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Sophie's Misfortunes

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Novel by the Countess of Ségur
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Sophie's Misfortunes
AuthorCountess of Ségur
Original titleLes Malheurs de Sophie
LanguageFrench
GenreChildren's fiction
PublisherHachette
Publication date1858
Publication placeFrance
Followed byGood Little Girls 

Sophie's Misfortunes (French: Les Malheurs de Sophie) is a children's book written by the Countess of Ségur. The book was published in 1858 by the publisher Hachette. The illustrations were by Horace Castelli, a French artist. This is the first book of a trilogy; its sequels are Good Little Girls (1858) and The Holidays (1859).

Plot

The story is set in a castle in the French countryside, during the Second French Empire. Sophie is a mischievous little girl who lives with her parents, Monsieur and Madame de Réan.

Legacy

The success of Sophie's Misfortunes has been constant through the years and still goes on today; the book has been republished many times. Overseas, as well, it has been very successful. Vladimir Nabokov alluded to it in his novel Ada (1969), making up a novel called Sophie's Sophisms by a so-called "Miss Stopchin", as well Les Malheurs de Swann, a title which combines Countess of Ségur and Marcel Proust. In the United Kingdom, the book was used as reference material to teach young girls French translation (boys would be trained using L'Histoire d'un conscrit de 1813, written by Erckmann-Chatrian).

Main characters

  • Sophie de Réan
  • Monsieur and Madame de Réan, Sophie's parents
  • Paul d'Auber, Sophie's cousin
  • Camille and Madeleine de Fleurville, Sophie's friends

Adaptations

Cinema and television

The book has inspired numerous film and television adaptations, including:

Music

  • In 1935, French composer Jean Françaix wrote a ballet called Les Malheurs de Sophie (32 minutes, published by Schott).
  • Les Bonheurs de Sophie, piano sheet music by Chantal Auber, La Pléiade, Préparatoire 1.
  • Les Malheurs de Sophie (2011), a musical by Virginie Aguzzoli.

Animation

  • Trouble With Sophie (1997) is the only animated adaptation of Sophie's Misfortune. Information about this series is limited and the voice cast is practically unknown since they were never credited. The series was developed by Alya Animation and aired on France 3. There are 27 episodes in total. It shows the titular character, Sophie’s life from when she was a child to adulthood and the hardships throughout her life. The series now has many different YouTube channels with all of the episodes with both French and English audio. The TV series also tells the stories of the sequel books ‘Good Little Girls’ and ‘The Holidays’, making it a full story of Sophie's life and a complere adaptation of the ‘Fleurville Trilogy’.

Notes and references

  1. "Les Malheurs de Sophie de la Comtesse de Ségur, vus par Christophe Honoré" (in French). Retrieved 2017-12-04.
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