205 - ELUARD (Paul), 1895–1952.

ELUARD (Paul), 1895–1952. Autograph letter, “Paul Eluard,” undated, June 2, 1947, 1 page and ½ in-4, to Jean Mollet, known as Baron Mollet (1877–1964). A beautiful letter of friendship, written during the painful months following Nusch’s death, in which Éluard confesses his inability to work while promising a preface to his correspondent. Éluard begins by apologizing for his long silence to Mollet, whom he, Jacqueline, and Alain Trutat remember with particular warmth: “Every day, my friends the Trutats and I sadly share our regret at not having written to you.” He reaffirms his “friendship” and his “unparalleled esteem” for him. The letter then takes a more personal turn. Éluard cites his health and explains that he is “currently in the care of three doctors”: others have been suggested to him, but he fears that, faced with so much medical attention, his “lazy organs might go on strike.” This illness seems above all to be set against the extremely dark period following Nusch’s sudden death on November 28, 1946. Éluard was deeply shaken by it; a few days after this letter, on June 16, 1947, “Le Temps déborde” was published, a collection directly shaped by this grief and dedicated to Jacqueline and Alain Trutat, his very close friends, “who did everything to dispel the night that engulfed me” (dedication in the edition). Finally, Éluard mentions a preface he had promised to write for Mollet’s “memoirs”: “I think about it constantly, but I still can’t bring myself to work on it. If I ever found the courage again, I certainly hope it would be to write a preface for you.” Mollet’s numerous recollections of Apollinaire, Jarry, and the avant-garde would eventually lead, much later, to the *Mémoires du Baron Mollet*, published in 1963 by Gallimard with a preface by Raymond Queneau; Paul Éluard’s proposed preface thus came to nothing. He nevertheless hopes to visit his correspondent soon, along with the Trutats, and concludes very warmly.