Douro Editions "Through reading, we become absent from ourselves and our own lives." Alphonse Karr
Jean-Claude Hauc
Jean-Claude Hauc lives and works in Montpellier. From 1976 to 1991, he co-edited the journal Textuerre and participated in numerous readings and events of the literary avant-garde. He has published around twenty novels and stories with various publishers, as well as works on the adventurers and libertines of the Age of Enlightenment (Sade, Casanova, etc.). He is a member of the editorial staff of Lettres françaises.
If, when writing his Memoirs, Casanova made it his duty to conceal the names of his various mistresses, it is certainly not an insult to them today to seek to rescue them from anonymity. Thus, for a long time now, the Casanovists have managed to thwart the various stratagems devised by the galantuomo to protect the reputation of the women he loved. For some, however, the mystery surrounding them has proven more difficult to unravel. Proof of this is this woman from Montpellier whom Casanova met in London in 1763; who became his mistress in Dresden three years later; and whom he finally met again in Montpellier in 1769. "One of the prettiest women in all of France," he wrote in his book. Strangely, it took until our time for the beauty to finally recover her identity. It is her quest for her that constitutes the subject of this little book. Release: February 1, 2025 Order Press Release
Sometimes a teacher and one of his particularly captivating students develop a kind of impulsive intricacy that brings to both a kind of well-being that can border on rapture. This short novel takes on the task of depicting one of those delicate complicity that requires secrecy and absolute discretion, otherwise it will be thrown into the mire that the nauseating times in which we live continually secrete. The author also strives to account for the malevolence of certain mothers who are intent on sacrificing the happiness of their tender offspring; as if they intended to glorify their vocation as a "black widow," a creature quick to inflict death. Published: May 1, 2024 Order Press release
Les quinze textes rassemblés ici risquent de susciter chez certains lecteurs la nostalgie d’une époque où ne régnaient pas encore l’hypocrisie morale et le conformisme ayant désormais envahi notre bonne vieille Europe. Une époque où les jeunes filles n’avaient pas l’impression de subir un viol chaque fois que quelque adulte venait à les complimenter sur leur charme ou les invitait poliment à boire un verre en sa compagnie. D’autres par contre, seront choqués par la faiblesse de cet enseignant prompt à se laisser attirer par ses ouailles loin des lieux où il est sensé leur transmettre tout ou partie de son savoir. S’intéresser trop vivement à l’une de ses élèves, quelle faute impardonnable ! Il semble impossible qu’une honnête jouvencelle puisse désirer ce type de relation. Seul un monstre peut songer à la contraindre à d’aussi basses turpitudes. L’auteur de ce petit livre se garde bien quant à lui de préciser ses intentions ; préférant laisser à son lecteur la liberté de choisir entre confession sincère, provocation insigne et fiction bien tempérée. Brouiller les pistes semble être le seul moyen auquel il ait songé afin de se garder des zélés représentants de la nouvelle police des mœurs.
