Jean Blanzat
Even the dead, don't they sometimes deceive us? How is it that at the moment of death, they do not disappear at the same time from our mind, from our heart? But it's the opposite: we think about them for a long time – longer than we used to. And in the days that follow, we feel like writing to them, asking them for advice, updating them. Aware of what? Do they blame us, have they forgiven us? Maybe we're just amusing them. Or leading their thoughts separately, if they still escape us, as they did at the time of their existence?
Jean Blanzat wakes up and is first delighted to find in their place the furniture and clothes as he left them last evening: the shirt which hides the pants, the jacket, the socks (which hides them and yet betrays them by certain folds), the walls and also the flowers (because his window overlooks a square). There is no need to worry about books: they never forget to collect each morning the letters which would have taken advantage of the night to be scattered.
He rejoiced: it was because he had a bad dream. Table, chair and bed suddenly remembered the trees they had been and then continued a bizarre conversation, where it was a question of earth and roots, and on top of that great gusts of wind which confused them for an instant. They also spoke, as men do, to complain: of the cold and the birds, of the ax and the saw and of the tortures.
But he didn't know what to answer. When will he take part in the world? When will it be both outside and inside? When will it be confused? You can see he can't wait any longer.
Jean Paulhan, 1966
Resources
Jean Blanzat to Jean Paulhan, Correspondence (1936–1958) - OBVIL “Hyper Paulhan” project
Correspondance : Jean Blanzat & Jean Paulhan, 1936-1958
Bibliography of texts published in the NRF
The texts below, published in La Nouvelle Revue Française, are grouped into four main sets: texts by Jean Blanzat, notes and columns by the author, texts about the author, and, when available, translations by the author.
Texts by Jean Blanzat
- Mesdames la Mort, 1964-09-01
Texts about Jean Blanzat
These texts may include thematic studies about the author, correspondence, reading notes on works by or about the author, interviews conducted by the author, or works edited by the author.
- Le Faussaire, par Jean Blanzat (Gallimard), by Jean Duvignaud, 1964-06-01, Notes : le roman
- L'Iguane, par Jean Blanzat (Gallimard), by Jean Follain, 1966-06-01, Notes : le roman
Chronological distribution of texts published in the NRF (1908-1968)
This chart shows the chronological distribution of texts across the four categories defined above: Texts, Notes, Translations, and Texts about the author.