L E T T E R S

84He received Your Honor's letter. His address is: Paulin, Libraire, Placede la Bousee. With regard to Ruszczyc 5 : Paulin publishes novels only byexception. Someone else would have to be contacted - perhaps Gosselin 6 orRenduel 7 . But even on this level, today's unsettled society seems to have anappetite only for stories of monsters, passion, and the unnatural. Its craving issated only by tales of horror, the exotic, or the extremely unusual. The bestproof of this can be found in the books of today's most highly regardednovelists: Hugo 8 , Janin 9 , Balzac 10 , Paul de la Croix 11 , and others.I really think that the publication of Your Honor's own novels would beeasier here. Moreover, if Your Honor were to adapt them a little more to theFrench style, he might even realize a sizable income. More seriousconsiderations suggest that Your Honor do this, not only for books you havealready published in Polish, but also in larger editions of books on the samethemes written especially for French readers.While I personally could not be very helpful in adapting these works tothe French style, I could easily engage one of my French acquaintances 12 toperform such a service.If Your Honor is ready to sacrifice himself, he might begin to dig intodusty archives in an effort to breathe life into our ancient customs. In this wayhe would initiate the publication on a large scale of materials that are of greatsignificance to us. I could make arrangements with one of the better writershere to cooperate in polishing the language with a view to profit. This wouldinsure the possibility, and the success, of such a project. I have more to say onthis subject, but I await Your Honor's reply.As for sending the manuscript of Ruszczyc... Since certain Polish booksare absolutely necessary for my work, especially books that refer to ourhistory, I have already contacted individuals to obtain them for me. I expectthese books to be shipped from Warsaw in about a month. Should there be nooccasion for Your Honor to send his manuscript before that time, he mightkeep this shipment in mind. His book could easily be included with the others.