Henry de MONTHERLANT (1895–1972). 3 autograph manuscripts an - Lot 383

Lot n° 383
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Henry de MONTHERLANT (1895–1972). 3 autograph manuscripts an - Lot 383
Henry de MONTHERLANT (1895–1972). 3 autograph manuscripts and a corrected typescript for *Un voyageur solitaire est un diable* [1929–1961]; 25, 6, and 29 pages, in-4, in loose sheets, and one in-4 volume of [3]-132 pages, bound in half-maroquin with tan corners, smooth spine (a tear repaired on the last folio, which has been lined). A fine collection centered on *Un voyageur solitaire est un diable*, in which Montherlant compiled travel stories and impressions that also serve as “the diary of a crisis.” In his preface to the definitive edition, dated “Paris, May 1961,” Montherlant writes: “The essays in *Un voyageur solitaire* were all written (with the exception of one) between 1925 and 1929. They form the third and final volume of the *Voyageurs traqués* series, which already includes *Aux Fontaines du Désir* (1927) and *La Petite Infante de Castille* (1929). It was at the end of 1939 that I compiled them and wrote the preface and notes. The book had been printed and was ready for publication when the events of the summer of 1940 occurred. I therefore decided that they made publication inappropriate. The original edition of this work did not appear until 1945, printed in a run of five hundred copies, with lithographs by Mariano Andreu, through the art publisher Henri Lefebvre.” Autograph manuscripts for *Three Days at Montserrat*, [1929]–January 1, 1930; 25 pages on the backs of galley proofs, typescripts, and letters addressed to him. Heavily crossed-out and corrected drafts for his account of a walk in Montserrat, Spain, collected in 1945 in *Un voyageur solitaire est un diable*. Montherlant discusses the Benedictine monastery of Montserrat, its history, its attractions for pilgrims, its 12th-century Black Madonna, and so on. He quotes Saint-Simon and offers reflections on faith: “A Christian who does not live with the sole thought of his salvation, and in a single, constant state of spiritual elevation, is more monstrous than one who does not seek to form an opinion about the afterlife, and more contemptible. […] As for last-minute acts of penance, wrung out by exhaustion, terror, and a priest who tortures you—they fill me with horror”… Other pages contain notes on Montalembert’s style, the value of travel according to Pierre Benoit, the life of the soul, and so on. Signed autograph manuscript, [On El Greco]; 6 pages on the back of letters addressed to Louis Fabulet (1930–1932), concerning his translations of Kipling. A very fine text on El Greco, in its early version, heavily crossed out and corrected, differing from the text collected in 1945 in *Un voyageur solitaire est un diable*. Autograph manuscript, *Carnaval sacré*; 29 pages on the back of typescripts (for *La déception de Grenade* and *La Rose de sable*) or letters from publishers (1945). Working manuscript, heavily crossed out and corrected, of this text on the Nice Carnival, collected in 1945 in *A Lonely Traveler Is a Devil*, of which it serves as the conclusion. “The sacred day of Carnival in Nice, Easter Sunday of Holy Week: the final day, when the crowd sets fire to their King Carnival, whom they have just celebrated for a week. This supreme act of the drama—I would not miss it for anything in the world”… Enthusiastically, Montherlant takes part in the festivities: “For the first time in my life, I am part of a parade [...] with passionate fervor—I, who would loathe and be ashamed to take part in any political parade or religious procession, I, who would not attend the funeral of even my most beloved person”... For him, Carnival is a celebration of fun and mockery. He describes the parade and the wild day he spends there... But above all, burning the figure of Carnival illustrates one of “the ideas that govern my life”: the “mystery” of this execution shows that the people’s love for Carnival is as strong as their hatred of him—this is the principle of Equivalence and Alternation... But he stops here, without developing this idea: the original manuscript of the text, written the day after Carnival, was completely erased by an accident, and Montherlant did not have the courage, in this manuscript written (as he says) a few weeks later, to complete this reflection. He adds, however, that this Carnival resembles “what the Greeks sought in their Mysteries: a state of intoxication, a delirium, a liberation of the disordered parts of the soul [...] Just like the bull run, the Nice Carnival has become for me one of those sacred dramas that grip us both in our gut and in our minds”... This text is dated late 1929 (1939 in the published edition, though it was actually written in 1945). The following 15 pages, included as an Appendix, contain the notes he intended to use to develop the conclusion of his reflections on this mystery. Complete typescript for the 1961 Gallimard edition, reprinted in 1963 in the volume of the *Essa*
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