Note 4 — Chapter XIX · FABRE’S WRITINGS
Bernard Miall translation
Our eminent compatriot will forgive the writer for quoting the following passage from a letter of his, which so fully expresses both his admiration for our hero and his profound affection for the land of our fathers: “For the second time, on reading in the Journal d’Aveyron your comprehensive and loving study of the life and work of your illustrious namesake, I was agreeably surprised to see that you compared our characters and our work. This comparison is extremely flattering to me, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.… It is indeed a somewhat curious thing that two Rouergats should have conceived the idea of celebrating the Animals; that both should have been led by their destiny to Provence; that both should have had the course of their lives affected by the intervention of Duruy, etc. It is true that one must not push these analogies too far. Duruy merely advanced me from the Normal College of Rodez to that of Cluny; and in so doing, alas! he uprooted me.… As for the Animals, what are the poetic fancies which I have dedicated to them beside the masterly essays of the man who has been called ‘the Homer of the insects!’ ” M. Fabié does not dispute, any more than we ourselves, that Fabre’s fame quite legitimately belongs to Provence, which has become his second country; he merely regrets that we in our “loyal kingdom” have too long allowed our good friends of the Empire to monopolise him. ↑