Philippe SOUPAULT (1897-1990). 16 L.A.S. and 2 L.S. 1927-195 - Lot 150

Philippe SOUPAULT (1897-1990). 16 L.A.S. and 2 L.S. 1927-1954, to René Laporte; 33pages various sizes, several letterheads (Kra, éditeur, Les Cahiers libres, Excelsior, etc.), one envelope. Interesting literary correspondence between the two friends. The poet René Laporte (1905-1954) founded the magazine Les Cahiers libres. Through these letters, we follow Soupault in his various activities and travels, as publisher with Kra, director of Radio-Tunis (1938-1941), and, after the war, chargé de mission in America to re-establish French press agencies, then sent by Unesco to Africa. We come across the names of Léon Pierre-Quint, Jean Giraudoux, André Beucler, Jacques Kayser, René Bertelé and others. Several letters are completed by Ré Soupault (Philippe's 3rd wife). The two poets discuss their various works and publishing problems. In 1927, Soupault corrects the proofs of his book on William Blake and Laporte those of Dîner chez Olga, his first novel, which Soupault appreciates. Later, he congratulated Laporte on his poems and asked him to send the proofs of the novel he was preparing. In 1942, he wrote a lengthy review of Laporte's novel Les Passagers d'Europe: he analyzed the characters, praised his description of the atmosphere in Tunis, the perfection of the riot scenes, and congratulated him on having dared to "leave aside the false picturesque (à la Flaubert et à la Maupassant) and show only the essential"... From Algiers and Tunis, Soupault sent articles to various magazines, but hesitated to support a film with André Beucler on Tunisia (February 1940). As early as 1939, he foresaw the climate to come: "You offer me Hitler m'a dit and livres jaunes [books suggesting the possibility of war]. Try to send some more in the suitcase"... In 1942, Soupault having been relieved of his duties as director of Radiodiffusion in Tunis by the Vichy Ministry of Information (then imprisoned from March 12 to September 13), the letters become longer. - January 30: "It seems to us that everything has slowed down, as if in a prison. Coming to France seems to us, if not futile, at least imprudent. Friends are scattered. [...] I'm working here on a big novel and on various notes. But I have little courage". This does not prevent him from passing judgment on his contemporaries: "I'm waiting for your poems. The recent ones I've read by Aragon and Éluard hardly satisfy me. They are admirably written, but seem to neglect everything the poem has conquered since Apollinaire. Backward steps that are all the more dangerous because we can only admire them for their interiority. We must also react against the verbalism of Lanza del Vasto and Pierre Emmanuel or the confusionism of Patrice de la Tour du Pin. I feel younger than all these young people"... - February 23: sheltered in his house, and despite material difficulties, he works a lot: "I'm finishing a book on Labiche and the bourgeois society of the Second Empire" which he hopes to see published. "I submitted a few ideas, at Bertelé's instigation, to Claude Roy. He replied evasively and hesitantly"...A postcard dated September 13 announces his release: "The nightmare has come to a temporary end. Unfortunately I won't be able to come to France again". - October 2: in Algiers, he recovers from his captivity and would like to get back to work; he likes his novel in progress: "It's a series of experiments. Each chapter is written in a different style, in a special light". After a long silence, the two friends renew acquaintances in 1945, while Soupault is in the United States. -June 5: "I'm going to publish a book in French and English, Le Temps des Assassins, and a poem Message de l'île déserte"; he is also preparing a life of Roosevelt. - August 20: Soupault recounts his life from prison in Tunis and prepares to leave the USA. From Brazzaville (April 14, 1951), he reluctantly agrees to join the jury of the Prix Apollinaire, which includes Cocteau (whom Apollinaire hated and despised). The last letter (1954) is a letter of thanks for poems. Enclosed: - an autograph manuscript of a laudatory article on René Laporte published in Transit magazine (March 31, 1938, 2p. in-4); - 5 L.A.S. and 1 L.S. from Ré Soupault to René Bertelé during Soupault's imprisonment in Tunis, and 1 L.A.S. from New-York (October 24, 1945) announcing his break with Soupault; - and a L.A.S. from Marie-Louise Soupault-Le Borgne (Philippe's 2nd wife).