The Arcades Project - Operi

On Victor Hugo: He placed the ballot box on turning tables." Edmond Jaloux,
L'Homme du XIX" siecle," Le Temps, August 9, 1935. [d5a,2J
! . 'Eugene Sue . .. was in certain respects ... similar to Schiller-not only in his
preference for tales of crime, for colportage, for black-and-white depictions, but
also in his predilection for ethical and social issues . ... Balzac and Hugo viewed
him as a competitor." Egon Friedell, Kulturgeschichte der Neuzeit, vol. 3 (Munich,
1931), p. 149. Foreigners, such as Rellstab, sought out the Rue aux Feves,
where Les Mysteres de Paris was begun. [d5a,3)
On Victor Hugo: !"This Ancient, this unique genius, this unique pagan, this man of
unparalleled genius was ravaged by, at the very least, a double politician: a politi­
cal politician that made him a democrat, and a literary politician that made him a
Romantic. This genius was corrupted by talent(s)." Charles Peguy, Oeu.vres completes,
1873-1914: Oeuvres de prose (Paris, 1916), p. 383 (,'Victor-Marie, comte
Hugo"). [d6,1]
Apropos of Victor Hugo, Baudelaire "believed in the coexistence of genius and
foolishness." Louis Barthou, Autour de Baudelaire (Paris, 1916), p. 44 ("Victor
Hugo et Baudelaire"). Similarly, before the planned banquet for the tercentenary
of Shakespeare's hirthday (April 23, 1864), he speaks of the "book by Victor Hugo
on Shakespeare, a book which-full of beauties and stupidities like all his booksis
almost certain to vex even the most ardent of his admirers" (cited in Barthou,
p. 50). And: "Hugo, priestlike, with his head always bent-too bent to see anything
except his navel" (cited in Barthou, p. 57)." [d6,2]
The publishers of Balzac's Feuilleton des journau.x politiques offered certain
books at lower-than-official prices by bypassing book retailers. Balzac himself
takes pride in this initiative, which he defends against criticisms from without, and
which he expects will create the immediate bond between publisher and public that
was his aim. In a sample issue of the newspaper, Balzac sketehes the history of the
book trade and of publishing sinee the Revolution of 1789, to conclnde with the
demand: " We must finally see to it that a volume is produced exaet.ly like a loaf of
hread, and is sold like a loaf of bread, so that there would be no intermediary
between an author and a purchaser other than the bookseller. Then this business
mIl be the most seeure of all . ... When a bookseller is required to lay out some
twelve thousand francs for every project, he will no longer engage in any that are
risky or ill-conceived. They will realize, then, that instruction is a necessity of
their profession. A elerk who has learned in what year Gutenberg printed the
Bihle will no longer imagine that being a bookseller is only a matter of having one's
name written over a shop." Honore de Balzac, Critique litteraire. introduction by
Louis Lumet (Paris, 1912), pp. 34-35. [d6,3]
Pelin publishes the letter of a publisher who declares himself ready to buy the
manuscript of an author on the eondition that he can publish it under the name of