“I see that my book has nothing to fear. I was very afraid, you understand. I woke up at night covered in a cold sweat: I dreamed that the film was as good as the book and that cinema could rival literature. But it was only a nightmare and everything went very well.”
3.000€
Romain GARY (1914.1980)
Signed autograph manuscript.
Two in-4° pages
No place or date [1959]
"I see that my book has nothing to fear."
Interesting answers from the French writer when asked about cinema and the adaptation of his Goncourt Prize-winning novel, The Roots of Heaven, by John Huston in 1958.
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QUESTIONS
– What do you think of John Huston’s film adaptation of your novel?
Ha! Ha! Ha! I was very amused and very pleased: I see that my book has nothing to fear. I was very afraid, you understand. I woke up at night covered in a cold sweat: I dreamed that the film was as good as the book and that cinema could rival literature. But it was only a nightmare and everything went very well.
– In Paris, the film has been experiencing a certain disconnect between critics and audiences. What is your takeaway from this? Do you see the reasons for the critics' bad mood, while the audience applauds in the cinema after the screening?
The audience is full of generosity, forgiveness, and pity: they are good Christians. I myself applauded when the screening was over. You have to have heart in life.
– Did your stay near Hollywood facilitate your relationships and negotiations with the film's directors?
No. I only met them in Paris.
– Karl Jaspers recently exclaimed in Germany: “Woe to the writer who writes to say nothing.” Don’t you think that this curse could apply to many celebrities of current French literature, and that it would be time to adopt Baudelaire’s formula for 19th-century painting: “Alas! everyone paints too well,” and for 20th-century literature: “Alas! everyone writes too well”?
All this means nothing. A writer can write to say nothing and become a great writer if he has genius. Jasper's sentence—but we should look at the context—is one of those pathetic attempts by philosophy professors to annex art, the art they can never forgive us for. Romain Gary.
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The Roots of Heaven was adapted for the screen by John Huston in 1958. The film had a first-rate cast: Errol Flynn, Juliette Gréco, Orson Welles, Trevor Howard, etc.
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