Louis Aragon announces the publication of "The Rose and the Reseda". 1943.

Louis ARAGON (1897-1982)

Autographed letter signed, probably addressed to Jean Lescure.

One page in quarto on brown paper.

[Lyon]. March 16 [1943]

"I am sending you two poems for your collections: 'The Rose and the Mignonette' should, in principle, appear in the literary section of Mot d'ordre.". »

Important letter from Aragon announcing to his friend the publication of one of his masterpieces, La Rose et le réséda , and of the poem Le Conscrit des cent 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 note and 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 Reseda” should in principle appear in the literary page Mot d’ordre .”

Yes, finally, because… The other doesn't offer an immediate solution. The copy is defective; read carefully at the bottom of the first ^page : … heavy eaglets of words … and the following verse… Big-hearted Grandeyrolles …

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

I'll drop this off in the mailbox before heading back to my hole. Big cities tire me out! Warmest regards to you both. And respectfully to Catherine. Louis.

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

Widely copied and distributed clandestinely by anonymous leaflets, the poem will take 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 well 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 estrangement. Their friendship rekindled, Aragon relied on Éluard for the clandestine work he conducted in the south of the country.