bien écrit avec des histoires qui auraient pu prendre, peut-être des histoires un peu trop littéraires pour des nouvelles, j'iame lire des nouvelles qui ont un «punch» final très fort, alors que celle-ci avait plus l'allure de bout de roman classique. Pas un mauvais livre, mais trop loin de mon style pour que je puisse l'apprécier pleinement!
February 19, 2009
I've read a couple of less-than-perfect books recently and it feels so good to be reading a really fantastic writer. His style is refreshing. I've just finished reading the story, "Prelude to Pan." That big scene is such a great image, and Giono makes it palpable with his poetry. I'm pacing myself on this so I can savor it (as I'm doing with the E.B. White as well).
Currently reading
August 13, 2009Oh Jean Giono. The anarchist peasant. Treating objects as if they were women. And vice versa. I love your stuff, but not as much as Henry Miller does. And somehow I like him less for it.
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August 23, 2025This book is alive the same way Giono identifies mountains and rivers to be alive. He is clearly a genius, remarkable, really… Something that seems like it could only occur once in a universal lifetime.
Who else writes the world as something so living? And so slowly… you can’t speed through his work. Reading this with the rush of cars passing by my apartment, then I began Céline’s Death on The Installment plan… what a shock.
Giono is so… French… definitely, because he feels so intertwined with his beautiful land. The world as something to be eaten, not as consumption, but as truly nourishing, life-giving, as if to eat is a gift, to take in the world is to receive something divine.
He seems to think about the land the way we think about friends, to him, it is a friend, maybe even a relative. His world is so living, everything is fertile and blossoming and giving. It’s such a rich, radiant world, one which I feel almost entirely alienated.
I want to remember his world and keep the living sky and the bountiful nature of the universe alive in me, amidst my city dwelling pollution, plastic wrapped and disposable neofeudalmodernity.
An environmentalist book, for certain. Mystical, political… humanistic. Sweet, and naive. He says it himself: he thinks like a child, and all the childlike personification of the whole universe is evidenced in his writing.
Truly a beautiful, precious collection. It made me cry, which is rare. It’s not even the type of book I would normally choose. I bought it at a bookstore after reading the first few pages. It’s just such a beautiful collection. Like a glimpse into a world you could almost remember, if you could lift up all the pesticides and airplanes and tractors and smog. Something preserved and documented from out from the earth’s singular memory and dreams.
It’s rare to come across writing so in love with the world, with earth, and which such deep sincerity. I don’t think I’ve read anything like it, but I only have irregular phases of reading fiction.
I love that the original French is still resonant in this translation, it reads similarly way my French friends speak English, which made it all the more comforting, welcoming.
Truly a very special experience.
Giono is some great Angel.
Who else writes the world as something so living? And so slowly… you can’t speed through his work. Reading this with the rush of cars passing by my apartment, then I began Céline’s Death on The Installment plan… what a shock.
Giono is so… French… definitely, because he feels so intertwined with his beautiful land. The world as something to be eaten, not as consumption, but as truly nourishing, life-giving, as if to eat is a gift, to take in the world is to receive something divine.
He seems to think about the land the way we think about friends, to him, it is a friend, maybe even a relative. His world is so living, everything is fertile and blossoming and giving. It’s such a rich, radiant world, one which I feel almost entirely alienated.
I want to remember his world and keep the living sky and the bountiful nature of the universe alive in me, amidst my city dwelling pollution, plastic wrapped and disposable neofeudalmodernity.
An environmentalist book, for certain. Mystical, political… humanistic. Sweet, and naive. He says it himself: he thinks like a child, and all the childlike personification of the whole universe is evidenced in his writing.
Truly a beautiful, precious collection. It made me cry, which is rare. It’s not even the type of book I would normally choose. I bought it at a bookstore after reading the first few pages. It’s just such a beautiful collection. Like a glimpse into a world you could almost remember, if you could lift up all the pesticides and airplanes and tractors and smog. Something preserved and documented from out from the earth’s singular memory and dreams.
It’s rare to come across writing so in love with the world, with earth, and which such deep sincerity. I don’t think I’ve read anything like it, but I only have irregular phases of reading fiction.
I love that the original French is still resonant in this translation, it reads similarly way my French friends speak English, which made it all the more comforting, welcoming.
Truly a very special experience.
Giono is some great Angel.
November 19, 2021
A wonderful book, an adventure within the scope of a view of the world so generous and loving, and so insightful and intimate, that one finds one's heart expanding and rising throughout the experience. Giono understands people and the relationship between man and nature better than most. His perspective is like that of a mountain intimately aware of every living being within its compass.
July 13, 2017
stunning collection of stories and vignettes
September 28, 2018
Prélude de Pan *****
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July 4, 2023Amare la natura ed essere amati da essa.
July 1, 2025
absolutely fantastic, really hard to read
January 1, 2022
An engaging collection of tales by a wise author sensitive to the power of nature and everyday life. “For a very long time, I have wanted to write a novel in which you could hear the world sing. ... To write this novel, all that is needed is new eyes, new ears, new skins, a man bruised enough, beaten enough, flayed enough by life to no longer desire anything but the lullaby sung by the world.”
August 13, 2011
I used to like short stories. At least I thought I did, but I haven't been too excited about the last two collections I have read. This is nice prose, but pretty boring. You might like it, Julie. It's about Provence!
October 29, 2008
I really enjoy this author's work. I'd like to read more of his books.
February 27, 2009
One of the most lovely and perfect books I've read.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews