Les ailes d'Icare
Bernard, Charles de, 1804-1850
Les ailes d'Icare - Nouvelle édition. - 1 online resource : multiple file formats
Release date is 2026-04-10
Ramón Pajares Box. (This file was produced from images generously made available by Gallica, Bibliothèque Nationale de France.) Ramón Pajares Box. (This file was produced from images generously made available by Gallica, Bibliothèque Nationale de France.)
"Les ailes d'Icare" by Charles de Bernard is a novel written in the mid-19th century. It follows Victor Deslandes, a young provincial magistrate stifled by small-town boredom, whose ambition and envy are stoked by a flamboyant friend basking in Parisian glamour; the story explores the lure of Paris, the vanity of social climbing, and the gap between appearances and reality.
The opening of the novel paints the dreary provincial town of D*** and Victor’s acute ennui on Mardi Gras, then jolts him with a boastful letter from his Paris friend Gustave Blondeau—now styling himself “de Gustan”—who trumpets high-society pleasures while asking for money for a grand speculation. A wry courtroom vignette underscores the pettiness of local justice and Victor’s friction with his president, sharpening his resolve to leave. He secures a generous loan and a powerful introduction from the worldly M. de Loiselay and heads to Paris. There, the glittering front rooms of Gustan’s apartment mask a squalid back chamber, and the host’s “medical diet” proves to be simple want. When Victor reveals a thick wad of banknotes and a key recommendation, Gustan recovers his charm, the housekeeper scrambles to produce a lavish meal, and a brusque creditor bursts in with an unpaid silverware bill—laying bare, from the start, the tension between show and solvency. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
French fiction -- 19th century
PQ
Les ailes d'Icare - Nouvelle édition. - 1 online resource : multiple file formats
Release date is 2026-04-10
Ramón Pajares Box. (This file was produced from images generously made available by Gallica, Bibliothèque Nationale de France.) Ramón Pajares Box. (This file was produced from images generously made available by Gallica, Bibliothèque Nationale de France.)
"Les ailes d'Icare" by Charles de Bernard is a novel written in the mid-19th century. It follows Victor Deslandes, a young provincial magistrate stifled by small-town boredom, whose ambition and envy are stoked by a flamboyant friend basking in Parisian glamour; the story explores the lure of Paris, the vanity of social climbing, and the gap between appearances and reality.
The opening of the novel paints the dreary provincial town of D*** and Victor’s acute ennui on Mardi Gras, then jolts him with a boastful letter from his Paris friend Gustave Blondeau—now styling himself “de Gustan”—who trumpets high-society pleasures while asking for money for a grand speculation. A wry courtroom vignette underscores the pettiness of local justice and Victor’s friction with his president, sharpening his resolve to leave. He secures a generous loan and a powerful introduction from the worldly M. de Loiselay and heads to Paris. There, the glittering front rooms of Gustan’s apartment mask a squalid back chamber, and the host’s “medical diet” proves to be simple want. When Victor reveals a thick wad of banknotes and a key recommendation, Gustan recovers his charm, the housekeeper scrambles to produce a lavish meal, and a brusque creditor bursts in with an unpaid silverware bill—laying bare, from the start, the tension between show and solvency. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
French fiction -- 19th century
PQ