Lot n° 28
Estimation :
3000 - 4000
EUR
HUYSMANS Joris-Karl (1848-1907).
10 autograph letters signed to various correspondents, Paris, Ligugé and (s.l.), dated from [1879 to 1905]. 31 pp. in-8 and in-12. 2 envelopes. Attached is a B&W photograph (print) of Huysmans at full length.
Very rich correspondence in which he evokes art, literature (his works and those of others), his friends (Zola, Céard...), his health... We will quote only a few letters such as the one (n.d.) to Eugène Montrosier, he explains his absences and evokes the Vatard sisters: "I have wanted to go and see you for three Saturdays and I am so tied to my feet that it is impossible to take a step. I'm in the period of brochure work for New Year's Day (...) - I'm going to spend a pleasant evening discussing with some scoundrels about 2 cents - fortunately I treated them more than cavalierly, in my book. When I have too much trouble with them, I think of the mud I dragged them through and that consoles me! (...)"; [July 2, 1881] interesting letter to Theodore Hannon, in which he evokes the Belgian press and a certain Hymans "I received a newspaper La Bohême where, in an unpleasant article that I suspect you have perpetrated, the newspaper of Liege takes a pretty good swipe at the preface to Les Rimes de Joie. What about this newspaper ? - What about the Rimes? - What about Lemounier and N. Hymans of which it is often spoken in the bohemia. That one has a name which resembles mine! - What is this literary miché? (...)" he continues on the state of his finances, his health and his departure for Fontenay-aux-Roses where "(...) he hopes to begin his new novel there. Zola is still in Médan - Céard is in Mont-Dore with his father. Hennique is married, and that's the naturalist balance sheet! - add to it that Maupassant is in the country, that Alexis is in the tripots and in the newspaper offices where as soon as he enters, the cry rises; ah! another article on Zola! it is the rather exact image of the small clan. (...)"; [April 18, 1882] to Théodore Hannon, he evokes the worries of the daily newspaper, a 2nd edition expected and which does not come "It surprises me that Zola has not written to you; it is true that with his sacred Medan, one does not know anything anymore. He doesn't read any books, I think, because when you go there, there are heaps of them piled up on tables, untouched by a paper knife. (...) it is the least he can do to read the books of the people who defended him, at the critical moment (...)"; on August 23, 1982, to [Henry] Kistemaeckers, Huysmans is charmed to find "(...) at home the erotic theater. Thank you and really thank you, because it is one of the most cheerful volumes that I know; the footnotes and the prefaces are moreover hilarious and add to the so jovial savor of the text of Tisserant and Glatigny, the bizarre and the most cheerful of these erotica (....)" he evokes the dead season of the bookshop and Dickens and wonders "What are the sonnets of the finger in it that I see announced at the end of the Theatre, under the initials E. H. Could it be of Hannon? (...)"; on July 8, 88, he writes this inspiring letter to Hennequin and comments on his book "(...) it is of a precision, of a clarity, in such subjects, very magnificent. (...) I do have some reservations, however, as regards Flaubert, whose composition along the stream, in L'Education sentimentale, for example, seems to me admirable, because it renders the routine of life, the authentic disjointedness of the facts (...).)" he then evokes the style of the work and its strength, he concludes by thanking him for having mentioned Les Sœurs Vatard; (n.d. 1889) to M. Bartholomé, he apologizes for his absence, he had just returned from Zola's house and announces "I was immersed in a volume of art (...) Finally, the book is finished and I am going to breathe for a while before getting back to a new novel [Some, 1889]. (...) It comes out in the abominable mediocrity of this salon where people who had talent once have become inferior to the fathers - Manet's Pertuiset!!! Cazin's allegory!! - it is to howl! (...)"; In the letter of July 3, 1900, he evokes his publisher and one of these manuscripts " "And you tell me that the manuscript is with Stock - Are you sure? In which case, it is perfect, but then Stock will have to return it to me, because I have found some interesting information about the Carmelite monastery on the Avenue (...)"; the letter of July 12, 1904 gives some details about Gilles de Ray's family and in his letter (n.d. 1905), written on a Thursday, he warns that his health is not good, that he has to stay at home, and that the only advantage of this situation is that his book on Lourdes is progressing very well...
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