About this Item
Original Autographed Letters. Framed & Glazed. Signed by Author. 1947 Nobel Prize in literature. Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the symbolist movement, to the advent of anticolonialism between the two World Wars. Als, Cuverville, n.d. [July 9th, c 1914 -1918]. With an original 7"x 9" signed photo portrait by Reiss, Berlin. A particularly important Document & Original Photo Display, double glazed [recto/verso] & framed to an overall size of 21" x 24" [8" 1/2 x 6" 1/4] [8" 1/2 x 6" 1/4] [1" 3/4 x 13"] in a handsome mottled brown antique finish & decorated wood frame, triple matted, gilt filets in three windows. A fabulous letter about Kipling, Whitman, the NRF & the delicacies of translating "Leaves of Grass"; the unnamed recipient, possibly, Léon Bazalgette, [1873-1929] soon to become the noted French biographer & translator of both Whitman & Thoreau & who did title & publish Leaves of Grass, as: "Feuilles d'herbes"; this als, the possible genesis of the title's translation. The first issue of the Nouvelle Revue Française, [NRF], appeared in February 1909 but ceased publication in 1914. In 1919, under the leadership of Gide's good friend, Jacques Rivière, [1886-1925], [champion of: Proust & Joyce], the NRF began again, & featured the works of major Anglo & American writers including Conrad who Gide translated [Typhoon] & Whitman in whom Gide recognized extraordinary genius. Kipling's poem "France" was originally published in 1913. Eng. Trans: "Dear Friend, / Yesterday, in Paris, where I was spending two days, I gave your address to Jacques Rivière; you will probably receive a letter from him about Kipling's poem on France of which the French newspapers recently published a translation. / You will have certainly found, as I did, this ode of great beauty. The NRF intends to quote it in its next issue and we had thought that perhaps it would need to be retranslated and therefore, quite naturally, we thought of you. If you think there are authorizations to ask for, rights, etc. we would only have to give an abridged version. You would then only choose the best parts since I think one always has the right to give a quote. Rivière would get you the text in case you don't have it. / And this of course, if it doesn't bother you! But I don't think so; it is too beautiful and we cannot let it pass unnoticed. / When I came back I found your letter. You know better than I if "Leaves of grass" is the equivalent of "Brins d'herbe" which I would prefer in this case. The question is the following: does one usually say "Leaves of grass" as we would usually say "Brins d'herbe", or is there a research, a new association of words, which, in this case, "feuilles d'herbes" would express better. / Yours truly, André Gide".
Seller Inventory # 31823
Contact seller
Report this item
