French and Francophone Literature Commons^™

Marguerite Yourcenar, Alchemist, Rhoda Lerman

The Courier

Marguerite Yourcenar worked with full consciousness and deep knowledge in the language and landscape of alchemy. She was not only writing books; she was remaking her soul. In the "Reflections on the Composition of The Memoirs of Hadrian", appendixed to the novel, she notes that she writes "with one foot in scholarship, the other in magic arts, or more accurately, without metaphor, absorption in that sympathetic magic which operates when one transports one's self in thought into another's body and soul". In The Memoirs of Hadrian we enter the territory of the landscape with her. In The Abyss we read …

Memories Of Marguerite Yourcenar, Mary H. Marshall

The Courier

This paper is an amplification of Professor Marshall's introductory remarks to her lecture "Marguerite Yourcenar: Her Mythical and Historical Imagination", which was given to the Syracuse University Library Associates on 20 February 1990. At the end the reader will find responses to additional specific interview questions, as well as transcribed selections from a few Yourcenar-Marshall letters. Because of her friendship with Professor Marshall, Marguerite Yourcenar gave to the Syracuse University Library several early inscribed editions of her works.

The Jean Cocteau Collection: How 'Astonishing'?, Paul J. Archambault

The Courier

Between 1963 and 1971, the Syracuse University Library acquired more than two hundred fifty holograph manuscripts by Jean Cocteau. These are now to be found in the George Arents Research Library for Special Collections, where they enhance an already rich assortment of French manuscripts that have been thoroughly listed in a previous article in the Courier. An abridged history of their acquisition might be told here. The story is interesting, for it includes several of those ironical twists that made so much of Cocteau's life seem like a chassé-croisé with Death, choreographed by the artist himself.

French Literary Manuscripts At Syracuse University, Edward Lyon

The Courier

An unexpected and largely unrecognized strength of the George Arents Research Library at Syracuse University lies in French literary manuscripts of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Authors' letters, autograph manuscripts and typescripts, and revisions in proof, as well as publishers' records, offer essential biographical, textual, and bibliographic documentation. Even though French literature has not been a primary collecting area, Syracuse University has had the good fortune to acquire individual items and collections of variety and depth. The summary that follows is offered as both an introduction to these collections and an invitation to scholarship.

Includes an annotated bibliography of Syracuse …

"Une Amazone", A Manuscript Of Alexandre Dumas Père, Paul Archambault

The Courier

This article describes "Une Amazone," a work by Alexandre Dumas that now resides in Syracuse University Special Collections. It is known alternatively by the title "Herminie." It is a Romantic tragedy that takes place surrounding the events of a masquerade ball. The author also comments on the foreward and notes that Dumas provided with the manuscript, giving valuable insights into Dumas' character development and creative process.

A Gift From Marguerite Yourcenar, Member Of The Academie Francaise, Syracuse University

The Courier

Mme. Marguerite Yourcenar, distinguished French writer and the first woman to be elected to the Academie Francaise in its 346-year history, has generously presented seventeen of her books to the Syracuse University Libraries. Some are early editions of special value, and one, Nouvelles orientales (Gallimard, 1938), is extensively corrected in her own hand. All the books contain a presentation inscription.

Includes a comprehensive list of the books that were donated.