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    The Seven Wives Of Bluebeard 1920
    The Seven Wives Of Bluebeard 1920
    The Seven Wives Of Bluebeard 1920
    Ebook58 pages38 minutes

    The Seven Wives Of Bluebeard 1920

    By J. Lewis (James Lewis) May, D. B. Stewart, Bernard Miall and Anatole France

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 27, 2013
    The Seven Wives Of Bluebeard 1920

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      Book preview

      The Seven Wives Of Bluebeard 1920 - J. Lewis (James Lewis) May

      Project Gutenberg's The Seven Wives Of Bluebeard, by Anatole France

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

      almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or

      re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

      with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

      Title: The Seven Wives Of Bluebeard

             1920

      Author: Anatole France

      Editor: James Lewis May And Bernard Miall

      Translator: D. B. Stewart

      Release Date: May 9, 2008 [EBook #25411]

      Last Updated: January 8, 2013

      Language: English

      *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEVEN WIVES OF BLUEBEARD ***

      Produced by David Widger

      THE SEVEN WIVES OF BLUEBEARD

      By Anatole France

      Edited By James Lewis May And Bernard Miall

      Translted by D.B. Stewart

      John Lane Company MCMXX

      Contents

      THE SEVEN WIVES OF BLUEBEARD

      CHAPTER I

      THE strangest, the most varied, the most erroneous opinions have been expressed with regard to the famous individual commonly known as Bluebeard. None, perhaps, was less tenable than that which made of this gentleman a personification of the Sun. For this is what a certain school of comparative mythology set itself to do, some forty years ago. It informed the world that the seven wives of Bluebeard were the Dawns, and that his two brothers-in-law were the morning and the evening Twilight, identifying them with the Dioscuri, who delivered Helena when she was rapt away by Theseus. We must remind those readers who may feel tempted to believe this that in 1817 a learned librarian of Agen, Jean-Baptiste Pérés, demonstrated, in a highly plausible manner, that Napoleon had never existed, and that the story of this supposed great captain was nothing but a solar myth. Despite the most ingenious diversions of the wits, we cannot possibly doubt that Bluebeard and Napoleon did both actually exist.

      An hypothesis no better founded is that which Consists in identifying Bluebeard with the Marshal de Rais, who was strangled by the arm of the Law above the bridges of Nantes on 26th of October, 1440. Without inquiring, with M. Salomon Reinach, whether the Marshal committed the crimes for which he was condemned, or whether his wealth, coveted by a greedy prince, did not in some degree contribute to his undoing, there is nothing in his life that resembles what we find in Bluebeard's; this alone is enough to prevent our confusing them or merging the two individuals into one.

      Charles Perrault, who, about 1660, had the merit of composing the first biography of this seigneur, justly remarkable for having married seven wives, made him an accomplished villain, and the most perfect model of cruelty that ever trod the earth. But it is permissible to doubt, if not his sincerity, at least the correctness of his information. He may, perhaps, have been prejudiced against his hero. He would not have been the first example of a poet or historian who liked to darken the colours of his pictures. If we have what seems a flattering portrait of Titus, it would seem, on the other hand, that Tacitus has painted Tiberius much

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