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Joris-Karl HUYSMANS

Lettre autographe signée « après une existence de bonnes œuvres il s’irradie maintenant dans la joie qui ne finit point »

s.l. 11 mai 1902, 10x15,5cm, 2 pages sur un feuillet remplié.

Precious letter of condolences from Joris-Karl Huysmans, signed and without mention of addressee, following the death of Anatole-Henri-Philippe, Marquis de Ségur. The letter was probably addressed to the Comtesse de Guerne, daughter of the marquis. 33 lines in black ink, and some pencil indications from a previous bibliographer.
Beautiful funereal elegy to a close friend, surely introduced to the author by the Abbe Mugnier, who had brought Huysmans back to the faith. A member of the Council of State and mayor of a commune in Normandy, the Marquis de Ségur was also a writer, fervent Catholic and admirer of Saint Francis de Sales, who inspired him with several biographical essays. He was also one of the founding members of the work of Saint Francis de Sales in 1857; Huysmans asserts in the letter that the Marquis " was really the son of St. Francis " and presents him as " one of the most powerful cordial souls that he has ever known ".
Newly immersed in the Catholic faith for some years, Huysmans seems to have been inspired by this character to " goodness that simplifies everything and piety that puts everything in focus ". The marquis places religion at the center of his life and his literary work - an undertaking to which Huysmans has long aspired since the publication of his novels En Route and La Cathédrale (1895 and 1898).
Poignant testimony to the admiration of Huysmans for a man of exemplary faith.

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