This book is the first scholarly, annotated edition of Mary Elizabeth Braddon's only French novella, Le Pasteur de Marston, published serially in Le Figaro during 1881 and never before translated or published in Britain. This edition places the original French version of the serial alongside an original translation into English. It includes detailed footnotes, a note on the text, a critical introduction, and appendices containing contextual material. The introduction offers a scholarly discussion of this little-known Braddon text, the circumstances of its publication and composition, and a comprehensive account of the approach taken to translation of this text. The additional material includes an original essay on Braddon's relationship with French literature and culture and her extensive engagement with 19th century French novels.
Of all the sensation novelists of the Victorian period, Mary Elizabeth Braddon had the most significant and complex relationship with contemporary French fiction. Throughout her career Braddon consistently sought to emulate the techniques and ideas of writers such as Balzac, Flaubert, and Zola in her own fiction, and she published numerous articles on French literature in her magazine Belgravia.
This novella is unique in Braddon's oeuvre; it was her only fiction written specifically for the French press and it was never republished in an English edition or in volume form. The plot follows the story of Deuzil, a dissenting minister in a small provincial English town, who is hiding a criminal past. As he begins to woo the local heiress, Cecily, the legacies of the past return to endanger Deuzil's present prosperity and respectability. With its emphasis on secrets and criminality, the subject matter is similar to the sensation novels that made her famous and for which she remains chiefly known.
