Henry de MONTHERLANT (1896-1972). Autograph manuscript, [195 - Lot 239

Henry de MONTHERLANT (1896-1972). Autograph manuscript, [1950?]; 3 1/2 pages in-4, on the back of letters addressed to him or typed fragments. Curious critical article written about himself. "From the very beginning of Montherlant's work, there is a contradiction in him": Le Songe "is based on this rejection of love: it is the novel of unnaturalness"... However, this aberration of Alban's seems "without significance in Montherlant's work", "an isolated case", because for thirty years "Montherlantian oriflammes" have carried meaning high, right up to "his last work". He quotes a line from Celles qu'on prend dans ses bras, then Le Maître de Santiago, and Les Olympiques. However, in the most recent reprint of this novel, Montherlant removed La Petite 19, "by his own admission (he told me), because he 'didn't want voluptuousness to be mixed up in a book about sport', [...] it is judged to be of an inferior order"... In "the mass" of the other books, "the act of the flesh is glorified without any restriction whatsoever"...