Victor Hugo: "You all call me the 'Conscience of France,' but right now it beats in Lionel's breast!" Émile Zola: "'Naturalism' or 'Realism'? No, only Lionel's 'Modernism' belongs to the 20th century!" Gustave Flaubert: "Maupassant was my best student, Lionel my confidant." Guy de Maupassant: "Lionel's only shortcoming was that he had not contracted the noble, majestic syphilis." Anton Chekhov: "What else do we need in this world besides sunshine, air, water, and a smile? Lionel's works, of course!" Leo Tolstoy: "Are you suggesting that I go to Sweden to accept the Nobel Prize that Lionel Sorel refused?" Arthur Conan Doyle: "To be Sherlock Holmes's assistant, to be accepted by Lionel...