Pages from the Goncourt Journals by Edmond de GoncourtMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
The ultimate gossip rag of the second half of the 19th century Parisian literary circles. The brothers (and later just Edmond) Concourt dish it out and namedrop over the decades, talking about Flaubert, Maupassant, Zola, Gautier, Daudet, Degas, Rodin, Saint-Beuve, Mdme George Sand, Victor Hugo, Dumas, etc. etc. And if you don’t recognize some of those names don’t worry. It doesn’t detract from the gossip and the pettiness, which makes this book great.
I bookmarked several excellent anecdotes, including:
the empress taking several paintings out “on loan” from the Louvre to hang on her walls, wishing to impress the Queen of England, but having the Queen recognize them from the Louvre (p. 120)
The story of Prince Napoleon drinking holy water by mistake on his wedding night and getting sick (p. 142, 5 November 1862)
The Chinese envoy saying “You are young, you Westerners. You hardly have any history to speak of” (p. 195 , 9 November 1871)
The initial impressions of Degas (p. 206 ,13 February 1874)
The fact that Balzac did not wish to ejaculate since he was afraid of losing cerebral matter. (p. 216, 3 June 1875)
Manet had an “ugly, cracked voice” (p. 239)
His outrage that someone had quit a job via the new contraption called a Telephone! (p. 269)
His impressions of Oscar Wilde (p. 285)
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment