26 - CHARDONNE, Jacques (1884–1968).

CHARDONNE, Jacques (1884–1968). 18 letters “from the author” (L.A.S.) signed “Jacques C” and 1 letter (L.S.), February–July 1951, to Roger NIMIER; 33 pages in-8 or in-4 format and one postcard, envelopes. Friendly and literary correspondence, in which Chardonne advises Nimier, particularly regarding his journal *Opéra*. Note: February 1951. He suggests that his son Gérard write a regular review of world publishing for the magazine: “He is well-placed (perhaps the only one) to offer these perspectives on the world.” Rereading *Opéra*: “ The ‘GIDE’ page, excellent in itself (I recognize your hand in it), is unreadable because of the layout. […] I’m rereading BLONDIN’s article. It’s good, but […] it’s an article for a newspaper.” He laments the layout: “This is serious. An urgent remedy is needed. It compromises everything […] A complete redesign is required,” from the typeface to the very appearance of the journal… He advises calling on Louis Guilloux, Jean Rostand, Louis Calet, and Paul MORAND, who is in Tangier; one must be wary of Blondin. “The fatal paradox is that you want to create a ‘Parisian,’ literary newspaper, one that will possess all the refinements, yet be clad in a shabby guise”… March. Trip to Portugal, “a country of adorably bad taste.” He read MAURIAC with great delight: “What flavor!”; he congratulates Nimier on the improvement of *Opéra* and on his choice of contributors, but it still lacks strength: “Mauriac is the kind of writer who knows how to get himself read.” […] *Le Hussard Bleu* stands guard everywhere. You’ve had a good publisher. COCTEAU, so intelligent, so inventive, has long been a rambling old man and a clown. By talking so much about himself, MONTHERLANT is going to become a fool”… Lisbon, March 13. Beautiful passages on Portugal and the Portuguese people; Mauriac “assures you that you will be the dictator of tomorrow’s literature […] You know that a good dictator begins by killing his friends in a single night.” He has read *La Table ronde* and advises purging the critics: “that is where, in troubled times, the most dangerous idiots slip in.” Remarks on French style, on CLAUDEL—“our Grand d’Espagne”—and on German prose, which he dislikes: “I rather liked the Germans when they were Nazis”… Madeira, March 21. “Madeira is paradise, a bouquet of flowers in full bloom […] in a perpetual month of May […] an ocean as gentle as a lake, a warmth that never burns, a temperate fascism, a model of government”… April. “Opéra can announce my Complete Works (Albin Michel). They comprise six volumes of 400 pages each. The author is proud of this modest collection. Some novels appear in their original versions; others in new versions. There are unpublished pages. Notably, a series of letters to Roger Nimier that are said to be scandalous.” Stock publishes a novel by John Sedges; but it is actually Pearl Buck hiding behind this pseudonym, “tired of being successful under her own name, and of being the author of Chinese novels ”… April 13. He finds Gérard [Boutelleau]’s article on Fitzgerald first-rate, and that *Opéra* comes close to perfection. He has read in *Les Cahiers de La Pléiade* Nimier’s admirable critical essays and Larbaud’s exquisite short story. Monday [April 15]. “What a strange idea to buy a car when you’re holed up at *Opéra*,” the latest issue of which he finds very exciting. “ARLAND agrees with me that you’ve saved literature. A complete success”… Saturday. On the car Nimier has just bought (in which he will meet his death): “A ‘Jaguar.’ I knew it. The one that inspires genius.” He’s having lunch with Marcel Arland: “He’s the most difficult man I know. I don’t know how I managed to get by for 25 years. […] CAILLOIS would be good for the serious sections of *Opéra* […] He has plenty of ideas, prestige, and common sense”… Chardonne writes for *La Table Ronde* “a short story in my own style,” titled *Vivre à Madère*… May. He met with MAURIAC, who is “outraged by the *Opéra* article, particularly the photo of *Le Sagouin* […]. “You have wounded him forever”… May 21. He comes to the defense of Michel MOURRE and his “prodigious” novel *Malgré le blasphème* June [8/06]. On the Prix de la Presse Latine awarded to André Bay… June 15–26. Nimier sent a photographer to Chardonne’s home for a portrait of the writer to appear in *Opéra*. “I’m exhausted, having spoken for four hours straight. Never send me nice people—it kills me.” He advises him to read *Tender Is the Night*… Response to an invitation to a dinner hosted by *Opéra*: “I won’t be going; I don’t have a Jaguar to get to Vaucresson. […] My principles forbid me from eating in a group (that’s what cost me a seat at the Academy)”; he eats only one-on-one with a