Louis ARAGON announces the publication of “The Rose and the Réséda”

Louis ARAGON (1897-1982)

Signed autograph letter probably addressed to Jean Lescure.

One page in-4° on brown paper.

[Lyons]. March 16 [1943]

“I am sending you two poems for your collections: “The Rose and the mignonette” should in principle appear in the literary page Mot de mot. »

Important letter from Aragon announcing to his friend the publication of one of his masterpieces, The Rose and the Reseda , and the poem The Conscript of the Hundred Villages.

Aragon also informs his correspondent of his upcoming return to Paris where he will be welcomed by Paul and Nusch Éluard in April 1943.

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“ Dear friend, thank you for your word, and for your hospitality. In any case, I will only be able to come in April, the date varying with various factors. In the meantime, I am sending you two poems for your collections: “The Rose and the Réséda” should in principle appear in the literary page Mot d’ordre .

Yes, finally, because... The other does not propose an immediate fate. The copy is defective, read carefully at the bottom of the 1st ^page : ... heavy eaglets of words ... and following verse .... Big heart grandeyrolles …

He may also have confused the verse: Croismare Andé Vourles Vémars , and on the 2nd ^page the word Orny . I'm too lazy to type again.

I'll drop this off at the box before heading back to my hole. Big cities tire me! Kind regards to both of you. And respectfully to Catherine. Louis. »

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Published at dawn in March 1943 by Stanislas Fumet in the Marseille newspaper Mot d'ordre , La Rose et le réséda was reprinted in November 1943 in the magazine Messages , edited by Jean Lescure in Geneva.

Widely copied and distributed clandestinely by anonymous tracts, the poem took its place in Aragon's collection “La Diane française” in December 1944 (enriched with a dedication to four resistance fighters: “To Gabriel Péri and d'Estienne d'Orves as to Guy Môquet and Gilbert Dru").

Aragon and Elsa Triolet were welcomed by Éluard and Nusch, on the platform of the Gare de Lyon, after ten years of separation. Their friendship rediscovered, Aragon relied on Éluard for the clandestine work he carried out in the south of the country.