Public-domain ebook
by Eugène Sue
Language: en8,827 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Adventure·Novels·Mythology, Legends & Folklore
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #3350.
The Wandering Jew is a sprawling historical‑fiction saga that intertwines the fate of a cursed traveler with the turbulent politics of early‑nineteenth‑century France. The novel opens on the frozen frontier of the Bering Strait, where a man and a woman, each leaving distinct footprints in the snow, confront a ferocious polar storm and an aurora that briefly bridges the Old and New Worlds. From that stark prologue the narrative launches into a series of books and chapters that trace the condemned wanderer’s encounters with Jesuits, conspiracies, and the French regime of Louis‑Philippe, while also presenting a host of vivid scenes, torture chambers, secret diaries, and dramatic courtroom confrontations, that echo the author’s own background as a physician and sailor.
Sue’s prose is richly descriptive, steeped in the melodramatic tone of Romantic‑era serials, and his pacing mirrors the serialized structure of the original publication. Readers who relish intricate plots, period detail, and the blend of adventure with moral and religious intrigue will find the novel’s elaborate architecture and its blend of historical and fantastical elements compelling.
The opening · free to read
Time and again physicians and seamen have made noteworthy reputations as novelists. But it is rare in the annals of literature that a man trained in both professions should have gained his greatest fame as a writer of novels. Eugene Sue began his career as a physician and surgeon, and then spent six years in the French Navy. In 1830, when he returned to France, he inherited his father's rich estate and was free to follow his inclination to write. His first novel, "Plick et Plock", met with an unexpected success, and he at once foreswore the arts of healing and navigation for the precarious life of a man of letters. With varying success he produced books from his inexhaustible store of personal experiences as a doctor and sailor. In 1837, he wrote an authoritative work on the French Navy, "Histoire de la marine Francaise".
More and more the novel appealed to his imagination and suited his gifts. His themes ranged from the fabulous to the strictly historical, and he became popular as a writer of romance and fictionized fact. His plays, however, were persistent failures. When he published "The Mysteries of Paris", his national fame was assured, and with the writing of "The Wandering Jew" he achieved world-wide renown. Then, at the height of his literary career, Eugene Sue was driven into exile after Louis Napoleon overthrew the Constitutional Government in a coup d'etat and had himself officially proclaimed Emperor Napoleon III. The author of "The Wandering Jew" died in banishment five years later.
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