The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-07-06
LITERARY Log ROLLING.
How Some Famous Authors Sought to
Advertise Themselves.


Advertise Themselves.
The examples cited by Francis Crib
BILE in his article on The Comedy of
Literary Log Rolling in the Strand
Magazine arouse some suspicion as to
their absolute authenticity. but are
amusing enough whether true or not.
Sainte-Beuve increased the circulation
Of his books by insisting upon lighting
q duel in the rain with an umbrella
over his head. Gerard de Nerval used
| to be seen in the streets of Paris lead
| ing a lobster by a string. Nine. Kru-
| -ener, the author OF valerie" and the
| friend of Alexander l. of Russia, made
| the fortune of her novel by calling at
all the Paris shops and asking for va
rious articles of dress "a la Valerie
OF Victor Hugo and of Alexandra Du-
mas the elder the following stories are
told:
Nor was the great poet ashamed to
roll his log even at funeral. He seized
the opportunity at the obsequies Of
one of his own sons. 1t happened that
On the way to the cemetery the pro-
cession passed a travelling menagerie,
and the lions, for whatever reason.
stopped roaring just as Victor Hugo
was in front of their cage. His COM
oanion, minor poet named Pelieport
Drew his attention to the fact. Mas
ter" he whispered, 1.-The lions recognize
you and hush their voices. The king
of beasts is silent in the presence of the
king of men" Victor Hugo bowed and
turned the matter over in his mind.
Then, after meditation. he said: "Pelle-
port, that was a happy thought of
yours Couldn't you write something
about itT' And Pelleport wrote SON
net about it. and the fame of the mas
ter stood on a higher pinnacle than
ever.
And finally there was the case of Du-
mas, of whom it may almost be said
that his whole life was an advertise
ment Some one once said of him that
bis vanity was such that he was capa-
BILE of getting up behind his own car
riage in order to demonstrate that he
had negro footman in his service
He certainly did many things almost
as absurd as that in his restless pur-
suit of reclame. One of his delights
was to clothe his noble proportions IN
uniform and to cmbellish the uni
form with decorations to which he was
not entitled. He even went so far as
himself to design the uniform in which
he fought-or. rather, did not fight, for
be arrived after the fighting was all
over-in Garibaldfs army, and he
achieved q tremendous advertisement
by conducting a well known actress to
a court ball to which she had not been
invited. He got another advertise
ment by allowing himself to be sued
for nondelivery Of a feuilleton. He
was utterly in the wrong, and he lost
his case, but he kept the court in roars
Of laughter while he explained his lit
erary methods and the nature of the
distractions which had interfered with
the fulfillment of his contract. But
the best of all his advertisement was
attained when the announcement ap-
peared that NJ. Alexandra Dumas
would write the last chapter Of forth
coming romance sitting In a shop win
dow, for all the world TO see how it
was done One can understand that
that sort of advertisement would suit
the authors who are also interested in
the sale of hair restorers. They al
most owe it to the public to exhibit
themselves in this way, killing two
birds with a single stone. But for the
author of Monte Cristo" to do it was
surely the ne plus ultra of the comedy
of log rolling.