ABSTRACT
L'Amazone, revealing a contemporary Utopian settlement in South America, was left incomplete at his death. Paul et Virginie however differs not only in being far more rich and complex as a piece of literature. Bernardin himself consistently designates Paul et Virginie as a pastoral. This model is already implicit at the start of the 'Avant-propos' of 1788, when he avers that 'nos poetes ont assez repose leurs amants sur le bord des ruisseaux'. The narrative itself is told by a character within the fiction who is presented as 'deja sur l'age' and white-haired. His mien is accordingly 'noble et simple'. The old man functions to endow the story with his authority — both as wisdom and as pathos. But he also gives the story immediacy, for he was present at the events. In this respect Bernardin's retrospective narration approximates to the effect achieved by the use of letters in two previous works.
