Valery Larbaud - Jean Paulhan, 1920-1957
Valery LarbaudJean PaulhanTwo friends talk about what intrigued or amused them, highlighting the detail that struck their ever-awakening curiosity. As Jean-Philippe Segonds writes: "They only reveal a part of themselves, but how endearing, all spontaneity and kindness. In this pleasure of writing, the words run freely with, here and there, some negligence but, more than once, an admirable turn, a rare happiness in expression".
Jean-Philippe Segonds worked for years on the development of this volume, relayed upon his death by Marc Kopylov. Over the course of three hundred and ten letters, we see the birth of a friendship between two great figures of French literature. “Can we imagine two beings so different in character and even sometimes in taste?” asks Michel Déon in his preface. "One. Paulhan, is brief, he says everything in three lines, hides himself under two letters, J. P. or a pseudonym, his functions obliging him, he knows how to remain open to others, is conciliatory or expresses doubts when he does not hide behind the decisions of Gaston Gallimard, the perfect editor. The other is a great provincial bourgeois, never happier than in his property in Valbois, imperative despite his extreme politeness. For three years, they call themselves "sir" before moving on to the somewhat compromising "dear friend". Paulhan is amused, ironic, but delicately.
For knowledge of the development of this work and of Larbaud's immense literary generosity, there could be no happier return than this edition.
Publisher : Gallimard