Statue of Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre by par Louis Holweck, 1907
With a sculpture of the title characters from “Paul et Virginie”
Jardin des plantes
Quartier du Jardin-des-Plantes, 5th arrondissement
Paris, July 2012
“Paul et Virginie (or Paul and Virginia) is a novel by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, first published in 1787. The novel's title characters are very good friends since birth who fall in love. The story is set in the island of Mauritius under French rule, then named Île de France, which the author had visited. Written on the eve of the French Revolution, the novel is hailed as Bernardin's finest work. It records the fate of a child of nature corrupted by the false, artificial sentimentality that prevailed at the time among the upper classes of France”. (Paul et Virginie, Wikipedia)
Such a nostalgic theme. I don't think they write about this any more. I liked that corner of the Jardin.
ReplyDeleteI loved that book and the statue is delightful.
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