HUYSMANS (Joris-Karl). - Lot 247

HUYSMANS (Joris-Karl). Autograph letter signed to [Albert Delpit], [after February 13, 1877], 2 1/2 pages in-16 (122 x 100 mm), on a bifeuillet, in a modern black half-maroquin folder. Unpublished letter, on the similarities between Marthe, published in September 1876, and the novels of Zola and the Goncourts: ... First of all, I'd like to thank you for mentioning la pauvrette. I'd just like to make an observation: you say "if this isn't a pastiche, it's at least a curious encounter". My volume was published in Brussels last September, so it predates L'Assommoir. I should add that, as the subject is the same as that of de Goncourt's daughter Elisa, I have included dates at the end of Marthe in order to establish my priority. He underlines the similarities between his work and that of Goncourt (whom I admire with all my heart): there was an encounter, not a pastiche. As for Marthe herself, she's not as black as you might think. The censors did ban her, but does that prove anything?...