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A moralistic novel written in the form of a confession in which a young woman tells how she had an abortion out of vanity, fear of scandal, and frivolity, and then experiences deep remorse, suffering, and spiritual conversion.
Pierre l'Ermite (real name Edmond Loutil, 1863–1931) was a French Catholic priest, preacher, and prolific writer of popular moralistic novels. The novel Comment j'ai tué mon enfant was published in France in 1925/1926, and the Croatian translation by Robert Schütz was published in 1929 in the prestigious edition Knjižnica dobrih romana.
The work is written in the first person as a poignant confession of a woman who, for selfish reasons (vanity, fear of losing her social position, frivolous life), decided to terminate her pregnancy. The novel follows her inner drama in detail – from the initial justification of the act, through the terrible feeling of guilt and mental suffering, to the final conversion and repentance.
Pierre l'Ermite wrote the book as a powerful Catholic apologia against abortion, promiscuity, and the modern, secularized way of life. The style is extremely sentimental, dramatic and didactic, typical of early 20th century Catholic fiction. The author spares no expense in emotional descriptions of the heroine's maternal remorse, nightmares and spiritual emptiness.
In interwar Croatia, the novel was very popular among Catholic audiences because it directly responded to current debates about the moral decline of society. Today, it is read primarily as a document of the times and an example of Catholic moral prose, and less as high literature due to its pronounced tendentiousness and pathos.
It is a rare antiquarian edition that is sought after by collectors of older Croatian fiction.
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