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Bloy revisits here his eulogy of Christopher Columbus, first published in Le Révélateur du Globe, defending the Christ-like dimension of the navigator and attacking his last descendant, a certain Duke of Veragua, who spent his time and fortune raising bulls in Andalusia and, worse still, trampled on the memory of his illustrious ancestor. “Spain has never been able to forgive Christopher Columbus for having made her, for two centuries, the most powerful nation on earth. For nearly four centuries now she has disowned and dishonored him! All the rabble of the peninsula, monarchs foremost among them, have rushed upon this sublime Unfortunate One who makes her bellow like the bulls of her arenas, stretching toward her his noble chained hands.”
Another autograph version (a fair copy) of this text survives, preserved in the combined manuscript of Le Désespéré and Christophe Colomb devant les taureaux (Jean Loize, Bloy, no. 166; BnF, 1968 exhibition, no. 268a; Aristophil, 11, no. 413).
Our manuscript contains several corrections and variants, in red ink, absent from that fair copy.
“This new book, which would be my last literary breath if the wish of a good many of my contemporaries were granted, announced itself, from its very inception, as destined to bring its author the enviable comfort of the most perfect failure (…) I am far from having disgorged all the contempt I carry in my heart! […] Tomorrow or the day after, I shall once again occupy myself with certain Frenchmen I have not forgotten, and as the proverb says, every dog will have his day.”
The text is dedicated to his wife, Johanne Molbech, whom he had married a few months earlier: Léon Bloy wrote this manuscript on the announcement of their marriage, using the verso and the blank spaces around the crossed-out notice reading “Monsieur Léon Bloy a l’honneur de vous faire part de son mariage avec Mademoiselle Johanne Molbech / Qui aura lieu le Mardi…” The corrections are made in red colored pencil.
A magnificent document.