Pierre Balmain Haute Couture Collection Fall/Winter 1961-62.
Left: "Bloody Mary," red Lyon velvet dress by Labbey, matching silk satin and velvet belt, large red ostrich feather boa, and right: "Frascati" red Lyon velvet dress by Bianchini-Férier, matching silk satin and velvet belt. Models Tamara Nyman and Ingmari Lamy (with writer Roger Peyrefitte).
Pierre Balmain Collection Haute Couture Automne/Hiver 1961-62.
À gauche "Bloody Mary", robe en velours de Lyon rouge de Labbey, ceinture en satin de soie de même ton et velours, grand boa en plumes d'autruche rouges, et à droite robe velours de Lyon rouge "Frascati" de Bianchini-Férier, ceinture en satin de soie de même ton et velours. Mannequins Tamara Nyman et Ingmari Lamy (avec l'écrivain Roger Peyrefitte).
"While waiting [for Émilie], [Voltaire] seemed attached to several horses, for he had made the little 'abbé' Linant come to Rouen and even offered hospitality to another young man named Lefebvre, a budding poet aged 20 like the other, and like a certain Lamare, the third ephebos that he cosseted and who was also an abbot. The first had already made a trip to Paris to keep his acquaintance with [Lord Bolingbroke]. This boy seems to have had equivocal relations with Cideville, which makes this phrase from a letter from Voltaire from May 29 to this advisor, a letter prior to the return of the 'chubby abbot', amusing: 'When he wants to come back to Paris, I will rent him a hole near my house; he will furthermore be the master of dinner and supper every day in my retreat.' He practically offered him to share his bed. The presence of these two young men by him distinctly reminds one of the young 'writers' that the abbé Desfontaines, the famous pederast, had had near him for so long, and who served at once as mignons and secretaries. Even if he did not take up with them the liberties that he had formerly had with Thieriot in M. Alain's study, he still cherished this extreme familiarity with young people." - Voltaire et Frédéric II by Roger Peyrefitte.
FIRST off, why are we stating as fact that any "liberties" happened with Thieriot. There is zero proof. There is circumstantial evidence in that you could interpret V's letters to Thieriot as being kinda gay and then infer that "liberties" occurred, but even if we are interpreting the letters as gay, that's still a big jump to make from 'V felt more than just friendship for Thieriot' to 'they definitely slept together', which there's no real evidence for.
Second of all, there is no evidence of anything going on with Linant. Nancy Mitford suggested it as well, with the reasoning being that Linant was stupid and useless and why else would V keep him around, which is the same argument that's been used for V and Thieriot being gay. But a relationship between V and Linant being a possible explanation for something does not mean that that's evidence for a relationship, and Mitford doesn't cite anything V wrote as potential proof. And also like. The man resorted to full-on referring to his plays + la Henriade as his children to an extent and (unofficially) adopted Marie-Françoise and pretty much Reine Philiberte and Villette as well. And reading the letters about Linant from V to Cideville, and V talking about Linant's improvements in writing, it very much sounds like he's just proud of Linant and sees himself as a father figure. Again, also just a possibility, but it works equally well as an explanation and it fits into an already established pattern, plus it's based on what V actually wrote.
Thirdly, I would like to emphasise the "aged 20". "Aged 20" is not the same as what the "famous pederast" was doing.
Fourthly, saying that that quote about Linant coming back to Paris is "practically offering him to share his bed" is the single most batshit far-fetched gay interpretation I have ever seen in my life, and I was in the Hamilton fandom for three years. Genuinely how do you even get there. Bitch could've invited Linant to stay with him but he specifically said he'd rent him a different place. How does that equate to inviting him into his bed. This part alone is what's gonna convince me of Peyrefitte's bottom V thesis cause I can interpret two letters in that way and I can no longer be self-conscious about how I interpret literally anything, because it's still gonna be 10 miles more sane and evidenced than anything Peyrefitte's said.
@enlitment I apologise deeply for making you read this, but here's a taste of why the book sucks... Turns out I actually stopped reading on page 20 lol cause that's where my yelling at Peyrefitte in the margins stops.
Roger Peyrefitte - The Keys of St. Peter - Panther - 1969
I've not read this book, but intrigued by the cover of this edition and the 1972 one, wondered who Peyrefitte was. A hack writer of dubious potboilers? Some great French author I should know all about and could quote at dinner parties I never get invited to?
Peyrefitte was "a French diplomat, writer of bestseller novels and non-fiction, and a defender of gay rights and pederasty" (says his Wikipedia entry) and one obituary described him as "charismatic to the point of absurdity"
The author was dubbed 'the pope of homosexuals' (he routinely outted Popes, current and previous, plus notable French cultural figures) and wrote scandalous often inflammatory historical books that attacked Catholicism (the Vatican were not fans, at least not in public) and other cultural, historical big ticket items (biographies of Alexander the Great and Voltaire, for example)
He delighted in gossip and gossiping, often fell foul of the police for pursuing teenage boys, was both a libertine and conservative bourgeois and in the final years of his life was a fervent supporter of Le Pen (Jean-Marie)
In the 1960s Peyrefitte met a young actor in the cast of a film adaptation of one his works, they fell in a love and pursued a relationship. The actor was 12 years old when they met. From age 16, that actor, Alain-Philippe Malagnac d'Argens de Villèle, became Peyrefitte's private secretary and then as a young man was adopted by Peyrefitte
Subsequently, Peyrefitte bankrolled many of Malagnac's ultra mod business ventures including opening nightclubs and briefly and very unsuccessfully managing pop singer Sylvie Vartan
Malagnac would later go on to marry singer, songwriter, painter, television presenter, actress, and former model, Amanda Lear. They were happily* married for 21 years until his death
On his death bed in 2000 Peyrefitte converted back to Catholicism, he died at 93, presumably with a flourish. Six weeks later Malagnac would die of smoke inhalation at a fire at his home
