Description

Autograph letter signed to Max-Pol Fouchet about the layout of one of his poems in the magazine Fountain.

"My dear Max-Pol

I was beginning to worry about your persistent silence. Reassure me about your recovery.
Here are the corrected proofs. Please ensure that my instructions are followed and observed. It's very important for the intelligibility of the text. As it is a compact mass, it needs to be aired, the white space between each sentence needs to be circulated, seriously and generously. I recommend all this care.

My heart goes out to you
René Char
l'Isle 24 Oct 47
PS: I'd like you to send me a new final proof, after correction".

René Char joined the Resistance in 1942 under the name of "Capitaine Alexandre". Revolted by the censorship of Vichy and Berlin, he vowed not to publish his poems in occupied France. Nevertheless, from 1944 he contributed to the review Fountain led by Max-Pol Fouchet, based in Algiers and resolutely hostile to the Vichy regime. Char remained loyal to Fountain when, after the Liberation, the magazine moved to Paris, and contributed to 5 of its issues, not only as a poet but also as a columnist. Fountain published, among other things, the first extracts from Hypnos Leaves (1945) and The pulverised poem (1947).
Max-Pol Fouchet, with whom Char kept up an extensive correspondence, described him as "a great poet, a master of dignity, freedom and rectitude, a master whose morals married his poetry and whose poetry married his morals" (Jacques Chirac, "René Char"), La revue des deux mondesJuly 1989, p. 17)