Excerpt from The Love Letters of a Genius: Being a Translation of Prosper Merimee's "Lettres A Une Inconnue" It is a mere platitude to say that every man has an inner life: emotional, spiritual, what you will; of which only in rare moments of expansion he gives a fleeting glimpse to the few who know him well. And to the sympathetic friend such moments are moments of surpassing interest. The man of genius, whose art reaches the imagination and touches the heart of a world beyond the circle of his intimate friends, finds an audience inspired with a very human curiosity to know something of the inner life of which they have only seen the intellectual expression. But it is seldom that such curiosity is gratified. In the world's history there have been few great men who have willingly laid bare their souls for the edification of the multitude. Prosper Merimee was not a great man. Nevertheless, his exquisite grace of style has ensured him a permanent place in the history of the French Literature of the nineteenth century. It is not proposed to write his biography here: there should be some justification for the translator's hope that these Letters will rouse sufficient interest in the reader to impel him to seek elsewhere for knowledge of the life and character of their author. Meanwhile, two words will suffice to explain why the publication of these Letters in 1873, three years after his death, created such a sensation in Paris. Little of Merimee's work is known in England, but his genius has dominated the imagination of his countrymen. And, perhaps, his ascendency has been enhanced by the strangely-contrasted qualities of his personality: qualities that, nevertheless, detracted from his popularity. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."

Excerpt from The Love Letters of a Genius: Being a Translation of Prosper Merimee's "Lettres A Une Inconnue" T is a mere platitude to say that every man has an inner life emotional, spiritual, what you will of which only in rare moments of expansion he gives a fleeting glimpse to the few who know him well. And to the sympathetic friend such moments are moments of surpassing interest. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.