03078cam a22003373u 450000100060000000300070000600500170001300600020003000700050003200800410003701000130007804000110009104100170010205000070011910000490012624500310017526400510020630000470025733600260030433700260033033800360035650000310039250501560042350801890057952017700076853400470253865300260258565300350261185600510264685600430269775792UtSlPG20260610134744.0mcr n260607r20251920utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d  a20016187  aUtSlPG 7afr2iso639-1 4aPQ1 aLenormand, H.-R.q(Henri-René),d1882-195113aLe penseur et la crétine 1aSalt Lake City, UT :bProject Gutenberg,c2025  a1 online resource :bmultiple file formats  atextbtxt2rdacontent  acomputerbc2rdamedia  aonline resourcebcr2rdacarrier  aRelease date is 2025-04-040 aLe penseur et la crétine -- Printemps marocain -- A l'ecart -- La plus malheureuse -- La piémontaise -- La métisse -- L'ami des jaunes -- Le col.  aLaurent Vogel and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Books project.)  a"Le penseur et la crétine : récits" by H.-R. Lenormand is a collection of short stories written in the early 20th century. The book examines the lives and inner worlds of various characters as they confront the limits of intellect, happiness, culture, and the boundaries between thought, instinct, and society. Through philosophically infused narratives, it explores questions about the human condition, such as the sources of suffering, the meaning of happiness, and the nature of artistic creation, often in stark or exotic settings.  The opening of the book introduces Auvernier, an intellectual and writer retreating to a remote mountain village to finish his much-anticipated philosophical work about happiness and thought. Immersed in a rustic environment among so-called "inferior" villagers marked by poverty and superstition, Auvernier methodically observes their lives, focusing on a local woman with intellectual disability—the "crétine." As he witnesses her simple pleasures, his faith in the supremacy of thought and cultivated happiness is shaken, leading to existential doubt about the value and reach of intellect. The subsequent story moves to Morocco, following British expatriates and their uneasy interactions with local customs and mysticism, foregrounding cultural misunderstandings and the limits of rational benevolence. The narrative then shifts again, this time to the life of a sensitive, alienated artist in North Africa, exploring the connection between creativity, desire, and suffering. Overall, the opening stories interrogate the presumed superiority of intellect, the vulnerability of ideals, and the complex realities faced by individuals in unfamiliar or marginal situations. (This is an automatically generated summary.)  pOriginally published:cParis: Crès, 1920  aShort stories, French  aFrench fiction -- 20th century4 uhttps://books.google.com/books?id=UYQMAQAAMAAJ40uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75792