The Stonemason of Saint-Point by Alphonse de Lamartine

Alphonse de Lamartine had a varied career. The son of a minor provincial noble family, he was born at Macon, surviving both the Revolution and Napoleon. He served as a diplomat and, later, as elected deputy under the Restored monarchy and Louis Philippe. De Lamartine later became a deputy in the Assembly and, for a short period, the effective leader of France, before losing in the election for President of the Republic to Napoleon III. His poetry, together with that of the Romantics, broke new ground in French literature. His prose-poem The Stonemason of Saint Point is the story of the life, love and faith of the peasant who lived in the hills above his house in Burgundy. In reality, the story describes Lamartine’s own search for God through threatening and godless times in his country. This translation maintains the rich descriptions of the Burgundian countryside and the touching story of a simple honest man’s faith in God present in the original.