[Anatole FRANCE]. Léontine ARMAN de CAILLAVET.

Lot 14
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Estimation :
400 - 600 EUR
[Anatole FRANCE]. Léontine ARMAN de CAILLAVET.
11 L. A. S. [September-December 1909] to Noël Charavay, 27 pages in various formats, 5 Château Caillavet letterheads, addresses and envelopes. Curious confidential correspondence to the bookseller and close friend of Anatole France, about the latter's affair with the actress Jeanne Brindeau. - Capian, September 29: "I no longer know what to do with this unfortunate dreamer who is incapable of working, irritable and violent and poisoned, I fear him forever. He who was the highest and purest glory of his country, now he is the laughing stock"... - October 5: "Our friend has started working again and I hope that his genius has not completely fallen into this deplorable adventure. This is not a revival of youth but "a senile madness caused by practices to which the author of the Red Lily had not previously given up [...] The chosen one of his heart "possesses talents that the Academy only crowns behind closed doors and pays for with individual payments"... She would have understood and forgiven "a discreet failure", but not "the rudeness, brutality, incredible cynicism that presided over it"... France is not willing to renew the ties that Charavay helped to break; he is aware of the ridicule and did everything to "flee the enchantress" who was pursuing him... - Bordeaux, October 10. Pozzi, a devoted and discreet friend, cannot be blamed for the disparaging remarks, and she knows that Brousson "tried his best to stop the fatal adventure" and that he "separated from France when he saw him persisting in his madness"... - Capian, Wednesday [October 13]. She asks for details about the lady who claims to have been informed by Pozzi and shares what she has learned from the "rascal"'s plan to marry France: "You make me smile when you talk to me about her fiery temperament" [...] "the lady has awakened by special resources sleeping senses and he was charmed by it for his misfortune, because he came to us on the lookout for apoplexy and walking towards spoiling"... - Th
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