Scaramouche Annotated

Scaramouche or Scaramouch is a stock clown character of the 16th-century commedia dell'arte. The role combined characteristics of the Zanni and the Capitano, with some assortment of villainous traits.

A romantic tale of a young aristocrat's adventures during the French Revolution. André-Louis Moreau, once a lawyer with a comfortable life, is spurred into action after the murder of his best friend at the hands of an aristocrat. Now, as Scaramouche, he speaks out against the French government the only way he can. Traveling with a band of actors, this comedic figure delivers blow after blow to the aristocracy, honing his message and bringing fame, fortune, and success to his small troupe. A thought-provoking commentary on class division and inequality, this swashbuckling adventure cements Rafael Sabatani?s work as absolutely vital to the literary canon.. At one point the hero joins a theater troupe to portray ''Scaramouche''. He also becomes a lawyer, a politician, and a lover, confounding his enemies with his elegant oration and precise swordsmanship. An excellent swashbuckler!

Though Andre-Louis Moreau was educated as a simple lawyer, the murder of his friend in cold blood by the villainous Marquis de la Tour d'Azyr force him to take more drastic action. When no justice is found in the courts, and he is told that nobles do not care to interfere with the Marquis' business, Moreau sparks the powder keg that is the French peoples' growing hatred of the nobility - fanning the flames of revolution.

Scaramouche: A Romance of the French Revolution by Rafael Sabatini Scaramouche is a historical novel by Rafael Sabatini, originally published in 1921. A romantic adventure, Scaramouche tells the story of a young lawyer during the French Revolution. During his adventures, he becomes an actor incarnating "Scaramouche" (a mischievous jester character in the commedia dell'arte). He also becomes a revolutionary, politician and fencing master, mistaking his enemies with his powerful speeches and mastery of the sword. He was forced by circumstances to change sides several times. The book also describes his transformation from cynic to idealist. The three-part novel opens with the memorable phrase: "He was born with a gift of laughter and a feeling the world was crazy." This line would become Sabatini's epitaph, on his gravestone in Adelboden, Switzerland.

He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad. And that was all his patrimony. His very paternity was obscure, although the village of Gavrillac had long since dispelled the cloud of mystery that hung about it. Those simple Brittany folk were not so simple as to be deceived by a pretended relationship which did not even possess the virtue of originality. When a nobleman, for no apparent reason, announces himself the godfather of an infant fetched no man knew whence, and thereafter cares for the lad's rearing and education, the most unsophisticated of country folk perfectly understand the situation. And so the good people of Gavrillac permitted themselves no illusions on the score of the real relationship between Andre-Louis Moreau—as the lad had been named—and Quintin de Kercadiou, Lord of Gavrillac, who dwelt in the big grey house that dominated from its eminence the village clustering below. Andre-Louis had learnt his letters at the village school, lodged the while with old Rabouillet, the attorney, who in the capacity of fiscal intendant, looked after the affairs of M. de Kercadiou. Thereafter, at the age of fifteen, he had been packed off to Paris, to the Lycee of Louis Le Grand, to study the law which he was now returned to practise in conjunction with Rabouillet. All this at the charges of his godfather, M. de Kercadiou, who by placing him once more under the tutelage of Rabouillet would seem thereby quite clearly to be making provision for his future. Andre-Louis, on his side, had made the most of his opportunities. You behold him at the age of four-and-twenty stuffed with learning enough to produce an intellectual indigestion in an ordinary mind. Out of his zestful study of Man, from Thucydides to the Encyclopaedists, from Seneca to Rousseau, he had confirmed into an unassailable conviction his earliest conscious impressions of the general insanity of his own species. Nor can I discover that anything in his eventful life ever afterwards caused him to waver in that opinion.

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Scaramouche" (A Romance of the French Revolution) by Rafael Sabatini. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

Scaramouche tells the tale of André-Louis Moreau, a young lawyer in Brittany. When his friend is killed by an unremorseful landowner, Moreau swears revenge and begins a life of adventure on the run. His travels lead him to joining a traveling theater troupe, becoming a master swordsman, and even to revolution. While the story of Scaramouche is fiction, Sabatini was always very careful to portray history as accurately as he could in his novels. Thus, the backdrop of the French Revolution is vibrant, immediate, and carefully described. In general Sabatini’s prose is sharp and entertaining. Scaramouche was incredibly popular in its day, and was Sabatini’s most famous novel. The first line is written on Sabatini’s grave.

A romantic tale of a young aristocrat's adventures during the French Revolution. André-Louis Moreau, once a lawyer with a comfortable life, is spurred into action after the murder of his best friend at the hands of an aristocrat. Now, as Scaramouche, he speaks out against the French government the only way he can. Traveling with a band of actors, this comedic figure delivers blow after blow to the aristocracy, honing his message and bringing fame, fortune, and success to his small troupe. A thought-provoking commentary on class division and inequality, this swashbuckling adventure cements Rafael Sabatini's work as absolutely vital to the literary canon. At one point the hero joins a theater troupe to portray ''Scaramouche''. He also becomes a lawyer, a politician, and a lover, confounding his enemies with his elegant oration and precise swordsmanship. An excellent swashbuckler!