Marcel JOUHANDEAU (1888-1979). Corrected proofs, L'École des - Lot 478

Marcel JOUHANDEAU (1888-1979). Corrected proofs, L'École des garçons (Paris, Marcel Sautier, 1953); 135 leaves in-8 (25x12.5cm) printed recto; plus 3 L.A.S., 1948-1949, to Robert Coquet (one to his mother). Complete proofs with autograph corrections and additions of this book. Jouhandeau is not the author of the letters that make up this book. He received them from a young soldier musician he had met on a train in 1948, with whom he had fallen in love and with whom he remained friends even after their affair ended. Although published under his own name, this work is a collection of letters received from Robert Coquet and his friend Henri Rode, who chaperoned their relationship. Complete set, with pagination that does not yet correspond to the 350 p. of the original edition in a smaller format (Marcel Sautier, finished printing January 19, 1953 by Jacques Haumont, run of 550 copies). In addition to certain signs, words and lines corrected or restored, mostly in ink, Jouhandeau has carefully recopied passages deemed unclear. In these proofs, the preface is not entirely complete. It will be lengthened in the edition. In it, Jouhandeau emphasizes the gradual evolution of a young man unaccustomed to the refinements of language, transformed by the passion of love that produced in him the "miracle" of untying his style. In Jouhandeau's words, it's "grammar taught by love". However, we would later learn, thanks to the revelations of Henri Rode, the other character in the book, that the letters written by Robert had been dictated to him by this friend, himself a writer and critic. Although Jouhandeau was not the author of the letters, since he merely transcribed them, he did lighten or correct them somewhat in these proofs. For example, his wife Élise, referred to as a lioness in Robert's letters (who felt his hostility), becomes a panther. Jouhandeau has also added a few explanatory footnotes. He has also added some informative intertitles that will be printed in italics in the definitive book, to inform the reader of certain circumstances and compensate for the absence of the narrator, since Jouhandeau wanted to erase his formal presence: "Roberti-ana notés par Henri", invocation translated from Latin, quotation from Rimbaud... Some of the changes visible in these proofs are also dictated by the need for discretion. Mademoiselle Claude, Élise's friend (and somewhat complicit in Marcel and Robert's love affair), becomes Madeleine. Hélène, Robert's mother, becomes Rosalinde. Mariol, Élise's native village where the Jouhandeau couple vacation, becomes Galande. Malaucène, the name of Robert's family, disappears under its simple initial. Henri's rejection of a manuscript (with the ambition of being published) becomes, more discreetly, "the failure of his projects". Added to these proofs, in their chronological place, are 3 L.A.S. from Marcel Jouhandeau: April 21, 1948 (2p. in-8) to Robert Coquet, at the very beginning of their relationship, to be placed after his friend's 3rd letter in the collection. They still use the formal form of address. "Dear little one, I couldn't explain by letter why I didn't come on Monday either, but you know very well that if I didn't come, it had to be impossible. When I read you a moment ago, my heart sank. I had been looking forward to seeing you this evening for eight days"... April 12, 1949 (2p. in-8) to Hélène Coquet, Robert's mother, who is in hospital. Jouhandeau, who is going on vacation with Élise, asks Hélène to come and see her son; she will stay in Robert's hotel room. June 10, 1949 (3p. in-8, envelope) to Robert Coquet (in Malaucène, Vaucluse). Jouhandeau recalls the death of his cat Doudou: "It often happened to me in the street, on the paths, to whisper: - Minou! Passers-by would look at me, a little worried. At night, too, I'd call you. Caria would say: "You know there's no more Doudou! So much accumulated tenderness, due to the impossibility of writing to you as I would have liked, swells my heart. I don't know if I need to burst out laughing or sobbing, I'm so happy and you know that true happiness is serious. I know that, as soon as I'm with you, we'll be like two children. You have the secret, better than anyone else, of giving me back my youth. [See you tomorrow, my darling Minou. I kiss you"....