Abstract
In a letter dated May 1887, Jean Lorrain writes to Barbey d'Aurevilly, "Je me permets de vous envoyer un article où je vous ai fort pillé, mais on ne pille que des trésors . . ." 1 Lorrain had previously paid homage to Barbey in his 1897 Monsieur de Bougrelon, a parody of an eccentric based largely on the persona of Barbey. Lorrain's peculiar story of two French expatriates in Amsterdam is, in part, a tribute to Barbey and his literary influence. It is not only by dint of compliment that Lorrain refers to Barbey's writings as "trésors"; in the form of a collection of gems and precious stones, treasure is a fundamental trope in Barbey's œuvre and it is likely that Lorrain understood the relevance of lapidary metaphors in Barbey's text.
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