Quand le rideau s'est baissé by Pierre Mille
"Quand le rideau s'est baissé" by Pierre Mille is a collection of satirical short stories written in the early 20th century. With wit and learned playfulness, it recasts legends and history—from El Cid and Columbus to a Magus, Pygmalion, and Hercules—to strip away heroic varnish and expose human vanity, pious fictions, and the comic side of “truth.” The opening of the book strings together sharp, ironic tales. First, in a comic sequel
to the Cid’s legend, an irascible mother-in-law arrives at Bivar, falls for the captive Almanzor, and, when his ransom fails and death looms, is speedily wed to him (with clerical finesse), restoring peace to Chimène and Rodrigue. Next, a mock-scholarly “true” history of Columbus shows him mishearing indigenous words, briefly realizing he has found unknown lands, proposing never to return to protect old authorities, then capitulating once gold is found. A moral fable follows in which the Magus Baalthazar, brooding on the burden of kingship, spares an assassin only to condemn him to the same lifelong fear that haunts rulers—until both break down in tears. Then a wry “authentic” Pygmalion has Aphrodite misreading artistic fervor as lust; the living Galatea merely ruins the sculptor’s work, and romance fizzles. Finally, a meeting with Hercules, enslaved and spinning for Omphale, becomes a revisionist confession: his famed labors had disastrous side effects, puncturing heroic myth as the narrative breaks off. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Mille, Pierre, 1864-1941 |
|---|---|
| Title | Quand le rideau s'est baissé |
| Original Publication | Paris :Éditions des portiques, 1928. |
| Contents | Le cid et sa belle-mère -- Véritable histoire de la découverte de l'Amérique -- Conte des Rois -- L'authentique aventure de Pygmalion -- Hercule et Omphale -- Extraits des mémoires de Pagello -- Le jugement de Salomon -- Quand ils revirent Antinéa -- Le laboureur et ses enfants -- Après la mort des prétendants. |
| Credits | Laurent Vogel and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Books project.) |
| Language | French |
| LoC Class | PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese |
| Subject | Short stories, French |
| Subject | French fiction -- 20th century |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 78036 |
| Release Date | Feb 25, 2026 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 4672 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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