LITERATURE

Apollinaire, woman of letters…

We have just reread a fine chronicle of women's literature, written in 1909 by the exquisite Louise Lalanne, the very one who was known, among the public, for and who disappeared as a pretty and
scudain without ever being talked about again. In the latest issue of Les Marges, the true personality of Louise Lalanne is revealed to us. Read instead:
“We wanted to publish a Chronicle of Women’s Literature. We asked it, successively, of two illustrious women of letters. Both of them slipped away. It was then that we asked Apollinaire to disguise himself as a woman. He accepted with a laugh, and willingly played along, under the name of Louise Lalanne. »
Apollinaire played his role wonderfully. What charming delicacy and sensitivity he put into these feminine chronicles. Let us cite, for example, this delicious passage:
“I found my poor friend, usually so pretty, become like a faded ribbon... Collapsed on the ground, she was sobbing. His hands, the palms of which were turned in the air at eye level, hung like fringes! I did not know what to say and was crying with her, when, my eyes having gone to a console, I saw there a book of which I read the bitter title To put an end to the lover. Cruel Aurel I read the fatal book. It is unfair from start to finish. You would like love to be killed. I will never convert to this austere and passionate morality. »
Wasn't this very feminine literary criticism of the best quality?