CHAR René (1907-1988). Lot n° 30

Correspondence of about 520 autographed letters and postcards (most of them signed "René" or "R.C.", 1951-1966, to Maryse LAFONT; about 750 pages, various formats, envelopes. Paris, Important and poetic love and literary correspondence, unpublished. [The poet Maryse LAFONT (1918-2001) was one of Char's companions; she published 4 volumes with GLM, from 1953 to 1962: 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. We can only give a brief overview of this voluminous love correspondence, to the "Beloved Angel", to the "Treasure", written mainly from Paris or L'Isle sur Sorgue, while Maryse Lafont is in Paris or Biarritz. Apart from his love affair, Char encourages his friend to write; he gives news of her health; he is very affected by the death of Albert Camus, and is very concerned about the mental health of his sister Lily... Four autographed poems are attached to letters: Chanson des étages (1955), composed for Maryse Lafont as indicated in the attached letter; Quatre parcelles du Lubéron, in first draft with erasures and corrections; L'issue and Sans souvenir; as well as a typescript overloaded with autograph corrections, Jeanne qu'on brûla verte, which he had written for a calendar, but which he refused to give, having "learned that 'the affair' was agitated by Mauriac, Le Corbusier, etc. " February 21, 1951. "Cities when they are capitals remove the face from the sky. By exploring this night this face, I discovered there beauty and eyes that looked at the Earth with the expression that I like to discover, in yours when they have happy. Maryse, my darling, I embrace you and thank you for all that you are in me and in front of my hands, for me and in Poetry" .... July 1952: "I Love you, my Angel and Love you, my Heart. You are my happiness, my only, extremely". September 2, 1958: "Be well, totally well my Love. And if you need Provence and a little bit of me, take the train and come at once. [...] CAMUS arrived last night. We are going to install him in his house at 5 km from here. I try, alas, to temporize again with Lily, but it is the end of a being. She is frightful, stupid and crazy. [....] I am breaking my head about her and am completely demoralized by what I am finding and seeing"... "My dearest, to write to you seems almost a monstrosity, so natural is your presence to me, is my happy part, is a happiness whose intensity has only grown in the indefinite days. I think I don't love my country anymore. It is a great tree whose roots have been consumed in me little by little and here it is leaning, that it will fall. Maryse, I wanted my thought to have the loving weight that you love and that it owes you, but it is sad, it does not know how to travel anymore... I do not like to separate myself from you. It will be necessary that I embrace you my love, my source as ever "... "I will write to you almost as a child would speak to you, this one has confidence in the marvelous suddenness of the words, in their freshness of star, in their sense 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 all against it. The immensity of the powers of nature and heaven has adopted you"... "My beloved angel, Your letter, this morning, was carried to me on a sunbeam! How I wish you could see this glorious time, all of a sudden! Certainly, the cold is sharp but the mountain has adorable refuges, where I can find strength and appeasement. Nature has always fulfilled me. So I am less anxious and suffering than in Paris. But I can't wait to find you again, to press you to my heart, to hold you in my arms"... On the back of a GLM card reproducing a famous poem by Jacques Prévert, 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 it together. I have never wanted anything but your happiness, your beauty, and the fruits for all of your beautiful poetry"... January 5, 1960: "The death of CAMUS upsets me. I was with him, 3 days ago in Lourmarin! And today I have just chosen for him the small piece of land where he will sleep his last sleep there. It's so unfair. Tonight, Francine arrives. Albert's body will be there tomorrow. And me, a little more alone... I kiss you for a long time, tenderly, tenderly"... [October 1960]. "Thank you, my love, for your letter this morning. Through the falling rain you are my clear, tender Presence, my constant happiness. Ah, be well, be such as my heart and my thought never cease to want you," [October 1960].