Interview with his biographer of Augustine Tuillerie by Michèle Dassas
In this year anniversary of the centenary of the death of Augustine Tuillerie, a biography pays tribute to this Laval woman, forgotten by the general public, but whose work was a fabulous success and was at the origin of the establishment of the national novel under the Third Republic. Hiding discreetly under the pseudonym of G. Bruno, Augustine Tuillerie, wife Guyau, then Fouillée, published in 1877 to Belin editions «the most read and the most loved textbook»: Le Tour de la France by two children, which will form three generations of schoolchildren with more than eight million copies sold. Augustine has the brilliant idea of transmitting notions of geography, history, natural sciences, hygiene and morality, in a playful way, following the journey of two young Lorrains through France. This is an opportunity to introduce the little French to a country so beautiful that they can only love it and pass on values… This admirable, talented and endearing woman lived, moreover, a very romantic existence that the discovery of her unpublished correspondence made it possible to highlight.