“The works of M.”
Author
Alfred de Vigny(1797–1863)
Alfred de Vigny is documented in Fuller’s published essays, journals, and manuscripts (1839–1845). 9 distinct works are named, most often in Notes on Balzac, George Sand, De Vigny, and Béranger, and the most intensive engagement recorded is “excerpted”.
- Engagement
- ExcerptedAnalyzedQuotedReadMentioned
- Present in
- Essays · Journals · Manuscripts
- Documented
- 1839–1845
Additional passages preserved in the Memoirs (1852)
Totals count documented engagements, once at the earliest witness. How we count →
Reprints, Memoirs passages, and repeat notes within a single manuscript are shown but never counted twice. Evidence for this author is selective, not exhaustive. Methodology →
Confirmed reading
Passages where the evidence goes beyond allusion to indicate that Fuller had Alfred de Vigny’s work in hand — an explicit statement of reading, sustained excerpting or translation, or a specific reading episode recorded by those who knew her.
- Dated
- 1839Chatterton (drama)Attested
“He has also written a drama called Chatterton, inferior to the story here”
Mem-2 Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli · Sept. 1839
Same continuing journal discussion of the de Vigny volume she read through.
- 1839Cinq-MarsAttested
“Cinq-Mars is a romance in the style of Walter Scott. It is well brought out”
Mem-2 Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli · Sept. 1839
Same continuing journal discussion of the de Vigny volume she read through.
- 1839La Canne au Jonc (Servitude et Grandeur Militaire)Attested
“La Canne au Jonc the noblest... In La Canne au Jonc, Collingwood, who embodies the high feeling of duty”
Mem-2 Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli · Sept. 1839
Same continuing journal discussion of the de Vigny volume she read through.
In Fuller’s words
“Among his poésies La Fregate la Serieuse, Madame de Soubise, and Dolorida please me especially. The last has an elegiac sweetness and finish which are rare. Some have a fine strain of natural melody and give you at once the key note of the situation as this "J'aime le son du [illegible] le soir, au fond des bois" and "Qu'il est doux, qu'il est doux d'ecouter les histoires / Des histoires du temps passé...”
When Fuller engaged with Alfred de Vigny
This page brings together documented engagements currently identified within the Fuller Reading Worlds catalog.
Vigny in Fuller’s reading world
- Servitude et grandeur militaires [Military Servitude and Grandeur]1839–1840
- “La Canne de Jonc, in Servitude et Grandeur Militaires”1839
- “Laurette ou le Cachet Rouge, in Servitude et Grandeur Militaires”1839
- Chatterton1839
- Cinq-Mars1839
- La Maréchale d'Ancre [The Marshal's Wife of Ancre]1839
- Le More de Venise [Othello, translated from Shakespeare]1839
- Poèmes antiques et modernes [Ancient and Modern Poems]1839
Documentary evidence
Selected passages from Fuller’s own writings, in chronological order.
1839—
Notes on Balzac, George Sand, De Vigny, and Béranger
p20, p25–p35“Of the three stories which adorn this part of the book, Le cachet Rouge is the loveliest. [...] Never was any thing more sweetly naive than parts of le Cachet Rouge.”
“La canne au Jonc the noblest. [...] In la canne au Jonc Collingwood, who embodies the high feeling of duty is taken too raw out of a book.”
“Cinq-Mars is a romance in the style of Walter Scott.”
“Here he has arranged as in a bouquet, what he knew (and a great deal, it is) of the time of Louis 13th, as he has of the Regency in "La Marechale d'Ancre" a much finer work, indeed one of the best arranged and finished modern dramas.”
“Stello is a bolder attempt.”
Fuller names the title explicitly: 'Stello is a bolder attempt.' She identifies the three poets (Gilbert, André Chénier, Chatterton) and compares it favorably to the play Chatterton.
“He has also written a drama, called Chatterton, inferior to the story here, The "marvellous boy" seems to have captivated his imagination marvellously.”
“His translation of Othello which I glanced at is good for a French man.”
“Among his poésies La Fregate la Serieuse, Madame de Soubise, and Dolorida please me especially. The last has an elegiac sweetness and finish which are rare.”
She also quotes what appears to be De Vigny's poem 'Le Cor' ('J'aime le son du cor le soir au fond des bois') and a second unidentified poem ('Qu'il est doux d'écouter les histoires').
Fuller, Margaret. "Notes on Balzac, George Sand, De Vigny, and Béranger." Houghton Library, Harvard University.
1840—
Journal 1840
p21mentionedManuscript page
“De Vigny. Character of the [gentleman]. True record_ literary effort growing up naturally from life”
Fuller, Margaret. "Journal 1840." Houghton Library, Harvard University; bMS Am 1086 (85); Box 5 (85).
Inferred Character of the [gentleman]. The emphasis on 'character of the gentleman' and literary effort 'growing up naturally from life' fits Servitude et grandeur militaires, which presents soldier-gentleman protagonists. Title inferred as Servitude et grandeur militaires
1845—
French Gayety.
“French Gayety.”mentioned
“De Vigney describes scenes of this kind, where the prisoners would assemble daily, arrange chains as the steps of the scaffold, and each take his or her turn in preparing how to receive the Guillotine”
Fuller, Margaret. "French Gayety." New-York Daily Tribune, 9 July 1845. · 9 July 1845
1845—
Review.
“Review.”mentioned
“One of the most unexceptionable and attractive writers of modern France is De Vigny.”
Also reprinted in Life Without and Life Within; or, Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and Poems. Counted once, at its first appearance.
Fuller, Margaret. "Review." New-York Daily Tribune, 1 February 1845. · 1 February 1845
Preserved in the Memoirs (1852)
Passages surviving only in the posthumous Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli, compiled by Emerson, Channing, and Clarke.
1826—
Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli
p33analyzed · quoted · read
“Among his poems, La Fregate, La Serieuse, Madame de Soubise, and Dolorida, please me especially... Some have a fine strain of natural melody...”
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, William Henry Channing, and James Freeman Clarke, eds. Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli. 2 vols. Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1852.
1832—
Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli
p32analyzed · read
“Stello is a bolder attempt. It is the history of three poets, — Gilbert, Andre Chenier, Chatterton.”
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, William Henry Channing, and James Freeman Clarke, eds. Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli. 2 vols. Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1852.
1835—
Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli
p27analyzed · quoted · read
“The works of M. de Vigny having come in my way, I have read quite through this thick volume. 'The first portion of this volume, Servitude et Grandeurs Militaires...”
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, William Henry Channing, and James Freeman Clarke, eds. Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli. 2 vols. Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1852.