Gustave FLAUBERT - The Marquis de Sade & Bouvard and Pécuchet.

Gustave Flaubert (1821.1880)

Autograph letter signed to “his old Bab” [Edmond Laporte]

Two pages in-8°. EL stamp from the Laporte collection.

[Paris] – Sunday. 1 hour at night. » [27.28 January 1878]

Sheets raised to the central fold. Two traces of red marker on the 1st ^sheet .

Pléiade correspondence, Volume V, page 353.

“Old Bab, Bardou [x] is coming out of here, where he had dinner. I took him in my office alone and spoke to him again about you, insisting as much as possible so that it would end. Here's his response: I promise I'll think about your recommendation. Soon there will be a complete overhaul in the Fine Arts and I will find something good in it. Before leaving I spoke to him again about old Laporte, and his last words were “don’t be afraid”. In addition, he told me something to find him at home, alone . It's to go there at 6 o'clock. evening. I will take advantage of it [Édouard Laporte, whom Flaubert nicknamed “el bab”, an Arabic expression meaning “the door”, was then looking for a job. Flaubert had contacted Agénor Bardoux, Minister of Public Education since 1877, who would soon intervene on Laporte's behalf and allow him to find a position in the administration].

Another story: he undertakes to receive the famous Féerie! [The Castle of Hearts, a fairy tale written by Flaubert in collaboration with Louis Bouilhet and Charles d'Osmoy, which was not presented on stage but appeared in La Vie moderne in several issues from January 24 to May 8, 1880] Within 8 days – I will give him the m [anu] s [crit] that I believed was in Croisset, & that I found in the bottom of my cupboard since he left. If it succeeded, it would be a fortune for your giant [Gustave Flaubert thus refers to himself] ! Finally, I found a guy who has all the editions of the old man [the Marquis de Sade] ! With a letter of recommendation, we will go to him whenever you want!

I continue to read excessively but I don't make any progress! because I don't know how to present my historical criticism. Hopefully my understanding will clear in a few days. [passage from his book Bouvard et Pécuchet which follows the history of the Revolution, when the two characters are seized by “the need for truth for its own sake”]. The story of the Fairy, of course, will make me go often to B [ardoux] and I will activate your business. No news from Osmoy. He has a very sick child. As he is in third in “The Castle of Hearts” we are going to meet again. I devour myself thinking of you , whom I kiss..."