Jules Janin et Victor Hugo: Une autre perspective des rapports entre Jules Janin et Victor Hugo, d'après des extraits de lettres personnelles inédite de Janin addressée à sa femme, de 1848 à 1871

Jules Janin's friendship with Victor Hugo dates from the summer of 1830, when both met at a friend's house. The already famous poet and the rising drama critic of the Journal des Débats had found each other congenial. In the following years, however, some less favorable articles of Janin about Hugo's plays had somewhat strained their relationship. In his letters to his wife, Janin mentions respectfully the political aspirations of Victor Hugo, yet utters jealous sarcasms when he learns about a new venture of the poet, namely the publication of the newspaper l'Evénement. An ill-fated farce by Auguste Vacquerie, the representation of which the Hugo family had attended, draws slanderous comments from Janin. Yet when the poet invites Janin to his house, the critic will gladly spend the evening with him. After the coup d'Etat of December 1851, when Victor Hugo sees his political ambitions shattered and he and his family exiled from the country, Jules Janin will wholeheartedly support the poet. He describes poetically and sadly the dismantling of Hugo's household, and, from then on he upholds Hugo's literary glory through numerous friendly articles until the poet's return to France in 1871. (In French) (JLW)