May consolation be given to students who have stumbled over the spelling of ‘Pyrenees’: Gustave Flaubert himself made a mistake in this proper noun, according to the manuscript of early works, reissued this Thursday, June 1st. Pyrenees and Corsica is one of the four texts of youth stories by the famous writer, compiled by Classic Folio. Page 236, surprise or even astonishment at discovering the facsimile of the title page of the original manuscript: the author of Madame Bovary écrit Pyrenees and Corsicawith two n.
This discovery in the writings of the pillar of the realistic movement will bring down more than one ardent defender of Molière’s language. In particular, those whose opinion of the lexical and spelling skills of young French people is clearly declining, a view that some of the press are particularly keen to take up. Yes, we may have made mistakes and become one of the greatest French novelists of the 19th century.
This travelogue, unknown during the author’s lifetime, has already appeared under different names: We separated “Pyrenees” etc “Corsica”, where they were grouped under the headings Journey to the Pyrenees and Corsica etc Pyrenees-Corsica. “Even the title chosen by Flaubert is misleading, as in reality he visits the whole of southern France, from Bordeaux to Bastia via Carcassonne and Toulon”, Jacques Letertre, the owner of the manuscript, was interviewed by -. Geographical level, so we’ll go back too.
A trip after high school
The journey lasts just over two months, from August 22 to November 1, 1840, to reward the 18-year-old young man for graduating from high school. Jacques Letertre is a bibliophile who acquired this manuscript in December 2021 for nearly €53,000 as part of the dissolution of the collections of Aristophil, a manuscript investment company that went bankrupt in 2016. Aristophil had it acquired in 2004 in Germany, the country where they lived. The manuscript had been left behind during the liquidation of the inheritance of writer Caroline Hamard’s niece in 1931.
This travelogue was first published in 1910 in the complete works. The publisher at the time, Louis Conard, had worked on the basis of the manuscript on loan from the rights holder. We ignored it for decades when Pyrenees and Corsica survived World War II unscathed. “In the posthumous editions, the letter of the manuscript was not given the same attention then as it is today. Most of Flaubert was published after his death. So he couldn’t read again and there were mistakes,” explains Jacques Letertre.
An academic Flaubert specialist, Yvan Leclerc, has completely revised the text as well as that of November, Thanks to the manuscript acquired in November 2022 by the metropolis of Rouen, the author’s birthplace, for 143,000 euros.
Flaubert began writing at an early age, including stories that are now considered testament to his mastery as a novelist. Memoirs of a madman in 1838 and November in 1842. But he published nothing until the success of Madame Bovaryaged 45, in 1857. He died in 1880 with essentially three novels to his credit.
