190 - CHARDONNE (Jacques), 1884–1968.

CHARDONNE (Jacques), 1884–1968. Letter from the author, “Jacques Chardonne,” La Frette (Seine-et-Oise), January 2, 1932, 1 p. 1/4 large in-4, [to Pierre Varillon, according to a later handwritten note in pencil]. A very fine letter of thanks to Pierre Varillon for his article on Chardonne’s novel *Claire*, which had appeared a few months earlier. Chardonne responds with emotion to Pierre Varillon (1897–1960), a writer, royalist journalist, and contributor to *L’Action française*, whose literary pages he edited in the 1930s: ““I have never read anything about myself that pleased me as much as these meticulous lines.” He admits to having initially read the article with some apprehension, feeling “pressed too closely, pierced,” before emerging from it “delightfully relieved and grateful” and rereading it “while applauding myself.” He thanked Varillon for several previous “kind gestures,” adding that a few lines had particularly moved him “because they appeared in *L’Action française*.” He concludes by paying tribute in turn to Varillon’s novel *Jérémie*, published in 1931: “Nothing is rarer, or more difficult to write, than a ‘true’ novel, when it is beautiful.” Enclosed is another handwritten letter signed “Jacques Chardonne,” La Frette, January 14, 1933, 1 p. in-8, with envelope, addressed this time to the writer Germaine Beaumont, whose work he still reads “with delight.” “It is indeed rare for a writer to be judged by another writer. I am glad that *Le Matin* has granted me this pleasure; a few lines from you cast a beautiful light on a book [...]”