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Friday, 16 February 1883
The Duchesse de Chaulnes, née Galitzine, has died at the age of twenty-five — in destitution. My God, what a genius this Balzac is — I have read the story of this woman, or something closely resembling it...
La duchesse de Chaulnes, nee Galitzine est morte a l'age de vingt-cinq ans; dans la misere. Mon Dieu quel genie que ce Balzac, j'ai lu l'histoire de cette femme ou quelque chose qui y ressemble fort...
He has touched everything, presented every type, every event. What a work, what genius.
Il a touche a tout, il a presente tous les types, tous les evenements. Quelle oeuvre, quel genie.
A volume of verses by a M. Ballmat, a fashionable poet, is about to appear — I feel as though I am witnessing all his literary struggles, the beginnings, the journalism... You will recall it in Balzac.
Il va paraitre un volume de vers d'un M. Ballmat, un poete a la mode, il me semble assister a toutes ses tribulations litteraires, les debuts, le journalisme... Vous vous rappelez dans Balzac.