Travel Reference
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J'aime à voir le soleil disparaître à travers les grands arbres de la forêt; la
voilà déjà qui dépouille sa parure de lumière pour s'envelopper d'ombre.
À l'horizon les nuages pâlissent. On dit beau comme un ciel sans nuages,
et pourtant, que les nuages sont beaux lorsqu'ils se teignent des feux du
soir! Tantôt en admirant ces groupes aux couleurs éclatantes, je songeais à
ce que l'amour de Dieu peut faire de nos peines, puisque la lumière en
pénétrant de sombres vapeurs, en fait une merveilleuse parure au firma-
ment. [142; I love to see the sun disappear through the tall trees of the
forest; there it is already divesting its finery of light to cover itself in shadow.
On the horizon the clouds grow pale. One says beautiful like a cloudless
sky, and yet, how beautiful the clouds are when they take on the tints of
evening fire! Just after admiring those masses of brilliant colours, I
thought about what God's love can do for our troubles, since the light
penetrating the dark vapours creates a beautiful finery in the firmament.]
The passage begins with an indication of visuality ('voir'), along with
notations of light ('lumière'), colour ('couleurs éclatantes'), and space
('à travers … là'). In this latter domain of composition, we note, how-
ever, a change from the horizontal orientation ('À l'horizon') to a verti-
cal one ('un ciel … au firmament'), which leads Angéline to the presence
of God ('Dieu'). We also shift from a natural setting to a spiritual drama
in which nature ('la forêt') loses its beauty ('parure') through the disap-
pearance ('disparaître') of light and the conquest of shadow ('pour
s'envelopper d'ombre'), but is replaced, as is the sky itself, by the firma-
ment (heavens), where light obliterates shadow ('la lumière pénétrant
de sombres vapeurs') to renew and enhance the beauty ('merveilleuse
parure') of the ephemeral clouds. 19
The existence of a spiritual life beyond nature, in the supernatural, a
term used by Angéline in her last letter (213) - had been suggested from
the novel's outset by many voices. In the epigraph preceding the novel,
for example, there appears a quote from Lacordaire: 'L'avez-vous cru
que cette vie fût la vie?' (9; Did you believe that this life was life?),
which, Carr notes, was repeated before each of the fourteen instalments
in the original serial publication of the novel (1000). Mina's friend
Emma, about to enter the convent, speaks of another garden, another
paradise, which is not earthly: 'Je regrette beaucoup ce beau paradis, ce
jardin de volupté où l'on n'aurait jamais vu de boue; la boue vient en
droiture du péché. Mais toujours, chère amie, le vrai ciel nous reste.'
(79; I miss greatly this beautiful paradise, this voluptuous garden where
mire would never be seen; mire comes directly from sin. But always,
 
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