Pourtalès Guy de – Two fairy tales for grown-ups: Can one be a disciple of Epictetus when one is in Calcutta born of a Portuguese father and a Hindu mother? Yet it is the intellectual adventure of Gualtero which, after having studied Christianity and Hinduism, discovers Stoic philosophy. From then on, wandering philosopher, he will build his own adventure from Lisbon to London, then to Paris … If his braid gives him listeners, the world proves very disappointing for a Stoic. Will not he need a prince to find the land of his childhood?

Dwarf, ugly and deaf! Thus Marie Hurteau, La Pauton, wipes jeers and abuse. Will Paris be different? But appearances are misleading and mockery can be insidious … Can we dream of love when we are “La Pauton”? Is it a crime or a pity to feed illusions?

Two tales and two totally different worlds, but only one red thread in a cruel time: that disillusion.

Mobilized during the first world war, Guy de Pourtalès had to put his literary career in parentheses. Only two fairy tales for grown-ups and To my Swiss friends will be born in 1917.