French poet and dramatist (1868-1918) best known for his play Cyrano de Bergerac. Autograph manuscript in French, signed "Edmond Rostand," one page, 8.25 x 11.5, March 1898. Rostand pens a direct quotation from his famous play Cyrano de Bergerac, headed "Cyrano," in full:
"Moi, c'est moralement que j'ai mes élégances.
Je ne m'artiffe pas ainsi qu'un freluquet,
Mais je suis plus soigné, si je suis moins coquet.
Un affront pas très bien lavé, la conscience
Jaune encor de sommeil dans le coin de son oeil,
Un honneur chiffonné, des scrupules en deuil…
Mais je marche, sans rien sur moi qui ne reluise,
Empanaché d'indépendance et de franchise;
Ce n'est pas une taille avantageuse,
c'est Mon âme que je cambre ainsi qu'en un corset,
Et tout couvert d'exploits qu'en rubans je m'attache,
Retroussant mon esprit ainsi qu'une moustache,
Je fais, en traversant les groupes et les ronds.
Sonner les vérités comme des éperons!"
As translated into English verse by Brian Hooker:
"I carry my adornments on my soul.
I do not dress up like a popinjay:
But inwardly, I keep my daintiness.
I do not bear with me, by any chance,
An insult not yet washed away—a conscience
Yellow with unpurged bile—an honor frayed
To rags, a set of scruples badly worn.
I go caparisoned in gems unseen,
Trailing white plumes of freedom, garlanded
With my good name—no figure of a man,
But a soul clothed in shining armor, hung
With deeds for decorations, twirling—thus—
A bristling wit, and swinging at my side
Courage, and on the stones of this old town
Making the sharp truth ring, like golden spurs!"
On the reverse is an untranslated handwritten passage by the French literary critic Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, signed "Sainte-Beauve." In fine condition.
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