Who wrote the most letters?

On this World Letter Writing Day, I was wondering who wrote the highest number of letters in a day. I think you might say, Rabindranath Tagore, as he is said to have written several thousand letters throughout his life. However, the record for writing the most letters in a day is held by the famous French poet Charles Baudelaire.

He wrote seven letters to his mother in seven hours. Sunil Gangopadhyay narrated the story in his book "Chobir Deshe, Kobitar Deshe.

When Baudelaire was 45 years old, one of his poetry books was banned on the allegation of obscenity. He was going through severe hardship. His mother became a widow again after the demise of her second husband. For her "undisciplined" son, she used to send some money to maintain his daily expenses, but Baudelaire could not manage to lead his life with that amount.

Financially strained, Baudelaire used to write letters to his mother begging for some money.

Ansel was their family friend who was a lawyer by profession. One day, while staying at a hotel, Baudelaire wrote a letter to his mother, saying that he was in severe financial distress. To verify whether Baudelaire was telling the truth, Ansel came to visit the hotel. At that time, Baudelaire went out for some errands, and after talking with the hotel's landlord, Ansel left the place.

When Baudelaire returned to the hotel, the landlord told him that a man had come to spy on him and asked about Baudelaire's lifestyle, such as whether he came home late or had any women visiting him.

Baudelaire did not like Ansel, and his spying made him angry, thinking that Ansel did it to belittle him. Baudelaire had a temperamental disposition since his childhood. After hearing about Ansel's spying, Baudelaire started shouting, saying that he would go to Ansel's house and confront him in front of his family members.

Then he sat down to write a letter to his mother. He began the first one at 2:00pm. In the letter, he wrote, "I'm going to Ansel's house right now. I'm going to hold him by the ear in front of his wife and son. If he's not home, I'll wait in front of the door. I will see it through to the end today."

The landlord was horrified to see Baudelaire in such an angry state. He falsely attributed many things to Ansel's name, even though Ansel hadn't asked any insulting questions about Baudelaire. The landlord managed to stop Baudelaire.

Baudelaire then wrote the second letter to his mother, where he said, "I am not going to Ansel's house right now, but Ansel must apologise. You should rebuke him."

In the third letter, Baudelaire wrote, "My whole body is burning with humiliation, and if Ansel doesn't apologise, I will not calm down without taking revenge. I'm going to slap Ansel; I'm going to slap his son. If the police arrest me on charges of hooliganism, then so be it."

At the time of writing the next letter, Baudelaire didn't even have the money to buy stamps. He sent a "bearing letter" to his mother. By then, some of Baudelaire's friends arrived at the hotel and were trying to pacify him.

In the seventh letter, Baudelaire wrote, "Everyone is saying that slapping an old man in front of children is a disgraceful thing to do. Well, I won't do that, but how will my insults be resolved? If he doesn't apologise, I will go to his house and express everything that's on my mind in front of his wife and children."

"What if the man still insults me? Throws me out of his house? Mother, what a terrible situation you've put your son in?"

As a result of writing so many letters in an angry state, Baudelaire became very ill. He lay in bed for the next seven days.