François-René vicomte de CHATEAUBRIAND (1768-1848) - Lot 57

Lot n° 57
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François-René vicomte de CHATEAUBRIAND (1768-1848) - Lot 57
François-René vicomte de CHATEAUBRIAND (1768-1848) Autograph manuscript (heavily corrected draft), 1 p. in-4. Magnificent page on writing and epistolary art. Very well worked draft, for his Essay on English Literature and Considerations on the Genius of Men, Times and Revolutions. Corresponding to the chapter "Novels. Sad truths that come out of long correspondences. Epistolary style". The words, as if gushing out, are thrown energetically onto the paper before being crossed out with a stroke of the pen or corrected, giving the manuscript a particularly powerful aesthetic. "First of all, the letters are long [add "vivid", in the printed version], and multiplied; the day is not enough: one writes at sunset; one traces a few words in the light of [add "the"] moon, charging [its] chaste, silent, [and] discreet light, to cover with its modesty a thousand desires. They parted at dawn; at dawn they spy on the first light to write what they think they have forgotten to say [add "in hours of delight"]. A thousand oaths cover the paper, where the roses of the dawn are reflected; a thousand kisses are deposited on the words [add "burning"] which seem to be born from the first glance of the sun: not an idea, an image, a reverie, an accident, an anxiety which does not have its letter" [follow 5 lines entirely crossed out]. The second paragraph is very elaborate, with cross-references in the margin; it corresponds to the following text: "Here is that one morning something almost insensitive slips on the beauty of this passion, like a first wrinkle on the forehead of a beloved woman. The breath and the perfume of love exhale in these pages of youth, like a breeze in the evening falling asleep on flowers: one realizes it, and one does not want to admit it to oneself. The letters become shorter, fewer in number, filled with news, descriptions, foreign things; some have been delayed, but you are less worried; sure of loving and being loved, you have become reasonable; you no longer scold, you submit to absence. Oaths are
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