Release date is 2025-12-13

Tuula Temonen and Tapio Riikonen

"Hra Baslèvren herääminen" by Édouard Estaunié is a novel written in the early 20th century. It follows Justin Baslèvre, a meticulous Parisian civil servant from Limousin whose well-ordered, solitary life begins to stir when a chance encounter with his bohemian childhood friend, Gustave Gros, unsettles his certainties and awakens long-dormant desires.

The opening of the novel paints Paris as layered worlds and lingers on the faded, secluded charm of Place des Vosges, where young Justin once rented a garret and quietly rose over decades to become a high official. Now a confirmed bachelor with an immaculate public façade, he is jolted when Gustave, a carefree writer-clerk from his past, appears at his office seeking help. Shaken, Justin slips out of work for the first time, wanders the Tuileries with the ministerial doctor Michon—who bluntly suggests Nature will reclaim him, perhaps through love—and broods over what he may have missed. He then intercedes with Beaux-Arts chief Rabault to spare Gustave a reprimand and, driven by curiosity, visits Gustave’s address on Boulevard Blanqui. Surprised by the man’s respectable home, Justin listens as their guarded, ironic talk hints at hardship behind Gustave’s cheer—and at the first cracks in Justin’s own carefully sealed life. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: Helsinki: Otava, 1923