The story of a great man

[fpb]

Once upon a time there was an old sage who lived in Paris in a house so full of books that he had barely space to move; and he had read them all. He had written more than sixty books and altogether invented his own discipline, and when he was admitted to the highest academic institution in France, he was described as a "more than encyclopedic

Comments

[sanscouronne]

What a wonderful, wonderful man. And what a great achievement for you to be so recognized and your talents validated by him. Thank you for sharing this. :)

[shezan]

This gives me goosebumps. Everything - A LETTER FROM DUMÉZIL! - your own letter from that special military fastness, starting it all; the gift deferred but still as bright a quarter-century later.

I could possibly try to inquire at Bibliothèque Nationale; they must have a Dépôt Légal for the issue of Ogam. (Put together in 1983, surely?)

There is a true short story here, as you surely know; in the style of Gregor von Rezzori or Truman Capote.

[fpb]

1983, indeed.

[fpb]

One thing that should have been mentioned is that the letters from Dumezil were apparently lost in one of my many moves. That is why I rarely speak of it - without the evidence, it would have sounded as though I might be bragging or making things up. And a very minor reason why the discovery of the article made me happy is that it allowed me to speak about the correspondence.

As for the "short story worthy of Rezzori and Capote", I would like this episode widely known, just ad maiorem Dumezil gloriam. His generosity deserves to be more widely appreciated, especially in his country.

[thefish30]

How unutterably lovely. It is a great comfort that there can be such men, and I my heart is made warm by your joy in this.

[shezan]

No mention at the (admittedly hopeless) BNF website, gallica.fr, but had you seen the Frog Wikipedia entry for Ogam?

[panobjecticon]

a very nice story and an excellent post:-)