Antoine de SAINT-EXUPÉRY (1900–1944). Autograph manuscript, - Lot 400

Lot n° 400
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4000 - 5000 EUR
Antoine de SAINT-EXUPÉRY (1900–1944). Autograph manuscript, - Lot 400
Antoine de SAINT-EXUPÉRY (1900–1944). Autograph manuscript, [Hep! Sergent!, June 1937]; 11 pages in-4 on 11 sheets of buff-colored paper. A first draft and working manuscript, heavily crossed out and corrected, with significant variations and unpublished passages, from a report on the Spanish Civil War published in *Paris-Soir* on July 3, 1937, with the note “Carabancel Front, June 1937” (Complete Works, Pléiade, vol. I, pp. 418–423), and which would be reworked to form a chapter of the conclusion of *Terre des hommes* in 1939 (VIII, ii). The manuscript begins as follows: “For they have all emerged from the depths of darkness. And I stare at these men who have begun a new life […] I look especially at Sergeant R., the one who was supposed to be the first to go out and who went to sleep before the attack. I witnessed his awakening—that of a man condemned to death”... The scene takes place in the trenches of Carabancel, which Saint-Ex evokes in a gripping manner; he then calls out to the sergeant: “Hey! Sergeant!” The attack is called off, and Saint-Ex wants to question the sergeant: “Sergeant! Sergeant! What are you doing with the gift of life?”; and above all, that unutterable question: “Sergeant, why are you willing to die?”; he’ll ask him “little questions that seem to mean nothing...—Deep down... why did you go?” It is a questioning of commitment through this office worker who feels “that imperious call that compelled him to leave.” And Saint-Ex draws a comparison with the migrations of ducks and wild geese, and “that inner migration” that humans sometimes feel. ...“One must live a long time to become a man. One slowly weaves the web of friendships and affections. One learns slowly. One slowly crafts the honey of one’s work, and if one dies too soon, one feels as though one has been cheated out of one’s share. One must live a long time to fulfill oneself”... The last page is very different from the final text, and concludes: “He reaches that point where all loves share a single common measure. And even if he were not happy, he would still gain love. That day when one is reunited with all women and all men.” On the back of the penultimate page is this note: “Caravancel / fraternization / Pascal.”
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