Mauritius Novelists FDC

Mauritius FDC
Name: Mauritius in World Literature...
Date of Issue: 08 December 2008

The Mauritius Post Ltd is issuing a set of five commemorative postage stamps on 8th December 2008 to highlight the presence of Mauritius in the World Literature. Five of the world's renowned novelists who wrote on or visited the island between the 18th and 19th centuries have been portrayed namely.

Denominations:
Rs5: Bernardin de Saint Pierre 1737-1814
Jacques Henri Bernardin de Saint Pierre is a renown author and novelist of 18th century France for his novel Paul et Virginie which he wrote in 1789 having been inspired by the enchanting environment of Isle de France during his stay in 1768. Two other works namely Voyage à l'Île de France and La Chaumière Indienne won him so much fame that he was elected as a member of the Académie Française and awarded the distinction of Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur.

Rs10: Alexandre Dumas 1802-1870
Alexandre Dumas (Davy de la Pailleterie) père, one of the world's most versatile writers and novelists, of mixed origin, his father of French nobility and his mother of African slave ancestry, is a gifted genius with a prolific style and author of a series of novels depicting the French heroic times. His novel Georges (le mulâtre) published in 1843 has for background Mauritius. Among his many works which have won him great fame are Les Trois Mousquetaires, La Reine Margot, Le Collier de la Reine and Le Comte de Monte Cristo.

Rs15: Charles Baudelaire 1821-1867
Charles Baudelaire is one of the most prolific writers and poets of 19th century France. On his way to India, his sailing vessel stopped over in Port Louis in September 1841, he found the island and its inhabitants awe-inspiring and wrote a sonnet for a charming lady, entitled A une Dame Créole.

In 1857, he published two of his famous works namely Les fleurs du Mal et Petits Poèmes en Prose which marked a turning point in French poetry and in which the author showed the indelible influence of his stay in the tropical islands of Mauritius and Reunion.

Rs22: Mark Twain 1835-1910
Samuel Langhorne Clemens better known by his pen name Mark Twain born in Florida on the 30th November 1835 is one of the most important figures in American literature and one of the greatest humorists. Through his humour and his shrewd power of observation, he immortalized 10th century life.

The author of Tom Sawyer, came to Mauritius in 1896. In his book entitled More Tramps Abroad or Following the Equator published in 1897, impressed by the beauty of the island, he wrote "... you gather the idea that Mauritius was made first and then heaven and that heaven was copied after Mauritius".

Rs25: Joseph Conrad 1857-1924
Joseph Conrad is one of the most famous British novelists of polish origin of his true name Teodor Jozef Konrad Korzeniowski. He started his career as a sailor in the French Navy, as such made a stop over in Port Louis for two months in 1888 where he fell in love with a Mauritian girl who refused him marriage. He was for long considered as the greatest living novelist. His tale A Smile of Fortune was inspired by his visit to Mauritius which he described as "a pearl distilling sweetness upon the world".

Comment: This is my first real posted FDC from African island Mauritius.