« Ma chère Florence ». Maurice Maeterlinck - Florence Perkins. Vingt années de correspondance inédite

Abstract

This article is the result of an internship at the KBR. It summarizes twenty years of correspondence between Maeterlinck and a mysterious American notable, Florence Perkins, from the 1920s to the 1940s, during his emigration to the United States. These letters show the genesis of works that became a real success, now a little forgotten, the author’s close relationship with the natural and occult sciences, intellectual and literary exchanges, but also numerous biographical details concerning the management of his real estate, the organization of his days including at the time of the Second World War and the conflicts with Georgette Leblanc, his first companion. Maeterlinck’s political vision appears unperturbed, both his fear of the « Bolshevik Revolution » and that of the German invasion, which he feels imminent, or his clear sympathy for Salazar and his Minister of Propaganda. The opportunity for the reader to discover the aging writer, far from the romanticized vision we have today.