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Louis Boussenard

Louis Boussenard (Louis Boussenard, 1847 — ?) was a French belletrist writer and author of adventure novels of the late 19th — early 20th century. By education a physician, a graduate of the medical faculty of the University of Paris. The theme of Crimea in his work is represented by the novel "The Zouaves of the Malakhov Mound" about the Crimean War of 1853–1856, in which the main character — the French zouave Jean Bourgeil (Jean-la-Tempête) — fights at Sevastopol.

Overview

Louis Boussenard was born in 1847 in France. He received a medical education at the University of Paris, but in 1875 he published his first story, after which writing became his main occupation. He belongs to the cohort of French adventure writers (along with Jules Verne, Louis Jacolliot and others), whose work shaped the genre of the European adventure novel.

The key work for the Crimean theme is the novel "The Zouaves of the Malakhov Mound" (fr. Les Zouaves du Mamelon Vert), whose action unfolds during the Crimean (Eastern) War of 1853–1856. The main character Jean Bourgeil, nicknamed Jean-la-Tempête, is a soldier of the French zouave unit, light infantry that was initially recruited from the natives of the colonies and later replenished with Frenchmen. The plot combines battle scenes (the landing of the allies at Eupatoria, the Battle of the Alma, the siege of Sevastopol) with adventurous and melodramatic elements, which is a characteristic feature of Boussenard's style.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Biography: born in 1847 in France; graduated from the medical faculty of the University of Paris; debuted as a writer in 1875; since then writing has been his main profession.
  • The novel "The Zouaves of the Malakhov Mound": an adventure work about the Crimean War. The main character Jean Bourgeil (Jean-la-Tempête) is a zouave who goes through several deadly ordeals (a tribunal's sentence, captivity, accusations of treason), but each time escapes death.
  • Zouaves: a unit of French light infantry; distinguished by their fierce disposition and contempt for death.
  • Historical context: the allied army landed at Eupatoria on September 14, the Battle of the Alma on September 20, the siege of Sevastopol. The novel features real historical figures — Marshal Saint-Arnaud (commander-in-chief of the French forces), Marshal Pélissier (his successor).
  • Espionage plotline: the "lady in black" Princess Milonova is a russian spy who poisons Marshal Saint-Arnaud; Jean-la-Tempête chases her, is taken prisoner, but it later turns out that the princess is his relative.
  • Family drama: Jean Bourgeil turns out to be the brother of Major Pavlo Milonov, who captured him. Jean's father, Captain Bourgeil, was taken prisoner by the russians in 1812, escaped from Siberia, and married Princess Milonova. The "lady in black" is a cousin to Pol (Pavlo) Bourgeil-Milonov.
  • Finale: Jean receives the rank of sub-lieutenant, marries Rose Pinson (born Princess Milonova), which turns the novel's ending into a vaudeville wedding. The article ends with a rhetorical question about the meaning of the Crimean War, in which 400,000 people died.
  • Genre feature: the novel masterfully combines the battle genre, spy thriller, family drama, and vaudeville — a synthesis of the adventurous and the sentimental characteristic of Boussenard.
  • Crimea in the Works of Foreign Literature: The Main Characters Do Not Die — an article by Valerii Verkhovsky in the newspaper "Krymska svitlytsia" (2018, No. 16), the main primary source about Boussenard and the novel "The Zouaves of the Malakhov Mound".
  • The Crimean (Eastern) War of 1853–1856 in the Kherson region — the historical era in which the events of Boussenard's novel unfold.
  • Sevastopol — the port city, the main theater of military operations in the novel "The Zouaves of the Malakhov Mound".
  • Jules Verne and Crimea — another article in the "Crimea in the Works of Foreign Literature" section about the depiction of Crimea in the work of the French science-fiction writer.
  • Beryl Bainbridge — an article in the same section about the British writer and the novel "Master Georgie" (Crimean War).
  • Jasper Fforde — an article in the same section about the Welsh science-fiction writer and the novel "The Eyre Affair" (2001) with an alternate Crimean War.
  • George Fraser — an article in the same section about the Scottish writer and the cycle about Harry Flashman (Crimean War, escape from captivity).
  • Brian Garfield — an article in the same section about the American writer and the novel "Kolchak's Gold" with a Crimean plot.
  • Colleen McCullough — an article in the same section about the Australian writer and the depiction of Mithridates/Bosporus/Panticapaeum in "The Masters of Rome".
  • Harold Lamb — an article in the same section about the American writer and the "Cossack cycle" about the Cossack Klit (Crimean Khanate, influence on Robert E. Howard).
  • Heinrich Böll — an article in the same section about the German Nobel Prize-winning writer and his Crimean frontline experience (1943).
  • Andriy Shchekun — the chief editor of the newspaper "Krymska svitlytsia", in which the article about Boussenard was published.
  • Mark Twain — an article in the same section about the American writer who visited Crimea in 1867 and described his impressions in the book "The Innocents Abroad" (bestseller of 1869).
  • Michael Moorcock — an article in the same section about the British science-fiction writer and the "Hawkmon Chronicles" cycle (techno-fantasy) with a Crimean plot (Simferopol, Kerch, "Ukrania").