CLAUDEL (Paul). Correspondence of 21 autograph letters signe - Lot 156

CLAUDEL (Paul). Correspondence of 21 autograph letters signed with his name, initials or initials, addressed to Richard Heyd. 1948-1952. Some envelopes preserved. PAUL CLAUDEL'S DAUGHTER, SWISS PUBLISHER RICHARD HEYD (1910-1959) ran the Neuchâtel publishing house Ides et calendes, and was also a friend of André Gide, whose complete works he edited. PAUL CLAUDEL DISCUSSES THE PUBLICATION OF HIS BOOK PAUL CLAUDEL REPOND LES PSAUMES BY RICHARD HEYD. For example: "What a dramatic ordeal for you all of a sudden... My prayers and fervent thoughts are with you and all those you love! How I regret that my new book on the Song is still in the cupboard, I think it would do you good. All I can find to send you is a copy of the new edition of "Partage de midi". I would have liked something that would have given you more of an atmosphere of serenity...". (Paris, February 21, 1948). -- " ... I'm working for you. This book of psalms is something very important and new for me. So I'm rereading them closely and working on a preface that I've already redone twice and that I'm going to rewrite for the third time...". (Brangues, September 8, 1948). -- I received your letter, which does me good... This intense and generous attention is a great source of strength and confirmation for me. There are many Paul Claudels I've left behind me; and the Paul Cl. of whom you speak is the present Paul Cl., already in the process of coping with his other, not yet completely disengaged, Paul Cl., which souls like yours and my son's need. What they need most of all is the Word of God, freed from its inert gangue and made alive and life-giving...". (Paris, October 16, 1948). -- "The reading of my psalms had left me a little bewildered by their audacity and savagery. Then 2 hoses reassured me. A young girl in my family, a poor child of 22, had just died in her father's arms after 2 years of martyrdom. She had burned all her papers and kept only the translation of one of my psalms that I had sent her. And then I received from a Franciscan friar the touching letter I'm sending you...". (Paris, October 28, 1948). -- I received the Psalms and I don't know how to thank you! May King David do it for me! The book is superb, and this cheerful cover makes a worthy porch for this book of exultant freedom..." (December 10, 1948). He also discusses other of his works: Paul Claudel questions the Song of Songs, ("How I regret that my new book on the Song is still in the closet, I think it would do you good...", February 21, 1948), Emmaus ("this not very 'modern' book [which] was successful...", June 13, 1950), Theology of the Heart, Introduction to Isaiah. HE SPEAKS OF THE REPRESENTATIONS OF HIS PLAYS: "... I was plunged headlong into the preparation of 'L'Annonce faite à Marie', which is finally being performed in its definitive form at the Théâtre Hébertot. It's a great joy. All the actors I trained are excellent. Nothing would please me more than to see my theater complete again, in the form you [will] know how to give it...". (Paris, March 16, 1848). -- E[dwige] F[euillère] has backed out of the role of Lechy Elbernon, which she finds too subordinate to that of Marthe. I'm writing today to J[ean]-L[ouis] B[arrault] to recommend Germaine Montero (whom I had spoken to him about). Do you know if she is still available? (August 2, 1951). It was Germaine Montero who played the role of Léchy Elebernon in L'Échange at the Théâtre Marigny with Madeleine Renaud and Jean-Louis Barrault. HE DELIVERS JUDGMENTS ON HIS CONTEMPORAINS: "I've just read the last pages of Ramuz's Mémoires. It's sinister! It's impossible to imagine a more dreadful end, without the slightest consolation, the slightest ray of hope, the slightest elevation of the soul towards its Creator! He just lies there in despair, his hands on his knees. Not for a moment does it occur to him to open the Gospel... It was the same with Maeterlinck a few months ago. He sent me his despicable book "Bulles Bleues" and I wrote him a few lines of stern warning. As for Ramuz , I feel remorse. I knew he was ill, and I should have gone to see him. "I was a cripple and you didn't visit me. I was incarcerated and you didn't come to me." I feel guilty. Human respect is a damnable thing..." (June 11, 1949). -- " ... The 2 superb volumes of Malraux are in my hands and I await with great interest the third Malraux, [Psychologie de l'art, 1948-1950]. Many thanks! [Psychologie de l'art]... Many thanks