Œuvres complètes, Tome III
Les Fleurs de Tarbes
Jean Paulhan“A work is never complete. It can be more, it can be less. Since the author's death in 1968, we have continued to discover new texts by Jean Paulhan. Manuscripts, typescripts, letters in the form of treatises, responses to surveys, publications that have become inaccessible, the references have accumulated to the point of modifying the contours of the entire work. It even happens that we hesitate about an attribution, and it is not without a certain pleasure. Paulhan began his career at the age of twenty, in 1904, by signing a report on fatigue. As early as 1907, that is to say before anyone else, he published an article on Freud. From 1908 to 1910, he worked to “save” Malagasy poetry. What will happen to French poetry? Paulhan rides side-saddle on the Dada movement, ready to jump, and with a confusing attention to all the poets. Speaking with Paulhan does not just mean taking note of literature.
In this first volume, devoted to stories, a body dreams in the middle of war. A spirit resists. A man travels. However, it is only a question of language; and this is why Paulhan's stories stand up to History. Criticism, painting, politics will find their place in the seven planned volumes, from which the face of Jean Paulhan could well emerge changed, and more real, like that of a good part of the literature of his century. The reader will therefore be well advised to take care of his mind. Because language is a thing, and a useful thing, and even better.”
Bernard Baillaud.
Editeur : Gallimard