Courtilz works have “ amused and abused the ignorant readers ”, according to Voltaire, but literature was undergoing a tremendous change at the time. Courtilz played his part in the revolution of modernity, willingly or not – that’s another mystery linked to his name, just like his marrying the widow of a bookseller, at the end of his life, who had tracked him down for years. Time has eventually rehabilitated Courtilz de Sandras to a certain extent – not a very popular writer, he remains cherished by some learnt, abused and amused readers. In this respect, he probably owes a lot to Alexandre Dumas. Nevertheless, there is one masterpiece missing from his catalogue, the Memoirs of Sandras de Courtilz (chez Pierre Marteau, of course). Guess he would not mind someone to write them right now, building them from truths and lies.
Here is a link to several of Courtilz' works at the Open Library: www.openlibrary.org/authors/OL2307186A/Gatien_Courtilz_de_Sandras
- by Thibault Ehrengardt
dreadzine@free.fr
Editors's note: Thibault Ehrengardt writes from France.
