HUGO (Victor). Autograph manuscript. [July 1874]. 2 pp. 1/2 - Lot 71

HUGO (Victor). Autograph manuscript. [July 1874]. 2 pp. 1/2 in-4, erasures, additions and corrections; vertical strikethrough on each page. SUPERB MEDITATION ON PETRARCH, THE DESTINY OF POETS, AND THE UNITED STATES OF EUROPE. This is the draft of the text sent by Victor Hugo on July 18, 1874, in response to the invitation made to him by the General Councillor of Vaucluse to attend the celebrations given in Avignon for the fifth centenary of the death of Petrarch, on July 18, 19 and 20, 1874. Hugo used this draft for the final writing, as the lines of his hand crossing the pages reveal, but there are several variants with the final version which was printed in Actes et Paroles. "PETRARCH IS ONE OF THE RARE EXAMPLES OF THE SUCCESSFUL POET. HE WAS NEITHER SLANDERED, NOR BOOED, NOR STONED. He was understood in his lifetime, a privilege that neither Homer, nor Aeschylus, nor Shakespeare had. Petrarch had on this earth all the greatness [splendors], the greeting of the popes, the acclamation of the people, the golden laurel on his forehead like an emperor, the Capitol like a god, the streets strewn with flowers, the rains of flowers on his passage. IT MISSED ONLY THE MISFORTUNE. I prefer to his purple dress the stick of wandering Alighieri. In glory, Petrarch is only surpassed by Dante, and triumph is only surpassed by exile. AVIGNON DURING THESE THREE MEMORABLE DAYS WILL GIVE AN ILLUSTRIOUS SPECTACLE. IT SEEMS THAT PARIS AND ROME WILL MEET THERE, Rome which crowned Petrarch, Paris which threw down the Bastille, Rome which crowns the poets, Paris which dethrones the kings. This embrace of the two mother-cities is beautiful. Your acclamations will give it all its meaning. Avignon, pontifical city and popular city, is a kind of link between the two cities. We all feel well represented by you, men of Vaucluse, in this celebration, national for two nations. You are worthy of giving Italy the greeting of France. THUS THE GREAT FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF THE CONTINENT IS BORN. THESE MAGNIFICENT MIXTURES OF PEOPLES BEGIN THE UNITED STATES OF EUROPE. PETRARCH LACKS THAT TRAGIC SOMETHING WHICH ADDS TO THE GREATNESS OF POETS A BLACK SUMMIT AND WHICH HAS ALWAYS MARKED THE HIGHEST PEAK OF GENIUS. He lacks the insult, the mourning, the affront, the hatred, the persecution. In glory, Petrarch is surpassed by Dante, and triumph by exile. PETRARCH IS A LIGHT IN HIS TIME AND HE IS A LIGHT BY LOVE. One could almost say a subtle heart, but it is necessary to add a deep spirit, because this lover is a thinker, because this poet is a philosopher; in sum, it is a brilliant soul. I am happy of the memory that this great democracy of the south wants to keep for me, which was of all times the initiator of the progress, which is like the vanguard of the universal democracy, and to which the world thinks every time it hears singing the Marseillaise... My honorable fellow citizen, the noble and glorious invitation that you are willing to send me touches me deeply. I regret/chagrin not being able to go there, being at the moment retained near my grandson, convalescent of a serious disease. My dear fellow citizen, I am sorry to be absent from your midst. I would have been proud to welcome, in the name of all of you, the Italian nobles who are coming to celebrate Petrarch in the country of Voltaire. From afar I will attend your solemnities. And my soul will be mixed with yours. Provenance: Louis Barthou (Paris, Galerie Charpentier, November 4, 1935, #1046-27).