Letter to the President.
Marguerite Waknine| N° d'inventaire | 23708 |
| Format | 15 x 21 |
| Détails | 24 p., notebook. |
| Publication | Angoulême, 2018 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9791094565278 |
The president to whom this letter is addressed is Madame Sabatier (1822-1890), who held a popular salon in Paris. The artists and writers who frequented the place effectively elected their muse as president. These included, among others, Dumas père, Feydeau, Flaubert, Nerval and Musset, Meissonier, Clésinger, Berlioz, and, of course, Théophile Gautier, the ardent defender of Romanticism (he was close to Victor Hugo), the theoretician of art for art's sake, the poet, the short story writer, the novelist, the art critic, the columnist, the playwright. Among the profusion of Gautier's writings and alongside his most famous works (Enamels and Cameos, The Romance of the Mummy, Captain Fracasse) is this long letter written in 1850, which is supposed to relate a trip to Italy, but which soon reveals itself for what it is: a bawdy, obscene, licentious, pornographic letter, in which the most comical and debauched scenes and reflections follow one another in a cheerful succession. Curiously, this letter, expressly addressed to Madame Sabatier, did not bother her in any way, who even had it read and distributed in copies around her, before being published for the first time, in 1890, shortly after the death of its recipient.
The president to whom this letter is addressed is Madame Sabatier (1822-1890), who held a popular salon in Paris. The artists and writers who frequented the place effectively elected their muse as president. These included, among others, Dumas père, Feydeau, Flaubert, Nerval and Musset, Meissonier, Clésinger, Berlioz, and, of course, Théophile Gautier, the ardent defender of Romanticism (he was close to Victor Hugo), the theoretician of art for art's sake, the poet, the short story writer, the novelist, the art critic, the columnist, the playwright. Among the profusion of Gautier's writings and alongside his most famous works (Enamels and Cameos, The Romance of the Mummy, Captain Fracasse) is this long letter written in 1850, which is supposed to relate a trip to Italy, but which soon reveals itself for what it is: a bawdy, obscene, licentious, pornographic letter, in which the most comical and debauched scenes and reflections follow one another in a cheerful succession. Curiously, this letter, expressly addressed to Madame Sabatier, did not bother her in any way, who even had it read and distributed in copies around her, before being published for the first time, in 1890, shortly after the death of its recipient.