Letter: A poet's macabre gratitude

Thursday 06 June 1996 23:02 BST

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Sir: In your "First Encounters" feature (Magazine; "When Algernon Swinburne met Victor Hugo", 1 June), Nancy Caldwell Sorel mentions Algernon Swinburne almost being drowned in Normandy in 1868.

He was rescued by Guy de Maupassant, who was on holiday at the resort of Etretat. Swinburne was so grateful to De Maupassant that he allowed him access to a collection of macabre objects in his possession.

One of these was a severed hand which De Maupassant kept for several years and used as a paper-weight.

DAVID BEALING

Managing Director,

People in Pictures Ltd

London EC1

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Letter: A poet's macabre gratitude

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