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The Journals of Fontaney and of Didier

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

John A. Sellards
John A. Sellards*
Affiliation:
Stanford University
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Extract

The young romantic poet, Antoine Fontaney, returned to Paris in August, 1831, after a stay in Madrid as private secretary to Count d'Harcourt, the French ambassador. The fragments of his Journal in-time, which were published in 1925, are dated from the month of his return and continue through December, 1836. There have recently come to light fragments of another journal, as yet unpublished, covering the same period and written by a contemporary of Fontaney, Charles Didier, a young Genevan who arrived in Paris from Switzerland on 20 November, 1830. For the period covered by the journal of Fontaney, there are only extracts from the mémoires of Didier, the original manuscript having been destroyed. These fragments fell into the hands of a certain Mlle Benoît, Genevan, who wrote under the name of Berthe Vadier, and she in turn sold them to the Viscount Spoelberch de Lovenjoul. They are now a part of the valuable collection which the latter left to the Institut de France, housed at Chantilly.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 51 , Issue 4 , December 1936 , pp. 1114 - 1122
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1936

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References

1 Published by M. René Jasinski (Paris, 1925), in the Bibliothèque romantique.—The text is not from the original manuscript, but from a copy provided by Mme Montargis, daughter of the French publicist, Paul Meurice. He had purchased the original at the sale of the effects of Louis Boulanger, the painter, who was a great friend of Fontaney.

2 Fontaney died six months later, June 11, 1837.

3 This document, which has not yet been published in extenso, has been widely quoted in our book: Dans le sillage du romantisme, Charles Didier (Paris: Champion, 1933). For the history of the journal see op. cit., pp. 213–215.

4 Antoine Etienne Fontaney was born in 1803, probably in Paris. Charles-Emmanuel Nicolas, known as Charles Didier, was born in Geneva, 15 September, 1805.

5 After eight months in Paris.

6 A comparison of their respective récits de voyage is an interesting indication of their different types of mind.

7 Sainte-Beuve in the early days of the acquaintance characterized him as an “original, apportant à Paris des idées étranges et non parisiennes.”

8 September 1, 1831.

9 March 29, 1832.

10 Fontaney's article Les romans de Victor Hugo appeared in the Revue des Deux-Mondes, May 1, 1832.

11 April 28, 1832.

12 “Nous” refers to Louis Boulanger, the painter, intimate friend of Victor Hugo, who was leaving with Fontaney after they had dined together with the great lyric poet.

13 “C'est la première des Orientales, datée d'octobre, 1828, et parue en janvier, 1829. Elle avait inspiré quelques mois avant à Boulanger une composition dont Sainte Beuve avait rendu compte dans la Revue de Paris du 11 février” (Note de M. Jasinski).

14 He refers to him frequently as le grand Dumas.

15 Probably Belle Krebsamer.

16 This play, Charles VII chez ses grands vassaux, five acts in verse, was produced at the Odéon Theatre, October 20, 1831, but was a complete failure.

17 Fontaney presents him thus: “Sainte-Beuve, toujours craintif, grave et souriant. Sa cravate noire en jarretière, ses mains croisées sur ses genoux.”

18 Armand, second son of Bertin l'aîné, journalist and founder of the Journal des débats. He was secretary to Chateaubriand in London, and joined in 1820 the staff of the Débats. He became director of that journal in 1841.

19 October 31, 1831.

20 Les roman nouveaux, RDM, October 15, 1836, and Chroniques RDM, December 15, 1836.

21 Premiers lundis, ii (Paris 1874), 318–321.

22 Didier published letters dedicated to Sainte-Beuve in his Campagne de Rome. The first appeared in October, 1832.

23 Armand Carrel, a distinguished French journalist of the early nineteenth century who was one of the founders of the National. He was killed in a duel by Emile de Girardin in 1836.

24 June 7, 1833.

25 Among the most important of these are: Sainte-Beuve, C.A. Causeries du Lundi, v, 101, xi, 453, xiv, 417–479; Correspondance inédite aevc M. et Mme Juste Olivier p. 236; Mes poisons, p. 106; Nouveaux Lundis, xi, 364.

26 September 1, 1831.

27 December 18, 1830.

28 It was not until some time later that Charles Didier became a contributor to the “National,” after the death of Armand Carrel. It was through Béranger that Didier came to know H. Heine, of whom he wrote “Il est tombé dans le matérialisme et la sensualité.”

29 Journal edited by Lamennais in 1831.

30 A full account of the relations between Lamennais and Didier and of the revelations of his journal concerning the character and work of the philosopher is given in our book—Dans le Sillage du Romantisme.

31 Charles Nodier et le groupe romantique (Paris, 1908), pp. 167–171.

32 Fontaney has written this story at length in his journal. There are interesting comments on de Vigny, with whom he was thrown into intimate contact because of his relations at the time with Marie Dorval.

33 Histoire de ma Vie (Edition des Œuvres complètes—Calmann Levy) Tome iv, Chapter vi.

34 Chapter iv.