Product Description

The class of Bohemians referred to in this book are not a race of today they have existed in all climes and ages and can claim an illustrious descent.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1379608 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-11
• Released on: 2007-02-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 292 pages

Customer Reviews

E come vivo? Vivo!
Murger's original 1851 novel, which was to be the basis for operas by Leoncavallo and, more famously by Puccini, is rather different in form and content from the focus of the opera (in Puccini at least) on the relationship between Rodolfo and Mimi. The four bohemians are indeed all there however - Rodolphe, Schaunard, Colline and Marcel, four starving artists, a poet, a musician, a philosopher and a painter, who come to share accommodation, gather for drinks at the Café Momus, help each other out when necessary and encourage each other in appreciation of their respective talents, confident that their artistry will be eventually reach its public and be handsomely rewarded.

The playful attempts of these four men to entertain each other while struggling to make enough money to survive and eat in the meantime, indulging the occasional extravagance that is beyond their means only make it through to Puccini's opera as colourful background scenes, but they are the main focus of Murger's novel, or at least the larger part of it. Not so much a novel as a collection of incidents and adventures featuring a recurring cast, there is however a running narrative of sorts that connects them together - (Tama Janowitz's Slaves of New York can be seen to have been a modern-day updating of the style and content of Bohemians of the Latin Quarter) - and that mildly irreverent tone of chaotic aspiring artist's lives that is captured in the opera is certainly evident throughout here.

While there are plenty of incidents, schemes and carousing to entertain in the adventures of the bohemian artists of Paris, it's the celebrated story of the insecure, jealous, tormented poet Rodolphe and turbulent affairs with the beautiful but unfaithful gold-digging Mimi and the equally tragic story of Francine and Jacques that are just as central to the novel as they are (the two combined into one) in Puccini's opera. Murger describes the intense joy and tragedy of these troubled relationships though some beautiful poetic prose portraits and a depiction of the consequences of poverty that is a little less idealised than Puccini and Illica's vision, but certainly no less passionately romantic and emotionally moving.

Unexpectedly funny - a worthy classic French read
Anyone coming across this book will doubtless already know that the opera "La Boheme" by Puccini is a tale based in this book by Murger. The book was written in 1888 and is really a series of 23 loosely connected short sketches in the lives of the Bohemians Rodolpho, Marcel, Colline and Schaunard and others. These gentlemen are talented(?) yet forever poor individuals in various arts including painting, poetry, music and philosophy. They do make money but are always spending it enjoying the bohemian lifestyle; and thus perpetually in debt, furnitureless and cold.

The guys have love affairs which I think are presented in a, for its time, forthright (though not scandalous) style with unambiguous references to overnight stays and unmarried intercourse. There is an incredible amount of clever humour, turn-of-phrase and light-heartedness in many of the tales (e.g. a parrot sketch, Oscar Wildesque banter, forgotten lobster in a pocket sketch, repeated attempts to disguise a painting for re-entry to an annual exhibition etc). What perhaps was missing is, though there are several instances of sadness, lose, poverty and death I didn't feel the author was as able to communicate the `reality' of these depriving situations as well as, and in counterpoint to, the humour - the silver lining seemed to be ever present.

The story of La Boheme is a mixture of the sketches based around Mimi and Rodolpho which is the saddest story and most significant arc in the book. The overall effect within the novel itself is quite poignant; but I cannot decide that if it had been written as a French classic book concentrating on their relationship alone or the humour alone whether the effect might have been better; the author was clearly very adept and passionate. I would say that overall the book is well worth reading since it is undoubtedly the most humourous classic French literature I've ever ready (but perhaps disappointing, in that yet again the heroine dies of a lung disease).