Duhamel-Le Notaire du Havre -student notes

This famous novel by Georges Duhamel tells the touching story of an impoverished lower middle class family in Paris at the end of the nineteenth century. It is a warm, engrossing story in which Duhamel is reliving the joys and the trials of his own childhood.

To access my class notes please click a topic in the list below:

1) A detailed summary of “Le Notaire du Havre” in English.

2) My summary of Laurent’s Preface to “Le Notaire du Havre”, which is supposedly the character’s viewpoint forty years after the events he related through the eyes of a young boy in the novel.

3) Background notes for “Le Notaire du Havre” –

The main characters of the book with a special attention given to the links with the real-life history of the Duhamel family.
The social and political circumstances of the time seen through the events the story.
George Duhamel's philosophy of life.

Some more detailed character studies:

4) The character of M. Pasquier - Analysis of the main, focal character of the book.

5) M. Pasquier and M. Wasselin compared - Similarities in facets of the two problem personalities.

A brief synopsis of the novel provided by the author:

6) The salient points listed by Georges Duhamel at the start of each chapter compiled to form a short synopsis.

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This book used to get a good response from my “A” level students and very much merits study. There is a not very meaningful sketch on the cover, which shows a table and two chairs and on the table there is one lone, unopened letter. This is a long awaited letter from the family solicitor, who is based in the town of Le Havre. The letter has very great significance for the struggling Pasquier family.