VIGNY Alfred de (1796-1863) - Lot 120

Lot 120
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VIGNY Alfred de (1796-1863) - Lot 120
VIGNY Alfred de (1796-1863) autograph manuscript, [Les Consultations du Docteur Noir. Stello ]; 277 pages on 276 folios in-fol. (about 31,3 x 20 cm), mounted on tabs and bound in one volume in-fol. in red jansenist morocco, inner frame of 7 gilt fillets, gilt head, untrimmed, red half-maroquin folder and case (Chambolle-Duru) Important complete working manuscript of Vigny's novel on the unfortunate fate of the poet in society. Written in 1831 and 1832, Stello was published in the Revue des Deux Mondes in three issues, on October 15, 1831 (presented as a "Petit frag - ment d'un gros livre"), December 1, 1831 and April 1, 1832, before the original edition published by Gosselin and Renduel under the title Les Consultations du Docteur Noir. Stello ou les Diables bleus (Blue devils). First consultation, illustrated with three vignettes by Tony Johannot, and registered in the Bibliographie de la France on June 9, 1832. Vigny will work a long time on other "consultations" which will never see the day. The poet Stello, prey to spleen and "blue devils", wonders about the human destiny of doubt and pain, between the question of "Why?" and the sigh of "Alas!"; he is tempted to get involved in politics. The Black Doctor, boldly handling the probe of analysis, will undertake to cure him by telling him the tragic story of three cursed poets, rejected or persecuted by society: Nicolas Gilbert dying of hunger, Thomas Chatterton poisoning himself after having torn up his manuscripts, and André Chénier guillotined by the Terror. The dialogues between Stello and the Black Doctor illustrate the conflict between feeling and reasoning, two aspects of Vigny's own personality. The black Doctor will return his order: "To separate the poetic life from the political life"; the poet must, "alone and free, accomplish his mission". The manuscript, in brown ink on the front of large sheets of vellum paper, is overloaded with erasures, corrections and additions (sometimes on smaller sheets added), and testifies to an important work of elaboration and reworking. Several versos have a few lines crossed out, corresponding to abandoned page beginnings. The pagination, at the top right of the leaves, is discontinuous, sometimes double, with some inconsistencies (and some errors during the binding). The numbering and titling of the chapters have given rise to hesitations, which are reflected in the manuscript; the last chapters are not numbered. There is no title page. A final "Table" lists the 42 chapters. The manuscript was used for the printing of the text of the Revue des Deux Mondes, and for the original edition for the added chapters; it bears the names of the typographers between whom the copy was distributed. At the head of chapter I Character of the patient, Vigny noted: "This chapter must be put in the place of the other 1st chapter". II Symptoms (Vigny hesitated on the title: "Symptoms and singular things that Stello says to the black Doctor"). III Consequences of the Blue Devils. IV Histoire d'une puce enragée (4 other titles crossed out, including " Comment le Roi eut une idée nouvelle "; the female heroine was called Madame de Chateauroux, corrected to Mademoiselle de Coulanges). V Interruption. VI (misnumbered VII) Continuation of the story that Doctor Black made. VII [VIII] A creed (two titles crossed out, including "Are you a Poet?"). [This first group is paginated 1-19 with a leaf 14 bis.] VIII [IX corrected to 8, this corrected offset continuing on the next 4 chaps] Demi-folie. IX Continuation of the story of the rabid flea. X Improvement. XI A grab. XII A distraction. [This 2 nd group, marked at the head " 2 nd article ", paginated 1-21, was added to the previous one to form the first issue of the Revue des Deux Mondes (RDM)]. XIII [marked XII, the shift continuing onto the following chapters] One idea for another. XIV History of Kitty Bell. XV An English letter. XVI Where the Drama is interrupted by scholarship in a deplorable manner. XVII Continuation of the story of Kitty Belle. A benefactor. XVIII A staircase. [This 3rd group, paginated 1-42, corresponds to the 2nd issue of the WDR.] XIX Sadness and Pity (original title crossed out: "Hard as Thought"). XX A History of the Terror. [This 4 th group is paginated 1-15 with a 5 bis and 18-24; it gives the beginning of the 3 rd issue of the RDM]. 21 A good gunner. 22 Of an honest old man. 23 On the hieroglyphs of the good gunner. 24 The Lazarus House. 25 A young mother. 26 A straw chair. 27 A woman is always a child. 28 The Refectory. 29 The caisson. 30 The House of M r de Robespierre lawyer in the Parliament. 31 A legislator. 32 [XXXIII] The Crossed Walk [the beginning was bound after chap. 32 added]. 33 [XXXIV] A small entertainment. [This 5 th group, paginated 1-59 (plus 20 A and B and 40 bis) and 57-88 (plus 61 bis and 62 bis); continued from the 3rd issue of the RDM]. 32 From the sub
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