''The Green Mare'' () is a humorous

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

writer

Marcel Aymé Marcel Aymé (29 March 1902 – 14 October 1967) was a French novelist and playwright, who also wrote screenplays and works for children. Biography Marcel André Aymé was born in Joigny, in the Burgundy region of France, the youngest of si ...

first published by Gallimard in 1933. Aymé probably wrote ''La Jument verte'' during 1932 and early 1933. The novel was published to great success in June 1933, but provoked violent reactions from some quarters due to its frank depictions of sex. The story is divided into seventeen chapters and is written using the third person narrative mode; interspersed between them are a number of interludes all entitled "The Observations of the Green Mare" which are written as first person narratives. These two different narrative modes used throughout the book allow the reader to observe the characters and situations from slightly different perspectives. The novel is essentially an examination of the sexual mores and behaviors of the members of a small 19th century French village (the fictitious Claquebue in the Jura department) around the time of the Franco-Prussian War. The plot concerns a

feud A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one par ...

that has taken place for generations between the Haudouin and Maloret families, and a missing letter that contains revealing secrets relating to the conflict. The green mare of the title is in fact a magical

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and a ...

of an unusually-colored

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

owned by one of the Haudouins that has somehow been imbued with an observing

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

by the artist who painted it. ''The Green Mare'' has been translated into English twice, first by an anonymous translator for The Fortune Press in 1938, and then by Norman Denny for

The Bodley Head The Bodley Head is an English publishing house, founded in 1887 and existing as an independent entity until the 1970s. The name was used as an imprint of Random House Children's Books from 1987 to 2008. In April 2008, it was revived as an adul ...

in 1955. The book was filmed by

Claude Autant-Lara Claude Autant-Lara (; 5 August 1901 – 5 February 2000) was a French film director and later Member of the European Parliament (MEP). Biography Born at Luzarches in Val-d'Oise, Autant-Lara was educated in France and at London's Mill Hill Sc ...

in 1959 as '' The Green Mare''.

References

External links

* The Norman Denny translation, available at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Publicity page
at

Éditions Gallimard Éditions Gallimard (), formerly Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française (1911–1919) and Librairie Gallimard (1919–1961), is one of the leading French book publishers. In 2003 it and its subsidiaries published 1,418 titles. Founded by Ga ...

's website 1933 French novels Éditions Gallimard books French novels adapted into films Novels by Marcel Aymé {{1930s-novel-stub