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Rare first draft manuscript

Manuscrit complet de la nouvelle Anonymes

1923

Signed complete first draft and working manuscript of 80 pages written in 1923, of a short story published in 1924 by Gallimard in the collection Complaint against unknown person.

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Description

Signed autograph manuscript written in 1923, from a short story published in 1924 by Gallimard in the collection Complaint against unknown person  under the title Anonymous.

Complete 80-page first draft and working manuscript written on a 60-page school notebook and on 20 interleaved pages of different formats.

The cover bears this dedication: "To Jean Boyer his friend 1913-1923 Pierre Drieu La Rochelle"..

Jean Boyer (1893-1968), who will also be the dedicatee of the short story in the edition, was Drieu's fellow student at the Political Science School, and kept up a lively correspondence with his friend during the War. He made a career at the Ministry of Finance, then left the administration for the Comptoir National d'Escompte de Paris, of which his father was chairman. In 1945, he and Colette Jéramec arranged Drieu's funeral.

Frédéric Grover, in his 1979 biography of Drieu Rochelle, sums up the story as follows:
"Stan and Sue, the heroes ofAnonymous are introduced to each other in a group of friends. The story of their marriage is more a series of notations and analyses, a very abstract outline of what leads two young people to this irrevocable act at the very moment when everything seems to be conspiring to prevent them from seeing each other as they are. In the end, the idea of a gamble, the idea that one's destiny must be gambled on a go-all, leads Stan to marry Sue even though the ease of the divorce removes any sense of adventure from this decision."

This first draft manuscript, written in blue-black ink on the front of the lined pages of the notebook (paginated 1 to 49) and continuing on loose-leaf pages (paginated 50 to 67), is extensively crossed out and corrected, with numerous strikethroughs and interlinear corrections, and some passages crossed out; more extensive modifications and additions have been written on the versos opposite the corrected page, as well as on interleaved pages.
The stages in the development of the plot, noted in pencil, also appear on several versos. The beginning of the story has been entirely crossed out, and redone on two large sheets added at the head of the notebook.

The front cover bears the crossed-out title: Engagement, The first page of the notebook bears two titles that were considered and then crossed out: A botched story/case and The moment and the timeand then the final title: Anonymous.

There are many variations on the final textIn addition to the hesitation over the heroine's first name (Suz, Suzanne or Sue), there are a number of thoughts at the beginning of the long seduction that were removed before publication. In addition to the hesitation over the heroine's first name (Suz, Suzanne or Sue), there are, for example, at the beginning of the long seduction, reflections that will disappear before publication: "What surprised her seemed singular. But singularity, what a merit! Stanislas had a singular beauty". (p. 16)... "Delightful twists and turns of submission". (p. 17)... "He who believes, however, by virtue of the doctrines which deceived in the century, that he can only become what he believes himself to be, makes himself the man they want him to be, by a very slight modification of the possible(p. 18)... Later, in a discussion of Suzanne's ambitions and hopes, she hopes that a man will come and give her strength, and "... I don't know what he's going to do" (p. 18).other coveted things"On p. 34, the following lines have been deleted: "tant hope gives birth to improbable enchantments. Besides, it's a good thing that life is more difficult, because what would become of the tragic, our beloved tragic?

A rare document whose point-by-point comparative study with the printed text will help us to understand the development of this novella and the specificity of this early version.

The manuscript is preserved in an elegant black wooden paper box that opens in three parts. The inside cover, which protects the manuscript, bears a large piece of morocco with the title, author, date and gilded frames.

 

Undated [1923]. Sheets,

A 60-page Gallia small in-4 school exercise book with a water-green cover and cloth spine, and 20 pages of dividers in various formats.

Bio

Pierre Drieu la Rochelle

(born on January 3, 1893 in the 10th arrondissement of Paris and died in the 17th arrondissement of Paris on March 15, 1945)

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