ÉLUARD, Paul (1895-1952)

ÉLUARD, Paul (1895-1952)

Autograph letter signed « Paul Eluard » [to René Char]
[Davos], 30 Jan. 1935, 1 p. in-4° in black ink on lined paper
Folding marks, skillful restoration in the lower margin, minor fraying
One word crossed off by Paul Éluard

A moving intimate letter to his friend René Char

Nusch — the romantic rebirth of Paul Éluard

« Mon cher René,
Ta lettre m’a fait un grand plaisir. On ne devrait, si l’on ne veut pas de drames, jamais mêler la vie “pratique” à l’amitié, ni l’amour même en triomphe si rarement. Des lettres comme les tiennes, ici, sont des baumes.
Je me sens très faible, je suis couché, avec beaucoup de misères, soigneusement renouvelées en ce moment.
Je te remercie de ce que tu me promets pour Nusch.
SI tu peux le faire tout de suite, fais-le, je t’en prie. Il y a urgence, urgence ! Si peu que ce soit, mais tout de suite, au reçu de ma lettre. Le tout est que Nusch atteigne le moment où ma mère l’enverra ici, dans 8 jours. Ma mère à ce moment, fera beaucoup pour elle, mais, à cause même de cela, on ne peut rien lui demander avant. Je compte donc absolument sur toi.
Je t’ai déjà, il y a 2 ou 3 jours, envoyé, recommandé, mon livre à l’adresse que m’a donnée Valentine [Hugo], qui ne tarit pas d’éloges sur Renée [Gauthier], qu’elle a vu dernièrement.
J’espère que tout va s’arranger pour toit. J’attends impatiemment tes deux livres.
Tout affectueusement à vous deux
Paul Eluard »

It was to one of his most loyal friends that Éluard wrote from the sanatorium in Davos, Switzerland, where he had come to join René Crevel on December 22, 1934. Éluard was already familiar with the place, having first stayed there in 1912, when he was diagnosed with tuberculosis at the age of sixteen. A few days earlier, on January 8, 1934, he had confided to Valentine Hugo: “They’ve discovered here some very old damage in my body which, although it should have killed me long ago, remains quite troubling. My nerves and my heart are bothering me.”

The early 1930s, however, were among the happiest times in Éluard’s life. His meeting with Nusch marked a new beginning—both emotional and artistic. He saw in her the very embodiment of woman: companion and accomplice, sensual and proud, sensitive and faithful. A witness at their wedding on August 21, 1934, René Char visited his friend in Davos the following month, in February 1935. Their friendship would endure despite the tensions within the Surrealist group to which they both belonged. Char would ultimately distance himself from the movement after signing, at the end of 1934, the manifesto The Planet Without a Visa, protesting Trotsky’s expulsion. Around the same time, he confided to Antonin Artaud: “Surrealism died of the idiotic sectarianism of its followers ».