A WISH FROM M. GEORGES COURTELINE

On a signature of Molière

It seems to us, at the moment when we experience certain happy minutes, that we had always expected them; joy tightens our throat a little; and we would not try to hide our trouble, if stupid vanity did not force us to do so.
However, we will understand the emotion that gripped us when, very recently, during a chance conversation, Mr. Georges Courteline wanted to talk to us about Molière.

We were with him in his study; the name of Célimène was mentioned and the “humanity” of this disconcerting and complex character was suddenly illuminated by this simple sentence:

I always thought, the author of The Conversion of Alceste tells us, that Célimène was a virgin, probably married at twelve or thirteen years old like many girls from high society in 1666; then placed in a convent the very evening of her wedding; and never having seen her husband again!

Suddenly, with his usual passion and faith:
It took me months, he confided to us again, to find out which one won out, Tartuffe, The Misanthrope or The School for Women. But, if I proceed by elimination, it is always the Misanthrope that I end up with; I know it by heart, I could play it...

Despite this preference, Mr. Georges Courteline nonetheless admires Molière's other comedies; he yelled :
Tartuffe! Here's a piece, my God! And George Dandin! It's comical, and true, comical enough to bring you to tears.
His voice became a little deeper as he added:
Do you remember the last sentence of The Confused Husband: “When, like me, you have married a bad woman, the best thing you can do is to throw yourself headlong into the water. first! »
He remained dreamy for a moment, then, returning to Tartuffe:
There is one detail that I have never understood, it is the beggar who has a lackey apart from that, Cristi, what an admirable thing!

Words crossed each other. The comedies of Molière, the tragedies of Corneille and those of Racine were opposed. Mr. Georges Courteline retorted: - I have often told you: it is very difficult to determine where genius begins. For me, that's when it kicks you in the gut. Well! while reading Molière, I had this feeling almost all the time; when reading Racine, never. Although I admire Polyeucte, le Cid and Cinna, I find that Molière is much more considerable than Corneille. Perhaps, deep down, I am wrong? It's possible. We are so much like mirrors receiving an image!

An interruption was made:
Didn't Corneille exert his influence on Molière at the time the latter wrote his Amphitryon? Never in my life, declared Mr. Georges Courteline sharply. Nothing in Corneille's work is comparable to the scene of Sosie and Mercury, in the first act, this first act where there is not a word to change. Is there a tirade as perfect as Sosie's monologue with his lantern Who goes there? Uh! My fear increases with every step..."?
Sitting on his chair, miming and laughing, Mr. Georges Courteline recited the unforgettable verses. Suddenly he stopped and resumed the tone of the discussion:

Molière, he affirmed, is, with Father Hugo, the greatest accident that has happened! How unfortunate that he died so young; although his last pieces were not the best, he still had something to say!
We have tried to report so far, as they happened, the words of our Master. Our desire is that our readers have the impression of having been with us, at his side.

After a moment, Mr. Georges Courteline raised a point of literary history
Never, he continued, could the mystery of Molière's correspondence and manuscripts, of which not a single line has been found, been elucidated. On this subject, let me tell you a memory about fifteen years ago, I went to Grenoble and there I met a first cousin of Claude Terrasse, departmental archivist. One day he asked me to go see him at his office. It was a large room; on the walls, books, files, boxes. He climbed on a ladder, lowered a file, opened a page and I saw a certificate of the birth of a child of Mlle de Brie bearing the signature of J.-B. Poquelin having served as witness, as well as other actors of the Illustrious Theater (1). This, you must say. I would like the necessary steps to be taken so that this sheet is detached, replaced if necessary by a duly authenticated photograph, then sent to the Comédie-Française where it would finally be in its proper place.

In our turn, we ask all those who agree to put their intelligence and their influence at the service of French letters, to associate themselves with this wish and to obtain satisfaction from those who, like Mr. Georges Courteline, keep the religion of Molière . We are not rich enough in Molière's autographs to neglect such a windfall and for the signature whose existence has just been revealed to us to remain buried in a box.

As we took our leave a few moments later, Mr. Georges Courteline handed us a small volume which he advised us to leaf through.
It was The Conversion of Alceste, printed in 50 copies by the Imprimerie Nationale and, in particular, in all respects consistent with the first edition of the Misanthrope.

What a great idea to have published as Molière did, that of our great writers. who most resembles him.

Leon Deutsch.