okay okay I have acquired another bio of Victor Hugo ( by Matthew Josephson) and it is interesting and FULL OF QUOTES
and MOST UNEXPECTEDLY it includes part of Henri de Latouche’s grumbling about Romantic Friendship! To quote :
Henri de la Touche …published a satire called La Camaraderie Litteraire, having….conceived the opinion that the younger literary generation was fast falling a victim to “ self love” and that literary comradeship had become the curse of the age. He went on:
“You may meet a small band of apostles, anywhere now, who calling themselves persecuted ni the principles of their cult, have secluded themselves in order to lend each other encouragement they are a congregation of strange rhymers who have entered into a conspiracy for mutual admiration… If you are not endowed with the faculty for praising a man to his face, if you do not know how to reach the very heights of enthusiasm in an instant, we advise you never to approach this group that has boasted “the century belongs to it” and calls itself a cenacle, and offers its martyrs and its divinities.
“Praise has become slavery , an eternal bondage, in the little ultra-Romantic church it is the morning and evening prayer; it is the tithe that every reading, every showing of a mere hemistitch, in preparation, has the right to demand of the faithful taxpayers. And whenever one adept meets another they exchange meaningful glances as if to say “ Brother, we must praise each other.”
The worst thing ever: young adults being kind and supportive to each other! I can only assume he went on to yell about participation trophies and those darn “ selfies”.