MARTIN DU GARD Roger (1881-1951).

Autograph manuscript signed, Porquerolles, June 30, 1922. 6 pp. in-4. Brown half-maroquin wrapper and folder, gilt title and author. Ex-Libris of André Gutzwiller with his motto "In Silentum". Very interesting and long letter dealing with the genesis of his river novel Les Thibault. He agrees to give some biographical elements, then evokes his novel, he warns "But I ask you not to quote fragments of this letter, written on the beach, with a pen that a month of sea baths or sun have fairly rusted ! (...)". He describes himself "I went through the Ecole des Chartes, before being able to devote myself to the novel. (...) At 18, my bedside books were Flaubert's letters and ? War and Peace ? (...) I have always been inclined towards the long works. (...)". He evokes then his unfinished works ? A life of Saint? or those published ? To become?, ? One of Us ?, ? Jean Barois? etc. He begins his explanation of ? Thibault? in the last paragraph of page 3, "I cannot speak to you about the ? Thibault ?, as you would like (...) the few articles that have reached me (...) play the guessing game by trying to foresee the aftermath of the novel (...) It is not so convenient to execute without too many failures, during ten years perhaps, a plan conceived in advance, in great detail. (...) I can tell you this, in fact: the plan on which I am working foresees 13 parts, that is to say 13 volumes at least (I only dared to announce 7 or 8 in my warning.) Book I begins in 1904. Book XIII takes place in 1940 (...) This plan, which took me more than a year to balance, is precise enough, detailed enough, ordered enough, to constitute a solid framework for the work and to allow me to work for 10 years in a row without, I hope, compromising the unity of the architecture; but I have tried to leave it elastic enough to undergo modifications (...) There is no theoretical conflict of ideas (...) There will be no question of religion. Conflict of characters. Beings, without more, of which I want to follow the development, the reactions (...)". He concludes his letter by coming back on his personality "Believe well that I have no ? ideas ?; that I am the opposite of an ? intellectual ?, the opposite even of an intelligent man (...) I am not made to write ? notes ?. I send you this junk anyway (...)".