SOURCE: Introduction to Cyrano de Bergerac: Voyages to the Moon and the Sun, translated by Richard Aldington, George Routledge & Sons, 1923, pp. 1-46.

In the following essay, Aldington attempts to distinguish between myth and fact in regard to Cyrano's life and career.

I. the Legend of Cyrano

The legend of Cyrano de Bergerac began, one might say, during his life; but it was strongly founded by his friend Henry Le Bret who edited The Voyage to the Moon with an introduction, in 1657, two years after Cyrano's death. The ‘Préface’ of Le Bret is one of the chief sources of information about Cyrano. It is no discredit to Le Bret that he drew as favourable a portrait of his friend as he could, but we cannot accept literally everything he says and we are forced to read between the lines of his panegyric. Le Bret is largely responsible for...