The NRF of Jean Paulhan

Laurence Brisset

The NRF has its legend: its “radiation”, its “spirit” are familiar to us, like the names of André Gide, Jacques Rivière or Gaston Gallimard... Only Jean Paulhan, who nevertheless directed it from 1925 to 1940 then from 1953 to his death in 1968, remains foreign to us. This book aims to shed light on the singular figure of this man who reinvented the greatest literary magazine of the 20th century. In agreement and in contrast with the publishing house of which it was at once the laboratory, the showcase and the critic, the most diverse writers had to confront each other, the texts acting on each other, all creating sparks: The NRF welcomed both the surrealists and François Mauriac, Henri Michaux and Paul Léautaud, Francis Ponge and Marcel Jouhandeau, the poets of the hour and the poets of Sunday...

More than a literary review, La NRF de Paulhan wanted to be the review of all literature, of all worlds and of everyone. It was also the review of all reviews because Paulhan directed others, more confidential, which this book also sets out to discuss.

Behind the paradoxes, the pirouettes and the role-playing games, we discover a man and a writer of great rigor and astonishing modesty.

[First part: The Paulhan spirit at the NRF]

I- The management of the NRF

Near Rivière

A discreet entry into literature
The diligent secretary

Despite Gide and Gallimard

Gide's deceptive tutelage
The weight of Gaston Gallimard
The counter-power of Jean-Guérin

With Arland

Power steering
The latest evasions

II- A literary policy

Democracy at the NRF

The extreme middle
Don't count on the NRF

Resistance to tyranny

Slogans of dark days
The responsibility of the writer

Nobility of the pen

A politics of debate
A combat literature

III- The flowers of the NRF

The terrorists

Portrait of Terror
A terrorist NRF

The rhetoricians

Portrait of the terrorist as a rhetorician
“The New French Rhetoric”

The precise figure of the mystery

The identity of opposites
The colors of the NRF

[Second part: Paulhan or the spirit of the review]

I- The review of magazines

The ideal mediator

Paulhan or the gift of ubiquity
The time of clandestinity
Time for controversy

In the director’s workshop

An eager director
A director under pressure
The spirit of review

II- A poetics of the review

Literature in its nascent state

Specificity of the review
Draft solution

“Continued in the next issue”

The serial novel
The air of the magazine

[Part Three: The Director’s Illusion]

I- The art of influencing

Paulhan, the obscure cleric

The picturesque character
Terror in letters

A director of conscience?

The sorcerer
The dowser

The guilty conscience of writers

Consciousness in broad daylight
The author's intention

II- J.P. or the reader

The ideal reader

A clairvoyant reader
A careful reader

The editor in spite of himself

The profession of reader
Metamorphoses

The discovering reader

Criticism time
The silence of the reader
Conclusion

Reports:

Monique Nemer, “Jean Paulhan, literary power and the secret”, Le Monde des Livres, April 11, 2003, p. IV
Bernard Baillaud, “The NRF of Jean Paulhan, by Laurence Brisset”, La Revue des Revues, n° 33, [August] 2003, p. 117-122