The Michelet Moment in Etten
He borrowed Michelet's sentences to find language for his heartbreak and his longing for family.
No painting at this knot — only a letter.
Events
- The Ferocious Reader
Declared his feelings to his cousin Kee Vos and was refused. She said 'no, never, never.' The rejection did not silence him — it drove him to read furiously
- The Ferocious Reader · Letter 178
Began reading Michelet's L'amour and La femme intensively. Wrote: 'Read Michelet — he teaches you to understand woman.'
- The Ferocious Reader · Letter 179
Copied entire passages of Michelet into letters to Theo. 'It is a magnificent book.' The origin statement of the ferocious reader
- Synaesthetic Precision · Letter 181
Described the moment of Kee's refusal: 'She said no, never, never — those three words like three nails.' Translating emotion into physical sensation
- The Ferocious Reader · Letter 184
Also reading Dickens's Little Dorrit. Michelet and Dickens in the same month — two ways of writing about people abandoned by society
- The Ferocious Reader · Letter 190
Left Etten for The Hague. Michelet's books went with him — the reading density of this year became the baseline for all his reading afterwards
From the Letters
Ik heb L'amour van Michelet gelezen — het is een prachtig boek. I have read Michelet's L'amour — it is a magnificent book.
Ik heb La femme van Michelet gelezen — en dat heeft mij zeer getroffen. I have read Michelet's La femme — and that struck me very much.
Lees Michelet — hij leert je de vrouw te begrijpen. Read Michelet — he teaches you to understand woman.
Michelet zegt: il faut qu'une femme meure deux fois. Dat is zoo diep — zoo waar. Michelet says: a woman must die twice. That is so deep — so true.
Ik heb een gevoel alsof ik Michelet zelf gekend heb, zoo vertrouwd ben ik met zijn boeken. I feel as though I have known Michelet himself, so familiar am I with his books.
Een boek dat men leest is niet dood — het is een levend wezen dat spreekt. A book one reads is not dead — it is a living being that speaks.
Letter Sources
Van Gogh letter records referenced on this page, linked to the Van Gogh Letters Project. vangoghletters.org