FLAUBERT, Gustave (1821-1880)

FLAUBERT, Gustave (1821-1880)

Autograph letter signed « Gve Flaubert » to Émile Zola
Croisset, 8 Oct. [1874], 1 p. in-8° on blue laid paper
Fold marks inherent to period mailing
Small typographic annotations in pencil
Slight foxing, very faint thumb mark on the fourth page

Flaubert inquires about his friend Zola’s latest theatrical project

« Mon cher ami,
Comme vont les répétitions ? Charpentier [l’éditeur des écrivains naturalistes] m’a écrit que vous étiez désolé. Est-ce vrai ?
Pouvez-vous me dire le moment précis où vous croyez être joué. j’aurais besoin de le savoir p[ou]r mes petites dispositions personnelles.
Donnez-moi qu[elqu]es détails sur votre affaire.
Vous me ferez plaisir, tout à vous
Gve Faubert »

Flaubert here alludes to Zola’s play Les Héritiers Rabourdin, a three-act comedy that would be performed at the Théâtre de Cluny a few weeks later, on November 4, 1874 (and simultaneously published by Charpentier). The play was a failure, shunned by both critics and the public.
Zola’s lengthy, troubled response, written the following day, is known, and here is an excerpt:
“If I have not written to you sooner, it is because I did not want to alarm you too much by writing under the stress of my first rehearsals, which went abominably. […] I advise you to be very strict with the casting of your comedy” [Flaubert, in fact, also had a theatrical project with his play Le Sexe faible].
Edmond de Goncourt, for his part, recorded some blunt remarks in his journal:
“A letter from Zola forces me today [November 1] to go see the rehearsal of his play. It is at Cluny: a theatre that, right in the heart of Paris, somehow manages to resemble a provincial hall […]. On stage, comic actors, whose cheerfulness is chilled by being poor actors who do not dine well every day. It is disheartening, for a man of talent, to be performed in such a hall by such performers. And I cannot think without sadness of Flaubert, whose turn will come in a month [Le Sexe faible].”

This letter remained in the Zola family until the end of the 20th century. Mentioned as “not found” in the Pléiade, Alexandrine Zola had transmitted a simple copy to René Descharmes during her lifetime. He later published it for the Centenary edition (see below).