34 - HUGO, Victor

HUGO, Victor [Autograph manuscript of “Coups de clairon”] [Guernsey], [1870] SPECTACULAR AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT OF A POEM BY VICTOR HUGO, ENORMOUS AND HEAVILY CROSSED OUT. WHERE POETRY AND DRAWING MEET. Manuscript entirely in the author’s own hand in black ink. Numerous erasures Two pages on a folio sheet (393 x 298 mm) 1. On the front: 64 lines divided into quatrains. With a few variations and a different order, these lines form part of the poem “Coups de clairon” “Behold on the hill, Beneath the black bars, The feline glow Of its basement windows Her masters revel. Games, feasts, happiness. Proud, they revel In their dishonor. These apotheoses Hide [cover] remorse. It is a heap of roses Upon a heap of dead. Their trophy is A treacherous sword; The stifled grave Lies beneath their heels. Clamor reaching to the clouds, False gods invoked; The women are naked, The hearts are masked. They live in haste; It is Eden turned to hell That lightning probes With a flash. The horde without worship, Without faith, without laurel; Fills with tumult. The murderous lair. They need beauties, They need lilies; And rebellious blacks— […] and pale ones— Create this chimera Of uniting beneath the sky The fleeting flower With eternal crime. What is this city Rising to the heavens And which seems vile, Though enormous to the eye? This city is the one That rules here; Wine flows there, And blood as well This citadel On this horizon Reigns, and is faithful Only to betrayal. The priest in prayer Must confront them And sings behind […] The king of Sodom Is there, his eyes ablaze, And, spitting on man, Foams at the mouth against God. There are so many feasts Under this emperor That the white prophets Shudder with horror! In this twilight, A mist where God holds back, The lion retreats And the serpent comes.” 2. On the reverse side: various verses and notes. “And the halberds And the golden censer And the guards’ footsteps In the corridors Whether they seek Caiaphas Or Domitian [...] Radiant Nimrod And his gray head [...] the blue sky Will be the surprise Of God’s awakening” One can also make out the addresses of the satirical journal *L’Éclipse* and its main contributors: “*L’Éclipse* office. 16 Rue du Croissant. Gill, F. Polo, Paul Mahalin” and this other note: “Write to Mr. Eugène Montrosier at *Le Messager des Théâtres*, 17 Rue de la Banque.” A few holes caused by the acidity of the ink The large sheet on which Victor Hugo composed this page of poetry corresponds to the “ceremonial paper” usually reserved “for major manuscripts of poems in Guernsey” (Jean-Marc Hovasse). Victor Hugo used the same sheets for the complete manuscript of the collection in which this poem appears, preserved at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (call number NAF 24773, available on Gallica). However, this page is not missing from the Bibliothèque nationale de France manuscript. The poem “Coups de clairon” appears, in its entirety, between folios 132 and 153. This page corresponds to a preliminary draft of the manuscript held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The same lines and stanzas, significantly modified and in a different order, appear in one manuscript after another. Victor Hugo crosses out each stanza on the page with a single stroke once it has found its place in the great poem he intends to compose. The composition of Hugo’s manuscripts follows a specific method: “The first version, which the poet might have considered final, occupies the right-hand side, in accordance with his writing habits. The text is then gradually expanded in the left margin, marked by curly brackets. It is then crossed out, as it is copied onto another sheet with additional additions. The successive stages of composition are thus linked together by a network of ‘bubbles,’ with each new version replacing the previous ones.” (BnF essentiel) Victor Hugo’s method is clearly evident on this large page of the manuscript: the poem begins in the right margin, then moves to the left margin, with a large brace and cross-outs. The paper and ink, the arrangement of the stanzas (sixteen) in a grid pattern on the page, and the polished appearance of the verses despite a few corrections suggest that this draft page and the manuscript preserved at the Bibliothèque nationale de France were composed at the same time, in a single creative burst, and originated from the same bundle of sheets. This page was therefore most likely part of the writing process for the final manuscript, before being separated from the rest during a reorganization of the very long poem. Fortunately, this page deviated from its original purpose: instead of becoming a fair copy, it became a draft. Victor Hugo’s manuscripts of this size, still in