Abstract: Victor Hugo’s play Le roi s’amuse was first performed on November 22, 1832, then officially banned the next day. Hugo did, at least, manage to get the text published: it came off the press of the publisher Renduel on December 2, with a preface by Hugo written in response to the ban. But in such a context, the author needed more than ever the support of his “friends” to take on the authorities. This article draws on two unpublished letters to Hugo, and shows that both Sainte-Beuve and Gustave Planche were minded, on this occasion, to equivocate and let the author of Le roi s’amuse stand alone. It was a moment that would definitively change Hugo’s relations with the two critics. This article also offers, in an appendix, a report on the first four editions printed in France of Le roi s’amuse.
