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ArchivesRe: Fleshing out the background of the name "Ivelisse"
in reply to a message by Ivelisse
Well, it actually didn't take long to find the novel that your great-great aunt must have been reading, Yvelise by Guido da Verona.
http://books.google.com/books/about/Yvelise.html?id=7MIunAEACAAJ
Guido da Verona was an Italian author. In the WorldCat international library catalog I have found translations of the novel into Spanish and Portuguese, but it doesn't seem to have ever been translated into either English or French. I've been able to use Google Translate to find a short description of the novel which says it is in the form of a confessional letter written by a married man named Enzo, who falls in love with an eighteen year old woman named Yvelise and then must choose between her and his sickly wife Martha. I would suspect that either the novel is set in France, or Yvelise in the novel is said to be from France, but I can't so far get confirmation of that.
Probably Da Verona made up the name to sound exotic and "French" to Italian readers in 1923. Perhaps he thought he was creating a feminine form of Yves by blending it with Elise?
http://books.google.com/books/about/Yvelise.html?id=7MIunAEACAAJ
Guido da Verona was an Italian author. In the WorldCat international library catalog I have found translations of the novel into Spanish and Portuguese, but it doesn't seem to have ever been translated into either English or French. I've been able to use Google Translate to find a short description of the novel which says it is in the form of a confessional letter written by a married man named Enzo, who falls in love with an eighteen year old woman named Yvelise and then must choose between her and his sickly wife Martha. I would suspect that either the novel is set in France, or Yvelise in the novel is said to be from France, but I can't so far get confirmation of that.
Probably Da Verona made up the name to sound exotic and "French" to Italian readers in 1923. Perhaps he thought he was creating a feminine form of Yves by blending it with Elise?
This message was edited 7/14/2014, 9:56 AM
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Replies
Thanks so much for this lead! It does appear that a Spanish translation of Yvelise was published in 1923—and that it was fairly popular, given that a second (or third?) edition followed in 1925—so it's quite plausible that this was the inspiration.
Now to get my hands on this book...
Now to get my hands on this book...
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