Cyrano: The Life and Legend of Cyrano De Bergerac [Illustrated] [Paperback]

I read the play (I should say tragedy) "Cyrano de Bergerac" in a beautiful, poignant Italian prose translation by Franco Cuomo, which by the way I also recommend to any Cyrano admirer who reads Italian, and I was indelibly struck by the courage and spirit of this passionate character. The book also included an equally impressive translation of the real Savinien (Hercule, Alexandre...) Cyrano's philosophical novel "Les États et Empires de la Lune". After devouring that too, I immediately set out to look for more works by the real Cyrano, and I wondered if some scholar might have had the brilliant intuition to write a detailed, updated biography in our present time.

I was happy to find that such a work did exist, and it was very recent too. This book makes invaluable reading for anyone who wants to have a closer understanding of Cyrano's 'endlessly fascinating' personality: rebellious, daring, fiery but at the same time learned, amiable, full of curiosity and humour - a profound lover of knowledge, nature, friendship and intellectual and personal freedom.

Very sadly only few documents remain to reconstruct Cyrano's real story, and, as the author points out, only one scrap of evidence in particular is left from the years after 1641 to 1648, that is for the best part of Cyrano's twenties. And given the brevity of his life, this is indeed a substantial gap. Addyman cleverly makes up for this and other documentary blanks in this great Frenchman's life by providing several meaningful accounts of historical and literary events which are very helpful to set Cyrano against the background of his own time: we can have a consistent and continuous picture of how he lived, when not from documentary facts, at least from a taste of the social, political and cultural environment in France during and around Cyrano's lifespan.

The biography is always extremely interesting, precise, documented and balanced in its judgements, while also modern and lively. I thoroughly appreciated it. As a Cyrano devotee, of course, you would want to learn in detail how he spent every single day of his short life, just as you would long to be able to read the end of his "Les Etats et Empires du Soleil", left unfinished, as well as the other visionary and provocative works he would have created if he had managed to live. But this is it - and I am grateful that Addyman gave me the opportunity to learn as much about Cyrano's life as we can have today. In the hope, who knows, that further evidence may resurface one day from so distant a past.

It is good to think that a very young (and lovely) British student devoted her efforts to produce a comprehensive and accurate account of Cyrano's life and times, her involvement with her subject matter going as far as to take fencing lessons in order to gain a better insight into the esprit of such a fearless and highly accomplished swordsman, elaborate and paradoxical writer, poet, philosopher, free spirit - who lived in the seventeenth century but thinks and writes as if he lived today.

One last little note: although Addyman of course maintains a scholarly, factual approach throughout her study, her affection shows nonetheless, and if you really love the man Cyrano de Bergerac be prepared to cry bitter tears through this biography's two final chapters.

Two men, two worlds, two lifetimes. Cyrano de Bergerac as we all know him is the fictional hero of Edmund Rostand's incredible play, but he is also a real man. Soldier and swordsman, wit and raconteur, social rebel and avant-garde author, the real Cyrano lived several hundred years before his fictional successor.

Addyman interweaves the lives and legends of our two Cyrano's with a rare verve, taking us through a literary and historical journey that covers some of the most fascinating periods of French history.

Whether you're interested in literature, history or just a great read (including some fantastic bloody sword-fighting), I'd whole heartedly recommend you give Cyrano a go.

Cyrano de Bergerac. A fascinating legend. An even more fascinating man. He was a duellist who once fought (ahem) a hundred men at one go; a soldier who was disabled out of the Seven Years War; and a writer who wrote plays, polemics, and his masterpiece, Journey To The Moon, which was the first science fiction novel and a satire on 17th Century society as Cyrano saw it. He wrote widely and covered many subjects: The tyranny of the Catholic Church and the iniquities of the Inquisition; an advocacy of atheism; a defence of scientific rationalism against supposition, and in particular in defence of Galileo; against belief in witchcraft; and surprisingly for a soldier and a duellist, advocating love as a more noble activity than making war.

Ishbel Addyman's biography puts Cyrano in the context of his own times and separates fact from fiction, dwelling on both the legend, and how it came about, and the real man, who was both brilliant and flawed. She has done an excellent job. This book is entertaining, scholarly, and written with panache.