Author

Alain-René Le Sage(1668–1747)

Alain-René Le Sage is documented in Fuller’s letters, books, published essays, and manuscripts (1837–1846). 3 distinct works are named, most often in New-York Daily Tribune, and the most intensive engagement recorded is “analyzed”.

Engagement: AnalyzedReadMentioned
Present in: Letters · Books · Essays · Manuscripts
Documented: 1837–1846

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 →

In Fuller’s words

“the American Tract Society boasted of their agents' having exchanged, at a Western cabin door, tracts for the Devil on Two Sticks, and then burnt that more entertaining than edifying volume. No wonder, though, they study it there. Could one but have the gift of reading the dreams dreamed by men of such various birth, various history, various mind, it would afford much more extensive amusement than did the chambers of one Spanish city!”

Le Diable boiteux [The Devil on Two Sticks] · Summer on the Lakes, in 1843 · 1843

When Fuller engaged with Alain-René Le Sage

I. Childhood

II. Adolescence

III. Self-Directed

IV. Transcendentalist2records

V. New York5records

VI. Europe1record

✦. Memoirs (1852)1record

1810

1820

1832

1836

1844

1846

1850

This page brings together documented engagements currently identified within the Fuller Reading Worlds catalog.

Sage in Fuller’s reading world

Documentary evidence

Selected passages from Fuller’s own writings, in chronological order.

1837—

Letter to Harriet Martineau

p309

read

“I do not think all authors are like Gil Blas' archbishop.”

Fuller, Margaret. The Letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. Vol. I. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1983.

Inferred Fuller alludes to the episode of Gil Blas and the Archbishop of Granada from Lesage's novel, fearing Martineau will punish her for honest criticism as the archbishop punished the hero. Hudspeth identified the source in *The History and Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane.

Hudspeth identified the source in *The History and Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane.

1839—

Notes on Balzac, George Sand, De Vigny, and Béranger

readManuscript page

“his intrepidity, not inferior to that of Le Sage and Cervantes in facing the dark side of human nature.”

Fuller, Margaret. "Notes on Balzac, George Sand, De Vigny, and Béranger." Houghton Library, Harvard University.

1843—

Summer on the Lakes, in 1843

mentioned

“the American Tract Society boasted of their agents' having exchanged, at a Western cabin door, tracts for the Devil on Two Sticks, and then burnt that more entertaining than edifying volume.”

Fuller, Margaret. Summer on the Lakes, in 1843. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1844.

Inferred The novel's demon Asmodeus lifts the roofs of Madrid houses to reveal private lives — exactly the 'chambers of one Spanish city' that Fuller alludes to in the following sentence.

1844—

Letter to Georgiana Bruce

analyzed · read

“Eliza's account of her strong instinctive development is excellent, as clear and racy as Gil Blas.”

Fuller, Margaret. The Letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. Vol. III. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1986.

1845—

New-York Daily Tribune

“Edgar A. Poe” · January 24, 1845 · p. 1

read2 selected passages

“It has often been our lot to share the mistake of Gil Blas with regard to the Archbishop.”

Inferred Fuller's allusion to "the mistake of Gil Blas with regard to the Archbishop" refers to the episode in Alain-René Lesage’s Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane in which Gil Blas is dismissed by the Archbishop of Grenada for offering honest criticism, despite the Archbishop's request for it. This reference suggests Fuller's familiarity with Lesage's novel.

“I have admired his skill in giving the minute traits of passion, and his intrepidity, not inferior to that of Le Sage and Cervantes, in facing the dark side of human nature.”

Inferred [Alain-René Lesage] named explicitly. Although no specific work is mentioned, the implied referent is likely Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane (1715–35), his most celebrated work and a key example of picaresque realism in this period.

Fuller, Margaret. Life Without and Life Within; or, Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and Poems. Edited by Arthur B. Fuller. Boston: Brown, Taggard and Chase, 1860.

1845—

The Raven and Other Poems.

“The Raven and Other Poems.”

mentioned

“It has often been our case to share the mistake of Gil Blas, with regard to the Archbishop.”

Fuller, Margaret. "The Raven and Other Poems." New-York Daily Tribune, 26 November 1845. · 26 November 1845

1846—

Lives of the Great Composers

“Lives of the Great Composers”

mentioned

“Only the little men of mere talent deserve a place at Le Sage's supper of the authors.”

Fuller, Margaret. Papers on Literature and Art. New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1846. · p235

Also printed in Art, Literature, and the Drama (1869), p235; page given is to the 1869 reprint.

Undated

Pieces with no legible date. They are part of the record but cannot be placed on the lifeline.

n.d.—

Allston's Pictures

“Allston's Pictures”

analyzed

“Scene from Gil Bias— also unlike the other in being perfectly objective, and telling all its thought at once. It is a fine paintmg.”

Fuller, Margaret. Art, Literature, and the Drama. Edited by Arthur B. Fuller. New York: The Tribune Association, 1869. · p295

Preserved in the Memoirs (1852)

Passages surviving only in the posthumous Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli, compiled by Emerson, Channing, and Clarke.

1852—

Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli

p110

analyzed

“lounging lazily under a tree, while mentally accompanying Gil Blas through his course of intrigue and adventure, and visiting with him the impure atmosphere of courtiers, picaroons, and actresses.”

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, William Henry Channing, and James Freeman Clarke, eds. Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli. 2 vols. Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1852.