Alphonse Daudet: Tartarin of Tarascon

The classic of French prose, Alphonse Daudet (1840-1897), is best known for his first novel Letters from My Mill and The Strange Adventures of Tartarin of Tarascon. The figure of the spiky Tartarino has become humanized: this guy creates entire legends with his fictional exploits. Tartarin is a tireless fabricator of his own life. He doesn't think of himself, though, he's lying, For, as the author says, "a man from the south does not lie, he's just wrong. He doesn't always tell the truth, but he believes he is telling it. His lie is a kind of delusion. " In his conception of the character, Alphonse Daudet drew on the sources of Provençal folk narrative. A characteristic feature of his style is the mixing of an ironic and lyrical tone. From a translation by Eva Musilová, freely dramatised and directed by Jiří Horčička. Performers: Miloš Kopecký, Miroslav Moravec, Ladislav Mrkvička, Jiřina Jirásková and Jaroslava Obermaierová. Music composed and conducted by Jiří Váchal.