PAGES FROM THE GONCOURT JOURNAL
EDMOND AND JULES DE GONCOURT
Diaries are usually where the dirt gets dished, and the journals of the Goncourt brothers are no exception. Existing at the center of a glittering world of painters, poets, and princesses, the Goncourts gossiped freely on everyone from Flaubert, Hugo, and Baudelaire to Degas, Rodin and Proust. But it's not all celebrity gossip. The Journals contains a riveting running history of Paris during the tumultuous reign of Napoleon III as well as many lovely little moments that help redeem some of the more cutting entries. This is is one of the true gems of 19th Century French literature, an open and illuminating window on a fascinating age. (Drawing of the Goncourts above by Elizabeth Peyton.)
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