CHAR RENÉ (1907-1988)

Correspondence of about 520 letters and autograph postcards signed by René CHAR addressed to Maryse LAFONT. (About 750 pages of documents). Envelopes kept. Paris, L'Isle sur Sorgue, 1951-1966. Romanesque and poetic correspondence of René Char addressed to Maryse Lafont, poetess, who published with GLM from 1953 to 1962, 4 volumes: "L'Exil du guérisseur", "Le Chemin des terres", "Ma seule écriture", with a frontispiece by François Laurié (who is none other than René Char) and "Obscur laurier" dedicated to Char. This correspondence includes in addition to the 520 letters and postcards signed in ink by René Char, 5 telegrams from René Char, 1 autographed bank note, 1 announcement, 2 autographed letters signed by Pierre Naville to Char, 2 autographed letters signed by Pierre-André Benoît to Char, 1 autographed letter signed by Jean Beauffret to Maryse Lafont, and 7 original photographs by Pierre-André Benoît depicting René Char and Maryse Lafont, as well as miscellaneous printed documents. Almost all the envelopes are preserved. In three letters are added an autograph poem: "Chanson des étages", 2 pages in-16 dated 1955 and signed by René Char, a poem composed for Maryse Lafont as René Char indicates in the letter attached to the poem. "Quatre parcelles du Lubéron", first draft poem with erasures and corrections signed by René Char, 1 page in-4. "Sans souvenir", autograph poem signed by René Char, 1 page in-16 "Ma très chérie, T'écrire me paraît presque une monstruosité tant ta présence m'est naturelle, est ma part heureuse, est un bonheur dont l'intensité n'a que grandir dans l'indéfinissement des jours. I think I no longer love my country. It is a great tree whose roots have been consumed in me little by little and now it is leaning, it is going to fall. Maryse, I wanted my thought to have the loving weight that you love and that it owes to you, but it is sad, it does not know how to travel anymore... I don't like to be separated from you. I will have to embrace you, my love, my source, as never before"... "I will write to you almost as a child would speak to you, this one trusts in the wonderful suddenness of words, in their star-like freshness, in their meaning applied for the first time. I have only to contemplate your face, to embrace your presence, to admire your youth so that the thick blackboard of my life, smeared with illegible chalk, becomes as clear as the pane of a lighted window, with your adorable schoolgirl features against it. The immensity of the powers of nature and heaven has adopted you" ... On the back of a GLM card reproducing a famous poem by Jacques Prévert, René Char writes: "Do you remember? When I met you, you told me that you liked Prévert's poems. This one, no doubt? Let's read the whole thing. I have never wanted anything but your happiness, your beauty, and the fruits for all of your beautiful poetry" ... Exceptional unpublished set.