Les Deux Pigeons (La Fontaine)

Overview

"Les Deux Pigeons" is the second fable of Book IX of Jean de La Fontaine's Fables, in the second collection, first published in 1678; its source is the fable "Du pigeon voyeur" by Pilpay (Wikipedia FR, "Les Deux Pigeons"). It is the fable of the pigeon who leaves his friend to travel and finds the world harder than expected, with the famous line "L'absence est le plus grand des maux".

Marie and this work

1 July 1876 (062.0839): on the eve of her departure for Russia, with the separation from Pietro in Rome before her, Marie quotes the line, in guillemets, as the thought that troubles her: "L'absence « est le plus grand des maux »". The reader's footnote in the diary identifies it as La Fontaine IX, 2. Three months of absence "c'est énorme", she fears Pietro may forget her.

References in Diary

Sources