Note 454 — Chapter II · Analogy of Sane to Insane Genius.

T. Gautier, according to the Goncourts, often declared that he could not—on account of his youth—convince himself that he was really the father of his daughter (Journal des Goncourt, 1888). “La Fontaine was not far removed from a bad man,” says Bourget. “What are we to think of a husband who deserts his young wife and his child, without any motive whatever?” Stendhal (Beyle) hated his father and was hated by him; he always declared his invincible repugnance towards compulsory family affection (Bourget, Essais de Psychologie, p. 310). “I consecrated myself to grief for her,” wrote Chateaubriand of Pauline de Baumont. “ ... She had not been dead six months, when her place was filled in my heart” (Ibid.).