BATAILLE (Georges). Autograph letter signed to a man of lett - Lot 47

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BATAILLE (Georges). Autograph letter signed to a man of lett - Lot 47
BATAILLE (Georges). Autograph letter signed to a man of letters. Orléans, April 30, 1962. 7 pp. in-8, on 4 ff. headed by the library of the city of Orléans. « ... Needless to say, your project interests me a lot. The reservation I will make seems to be of great importance: I HAVE STUDIED "SERIOUSLY" I have studied "SERIOUSLY" (LONG ago) MEDIUM-AGE LITERATURE, especially allegorical literature, but I have certainly never seen anything in it that I think would justify your comparison. You are right, however, that the difference lies in the reference to God on the one hand, and the impossibility of that reference on the other. But does this not mean that, in the first case, PROFANE LITERATURE takes place on the fringe and is only a frivolous and insignificant domain. ARE NOT HIS ALLEGORIES TAKEN FROM RELIGIOUS LITERATURE? Especially, as far as I remember, from sermons. All these allegorical themes must be found in the collections of exempla used by preachers. Perhaps in stories like the Roman de la Rose there is only a development of themes that are to the liking of a certain class of society: men of that class would not go through with anything or would convert. In my opinion, apart from reflections which rarely appear in the Round Table novels (not to mention the borrowings in the latter from clerical literature), there is a literary life which counts only in so far as, being non-religious, it implies the insufficiency of a world having its totality outside the religious framework. For me, THE FEW BOOKS YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT (but I don't know [Dino] BUZZATTI, nor [Hermann] KASACK, nor [ Jorge-Luis] BORGES, on the other hand, it seems to me that Blanchot would have a place in the cycle you allege) SUPPOSE THE DISPOSITION IN THE MIND OF THOSE WHO WRITE THEM OF A RELIGIOUS WORLD ABOVE THE POSSIBILITY PLAYED IN LITERATURE. SO THEY SEEM TO ME MUCH CLOSER TO THOSE OF PROUST OR JOYCE THAN TO THOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES. But I grant you that this reservation is less serious than it first appears. In any case, what you say on p. 2 (the flow of eternity etc.) makes sense in relation to medieval church literature, the influence of which on secular literature has been the subject of some considerable (but often dry) study for at least the last thirty years. I apologize for the pessimistic nature of this introduction. I would now like to make some specific proposals. The first one is justified in my eyes by the fact that we have not talked about the RIVER OF SYRTES (FOR WHICH I HAVE REAL ADMIRATION). Couldn't you first give us a study of this book in which you would develop your thesis? (You could then devote to these books that I don't know either another study or several...) I don't see that this could seriously bother you, and the form of Critique being given, I don't see any other way: a study that is too general would not exempt us from talking about Gracq. I have the impression, moreover, that you should end up with a whole book, in which the general character of your thought would be in the foreground... I would add that in my opinion the role of Critique is to make possible studies along the lines of yours, as opposed to vague - and short - literary criticism... "Letter written a few weeks before his death (July 9, 1962).
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