1 Praz M., La chair, la mort et le diable dans la littérature du XIX^e siècle, Paris, Denoël, 1977, p. 167 sqq.

2 Villiers de L’Isle-Adam Ph.-A., Isis, Paris, Éditions J. Crès, 1923, p. 18.

3 Huysmans K.-J., À Rebours, Paris, Gallimard, Folio, 1983, p. 285.

4 Voir pour une étude récente, Guillaud L., Henry Rider Haggard, des mines du roi Salomon à la quête du Graal, Paris, Michel Houdiard Éditeur, 2013.

5 Cité dans Foucrier Ch., Le Mythe littéraire de l’Atlantide (1800-1939), Paris, Ellug, 2004, p. 156.

6 « I gazed at her face and – I do not romance – shrank back blinded and amazed. I have heard of the beauté of celestial beings, now I saw it » (Rider Haggard H., She, London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1886, p. 158-159).

7 « Behold me, lovely as no woman was, or is, undying and half divine ; memory haunts me from age to age and passion leads me by the hand. Evil have I done, and with sorrow have I made acquaintance […] evil shall I do, and sorrow shall I know till my redemption come » (id.).

8 Moins célèbre, et de loin, que She, Cleopatra a été récemment étudié par Panaghis A.-M., The Defeat of Death : A Reading of Sir H. Rider Haggard’s Cleopatra, Peter Lang, 2013.

9 « A Thing of Flame whose passion-breathing beauty shaped the destiny of empires [,] thing of flame like unto which no woman has ever been or ever will be […] Grand as the spirit of storm, lovely as Lightening, evil as Pestilence » (Rider Haggard H., Cleopatra, 1887, rééd. Indo-European Publishing, 2010, p. 6).

10 « For Woman, in her weakness, is yet the strongest force on earth […] But she sits like yonder Sphynx, and smiles, and no man has ever read all the riddles of her smile, or known all the mystery of her heart […] She is thy slave, and yet holds thee captive ; at her touch, honor withers, locks open and barriers fall » (ibid., p. 29).

11 « Think what a thing it is, Harmachis, to be set high above the gaping crowd of knaves who hate thee for thy fortune and thy wit ; who gnash their teeth and shoot the arrows of their lives from the cover of their own obscureness, whence they have no wings to soar ; and whose hearts’ quest is to drag down thy nobility to the level of the groundling and the fool » (ibid., p. 87).

12 « I to marry ! I to forget freedom and court the worst slavery of our sex which, by the selfish wish of man the stronger, still binds us to a bed grown hateful and enforces a service that love mayhap no longer hallows ! Of what use then, to be a Queen ? » (ibid., p. 141).

13 « I am of that sort who, loving once, love always, and being not beloved, go virgin to the death » (ibid., p. 188).

14 « Be a man, and brace these troubles out ».

15 « Though I could destroy these twain, I could not destroy her love » (ibid., p. 211).

16 « As for the women themselves, it was pleasant indeed to see them, they were so kind and happylooking in expression of face, so shapely and well-knit of body, and thoroughly healthy-looking and strong. All were at least comely, and one of them very handsome and regular of feature. They came up to us at once merrily and without the least affectation of shyness, and all three shook hands with me as if I were a friend newly come back from a long journey » (Morris W., News from Nowhere, London, Routledge and Kegan, 1970, p. 11).

17 « Was mostly the idea (a law-made idea) of the woman being the property of the man […] That idea has of course vanished with private property, as well as certain follies about the “ruin” of women for following their natural desires in an illegal way, which of course was a convention caused by the laws of private property » (ibid., p. 68-69).

18 « I was the King, and he the King’s cloak » (Morris W., The Well at the World’s End, New York, Ballantine Books, 1975, p. 173).

19 « Her body was strong and well-knit ; tall she was, with fair and large arms, and limbs most goodly of fashion of which little was hidden, since her coat was both thin and scanty » (ibid., p. 48).

20 « I have seen her as God made her ; and I shall tell thee that when he was about that work he was minded to be a craftsmaster ; for there is no blemish about her at all or anywhere. Her sides are sleek and her thighs no rougher than her face, and her feet as dainty as her hands ; yea, she is a pearl all over, withal she is as strong as a knight, and I warrant her hardier of heart than most knights » (ibid., p. 106).

21 Elle ne se contente pas de se laisser délivrer, mais prend une part active au combat : « Légère comme un léopard, la femme bondit sur la selle à l’arrière de son ennemi, l’enveloppa de ses bras et le tira en arrière au moment où il leva sa hache sur elle, et elle s’écria à l’endroit de Ralph, qui fonçait sur son cheval, “Frappe-le, frappe ! Ô bel enfant de Dieu !” » (« The woman sprang as light as a leopard on to the saddle behind the foeman, and wound her arms about him and dragged him back just as he was raising his axe to smite her, and as Ralph rode forward she cried out to him, “Smite him, smite ! O lovely creature of God !” ») (ibid., p. 47).

22 « Dost thou deem that thou hast done great things, fair child ! Maybe. Yet some will say that thou hast but slain two butchers : and if thou wilt say that thou has delivered me, yet it may be that I should have delivered myself ere long » (ibid., p. 48-49).

23 Ibid., p. 178.

24 « Whereas it might be that this woman on whom he had set his heart was herself no real woman but a devil, and one of the goddesses of the ancient world » (ibid., p. 99).

25 « I had found out in my heart […] that I loved him but little. […] He was weary of me and mine » (ibid., p. 368-369).

26 Le tyran et son épouse pourraient symboliser tous les excès de l’« amour libre » aux yeux de Morris car chacun est en proie au désir et peut s’adonner à ses penchants de son côté. Il est à noter que l’épouse du Seigneur d’Utterbol est malheureuse, désœuvrée, en proie aux errements de son mari et que Morris lui trouve donc des excuses. D’ailleurs, après le meurtre du tyran, elle trouve le bonheur aux côtés de son meurtrier et successeur.

27 « Yea, thou shalt lead me. I have been led by one or another ever since I left Upmeads » (ibid., p. 336).

28 « Sooth to say, Ralph, taking heed of Ursula, deemed tat she were fain to love him bodily, and he wotted well by now, that, whatever had befallen, he loved her, body and soul. Yet still was that fear of her naysay, lurking in his heart, if he should kiss her or caress her, as a man with a maid. Therefore he forebore, though desire of her tormented him grievously at while » (ibid., p. 368-369).

29 « And then Ralph rose up, and took Ursula’s hand, and they stood before the elder, and bade him and the young men bear witness that they were wedded ; then those twain kissed the newcomers and departed to their bridal bower hand in hand through the freshness of the night » (ibid., p. 378-379).

30 « […] thou hast gotten another Lady ; and if mine eyes do not fail me she is fair enough. But there be others as fair ; while the like to our Lady that was, there are none such » (ibid., p. 477).

31 « Our Duke brought her in hither wrapped up in his knight’s scarlet cloak, and went up with her on to the dais ; but when she came thither, she turned about and let her cloak fall to earth, and stood there barefoot in her smock, as she had been cast out into the wildwood, and she spread abroad her hands, and cried out in a loud voice as sweet as the May blackbird, “May God bless this House and the abode of the valiant, and the shelter of the hapless” » (ibid., p. 497).

32 Ibid., p. 480.

33 Voir Garval M. D., Cléo de Mérode and the Rise of Modern Celebrity Culture, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2012.