Rakotolahy

A collection of short stories by F. Schiller: A walk under the lime trees The whims of destiny A good deed Lost honour A remarkable feminine revenge The mind reader The following short stories and novels of Frederick Schiller drag us into the intricacies of human destinies, as the main characters and events of these stories were all gleaned from real life. What is amazing in these novels is his immense compassion for the vagaries and excesses of the human mind. He has written these pieces in such a way that we cannot have a different feeling but that of empathy with the erring human beings. "Lost honor": This short story by Frederick Schiller has made his fame as a sensitive and humanist writer. It tells about the progressive descent to hell of a landlord's unfortunate son, his enrollment into a secretive group, and finally, his emancipation from a life of crimes. This writing is in the same line as his other play, "The robbers". "The promenade under the lime trees": Two young men who have recently known their destinies are discussing about some truths they have been made aware of about the world. The first one has accepted his destiny, and sees the future brightly; the other is still full of thoughts about the whole process. "The mind reader": This novel, based upon a true story, relates the adventures of some officers in extirpating one of their fellows from the mental imbroglio woven around him by the famous Cagliostro (disguised in this novel under the name of the Armenian) in order to incorporate him into a secret society. Intrigues, deceit, crimes are unraveled in this long and original writing which is the only mystery novel written by F. Schiller. In "A remarkable feminine revenge", a middle aged woman is abandoned by her younger lover, and sets up a subtle and devastating plot to avenge her humiliation. When reading this novel, one cannot help thinking about the novel of the same kind "Dangerous liaisons", and the remarkable passion that a woman is capable of unleashing when simply vexed. "The whims of destiny" and "A good deed" are two short stories based upon real events written in the tradition of Enlightenment. Self redemption, sense of duty, jealousy, friendship: all the seasons of the human heart are displayed in these short stories in remarkable and intense scenes which reveal the author as a fine connoisseur of human motives and feelings. In these stories as well as in the other essays, F. Schiller positions himself as the writer of destinies: he combines the beautiful with the tragic, and makes of each of his narration an incredibly moving assembly of actions and feelings, to our most intimate delight.

F. Schiller is an iconic figure of Enlightenment, who influenced writers, philosophers and statesmen alike with his insightful renditions of such concepts as the State, Freedon, the Sublime but also Love and Nature.