Description

Two typescript letters signed "Marguerite Yourcenar" in green felt-tip pen  and addressed to Bernard La Tour - ORTF, concerning the radio adaptation of Denier du Rêve.
Grasset first published the work in 1934, and Margueritte Yourcenar reworked the novel between 1958 and 1959, before adapting it for the stage in 1961, with a new title, Rendre à César.

Petite Plaisance, Northeast Harbor, Maune, USA 4 January 1972 (stamp):
Margueritte Yourcenar confirms her "permission to adapt for radio" Rendre à César; but "it goes without saying that while accepting [...] the principle" she wishes "to exercise a normal right of review":

"The telegram I received said, for example, that the radio adaptation would be 75 minutes long, which I imagine would mean some cuts. What cuts will be made, and will other changes be necessary or deemed necessary?

Petite Plaisance, Northeast Harbor, Maune, USA, 27 February 1972:
Yourcenar submits a dozen objections, "which all have to do with the sequence of lines or scenes"Bernard La Tour's report on the cuts made to the original text:

" Jn principle, I'm always against the expedient of having a speaker summarise a scene. I marked […] the 17 lines in all in Scene I, which I feel are essential to the flow of the action. I think that interpreting them dramatically would be much better than a speaker and would not be much long [...]"

"Vur idea of ending on Rilke's phrase, Give each his own death, is a very good one. I do, however, regret a little the grotesque Marinunzi scene, which ended on a sadly buffoonish note. I realise, it's true, that it's very difficult to make cuts in this drunken chatter. I have tried, however, and come up with this, which is not wonderful, but provides a final contrast."This is followed by a short speech by Marinunzi very drunk.

Some autograph corrections and an addition, autograph envelopes retained.