Alphonse Daudet

Wives of men of Genius Alphonse Daudet

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1889 edition. Excerpt: ...monstrous selfishness, and who ought to remain single, lest they crush the frail and timid existence that would link itself with theirs. Ah, madam, how many unhappy wives have I seen, since the commencement of my career, in the same sad position in which you find yourself! These literary men, who live for the public and for nothing but the public, bring to their domestic hearth only the weariness of their glory or the gloom of their disappointments. An irregular life, without compass or rudder; revolutionary ideas at war with all the rules of society; contempt for home and its quiet joys; mental excitement kept up by the abuse of tobacco and strong drink, not to mention anything else,--that is what constitutes this terrible literary atmosphere from which your aunt is anxious to rescue you. But I repeat, while fully understanding her anxiety--even her remorse for ever having consented to such a marriage--I cannot see that things have yet reached the point for what you ask. I have, however, made a rough draught of a judicial memorial in which your principal grievances are placed under headings and set forth in an effective light. These are the main divisions of the statement: 1. Gross ill-treatment of the wife's family by the husband.--Refusal to receive the visits of our aunt from Moulins, who brought us up and to whom we are devotedly attached. Nicknames of Aunt Judy, the Fairy with the Hump, and others, given to this venerable spinster, whose back is a little arched. Jokes, epigrams, and caricatures on the said aunt and her infirmity. 2. Unsociability.--Refusal to see the wife's friends, to pay wedding visits, to send cards, to reply to invitations, etc. 3. Dilapidation of fortune.--Money lent without acknowledgment to all sorts of vagabonds....