Autograph letter signed by Georges de Peyrebrune to Jane Catulle-Mendès, 3 pages in violet ink on a double sheet, usual postal folds.

Rare and likely unpublished letter from the feminist novelist Georges de Peyrebrune addressed to her fellow writer, the poetess Jane Catulle Mendès. Peyrebrune, who struggled to make a living from her pen, had failed to publish one of her tales. Consoled by her correspondent, she wishes to offer her a bouquet of lilacs - symbols of seduction, nostalgia and femininity.

A Republican and Dreyfusard, "This provincial woman, who relied solely on herself to gain entry into the Parisian literary world, being neither the daughter, nor the wife, nor the lover of anyone who could sponsor her, succeeded in establishing a considerable place for herself there through the merit of her work alone" (Lydia de Haro Hernández). George de Peyrebrune was an integral part of the Belle Époque circles of women writers, with whom she maintained friendships and correspondence. She devoted herself with determination to feminist journalism, notably in Marguerite Durand's La Fronde, and championed the place of women in literary professions. Alongside Jane Catulle Mendès, she served on the exclusively female jury of the literary prize awarded by the magazine La Vie Heureuse, to which she contributed. Known today as the Prix Femina, it was conceived as a counter-proposal to the Prix Goncourt, which excluded poetic works and "would likely never be awarded to a woman's work. It fell to women to remove, along with the other one, this double restriction" (presentation of the Prix La Vie Heureuse, Hachette, 1907). Peyrebrune devoted a large part of her work to depicting the vicissitudes of the female condition. As she herself was the child of an adulterous union (she took the name of her native hamlet in the Dordogne) and the victim of an unhappy marriage, Peyrebrune gave voice to the silenced and denounced social injustices. Her novels paint tragic portraits of battered women crushed under the moral pressure of their time (Victoire La Rouge), denigrated women writers with autobiographical overtones (Roman d'un Bas-bleu), but also present clearly naturalist accents, such as Les Ensevelis about the Chancelade mining disaster. Despite her success, crowned by two prizes from the Académie française, she struggled to make a decent living from her work. The beginning of the century marked the decline of her fame, which would ultimately plunge her entire œuvre into obscurity and condemn Peyrebrune to living her last years in poverty. Literary history did not allow for two George(s) to take place among the classics. Of these two women writers attached to their countryside (the Périgord for one, Berry for the other), immortality was denied to the one who had been nicknamed the "other George Sand" and who moreover nurtured great admiration for her elder.

Peyrebrune and the Mendès

Little had yet been said about her connection with Jeanne Mette, her "exquise confrère" as she wrote in her inscription to her on her novel Au pied du mât. Having become Mme Jane Catulle Mendès after her marriage to the celebrated poet in 1897, she was known for her poems, ballet libretti and theater critics. Throughout her career, Peyrebrune carefully cultivated her friendships among her sisters-in-arms, partly to compensate for the lack of support from her male colleagues. Lydia de Haro Hernández describes these relationships as

« un vrai réseau d'entraide qui rapprochait ces femmes aux origines, aux convictions et aux situations personnelles parfois assez disparates, mais ayant toutes un point en commun qui devient un lien plus fort que tout autre: leur condition de femmes-de-lettres au milieu d'un monde essentiellement dominé par les hommes. Cette correspondance est parsemée de confidences personnelles, de désillusions propres aux aléas de la vie d'auteur, de mots de réconfort, de demandes d'entremise auprès de tel ou tel éditeur, des contraintes et des injustices qu'elles rencontrent dans leur chemin du fait de leur condition de femmes ».

 This is exactly the tone adopted by Peyrebrune in her letters to Jane, recounting her misfortunes and her admiration for her beautiful friend, who in return consoled her for Catulle Mendès' refusals to intercede for the publication of her works:

"je suis bien persuadée que vous vous êtes employée de toutes vos forces pour m'être agréable

Et je vous en remercie. Tout de même si le maître l'avait bien voulu !..." she writes in this manuscript letter. 

Peyrebrune, in her sometimes deeply despairing letters addressed to Jane's husband, the "cher maître" Catulle, made multiple attempts – sometimes unsuccessful – to place short stories in the newspapers for which he served as literary director (L'Echo de Paris, Le Journal). She also confided her efforts to obtain literary prizes whose endowments were essential to her survival. Catulle Mendès, well-established within the worldly and literary networks he animated with panache, came to her aid on several occasions. He was responsible for presenting Peyrebrune's name for the Légion d'honneur, also supported by Henry Houssaye, Jules Bois, José María de Heredia, Abel Hermant, Jules Claretie and Anatole France. He also wrote a preface for her novel Deux amoureuses (Lemerre, 1901). But he seems to have failed to meet Peyrebrune's requests, which she complains about in her letters both to him and to his wife. The justice that Peyrebrune demanded for her work was unfortunately never rendered during her lifetime. The rare letters to the Mendès couple that we present here complement our understanding of this struggle for her independence and the recognition of her peers.

A precious and revealing piece of correspondence from a captivating figure of the Belle Époque, mistreated by posterity, who attempts to combat the tragic fate almost invariably reserved for women writers, still held at the margins of a masculine literary world.

Dimanche

Quelle charmeuse vous êtes, ma belle amie ! Vous trouvez le moyen de rendre les gens très heureux d'être déçus, tant pour les consoler vous y mettez de grâce !

[...] certes je ne saurais vous en vouloir, encore que ma contrariété soit vive, car je suis bien persuadée que vous vous êtes employée de toutes vos forces pour m'être agréable

Et je vous en remercie. Tout de même si le maître l'avait bien voulu !...

Je me proposais si vous étiez venue hier de vous faire cueillir des lilas. Je vous en envoie une botte bien campagnarde sentant bien la paille mouillée.

Aimez-vous les syringas ? J'en ai d'une espèce géante admirable ; [...]

Je le crois bien que je veux vous embrasser !

Peyrebrune