Today in the year 1840, Alphonse Daudet was born.

French writer, and in particular, novelist. From Britannica:

All his life he recorded his observations of other people in little notebooks, which he used as a reservoir of inspiration: a novel, he held, should be “the history of people who will never have any history.” Yet there was nothing unfeeling in his approach (he has even been accused of sentimentality), and he was free from preconceived ideas: unlike his fellow naturalists, he believed that the world in its diversity was misrepresented by novelists who concentrated only on its uglier aspects.

Apparently quite popular in his day and beyond. That infallible source makes it a point to be sure we understand that he contracted syphilis from one of his friends’ mistresses, which according to other sources led to a spinal condition from which he died. May I ask, of what worth is the fact that he had familiar relations with friends’ mistresses? What does it add to the story? Other sources mention syphilis as a fact of the matter. Fair enough. It was the mid-1800s in France. But really?

Attention! Writer Wannabes. Don’t have sex with your friends’ mistresses. You might get a venereal disease and die a painful death like Daudet!

I see that Daudet’s drama, “The Last Lesson,” is included in The World’s One Hundred Best Short Stories Volume Five: Drama (1910). Wonder where that collection is? Front Guest Bedroom.

Daily Reading May 13

• “The Siege of Berlin”

This is mildly interesting. I have before me Vol. XXI of the Pocket University Library opened to page 136. I also have “The Siege of Berlin” open at Bartleby’s, which comes from The Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction (1917).

From Pocket University:

“‘Can you imagine that, little one? We ate horseflesh.’

“Of course she could imagine it, since, for two months she had eaten nothing else!

“As he grew convalescent, our difficulties increased. …

From The Harvard Classics:

“‘Do you understand that, my love? We had horseflesh!’

“I rather think that she did understand it. For two months she had had nothing else. From that day, however, as the period of convalescence drew near, our task about the patient became more difficult. 

“The Siege of Berlin” is pretty short and worth a read.

Stay well & keep reading!