saintselime

Joris-Karl Huysmans - Myriam Harry: Correspondance (1902-1907)

Saint-Sélime (ed.).

Editions du Donjon, 1995.



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This interesting collection, edited by Saint-Sélime, attempts to gather together the correspondence between Huysmans and Myriam Harry. In his introduction, the editor tries to defend Harry against her detractors, but even he has to acknowledge that there are discrepancies, disortions, and even downright falsifications in Harry's version of events and in her transcriptions of the letters. This edition of the correspondence is somewhat misleading because while the letters from Harry to Huysmans are transcribed from originals held in the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in Paris, all the letters from Huysmans to Harry are simply reproductions of the often erroneous transcriptions that Harry reproduced in her various memoirs. Saint-Sélime must have been unaware of the existence of the sole manuscript letter known to exist between Huysmans and Harry, as he makes no mention of it and instead prints the version of the text that Harry falsified and reproduced in Trois ombres. For this reason the text of the Huysmans letters included in this volume should be treated with the same caution as those in Harry's memoirs.


This edition is now very difficult to find and is not even listed in the BNF catalogue. The book was produced in an edition of 25 copies on Vergé d'Ingres, numbered I to XXV, with a few additional copies on Centaure ivoire.