ARAGON, Louis (1897-1982)

ARAGON, Louis (1897-1982)

Autograph letter signed « Aragon » [to Philippe Hériat, secretary-general of the Académie Goncourt]
N.p.n.d [Paris, 18th November 1968], 1 p. in-4°
Tiny tear on upper margin, otherwise fine condition
Pencil annotation on upper left corner

Letter of rencor that accompanied his sensational resignation from the Académie Goncourt

« Cher ami,
La lettre que je joins à ce mot est seule destinée à nos collègues. Je ne puis cependant faire autrement que d’y joindre un mot personnel.
Sans revenir sur les faits qui vous sont, au moins partiellement, connus, vous savez que j’entendais venir ce lundi Place Gaillon, et tenter de passer outre à un incident dont les suites étaient pour le moins déplaisantes. L’étrange comportement de certains m’en empêche. Je souhaite que le libellé purement “administratif” de ma lettre signifie pour vous que je n’ai pas l’intention d’oublier la nature toute différente des rapports qui ont toujours existé entre vous et moi.
Et, je l’espère, à bientôt.
Aragon »

Aragon was elected to the Académie Goncourt on 15 December 1967. He wrote on this occasion: “As I am a fierce supporter of the novel, I find it normal to make common cause with those whose lives depend on that of the novel”. The idyll lasted less than a year. On November 18, 1968, he announced his resignation. The “good comrades” of the previous year had just been accused of “cannibalism” in a letter from the poet-novelist, which he made public first on Europe 1, then in the newspaper he had directed since 1953, Les Lettres françaises: “I do not wish to associate myself with the kind of cannibalism that reigns among some of our colleagues.” Aragon was accused, in addition to being the target of a press campaign against him, of having manoeuvred and used his influence to ensure that Clavel won the 1968 prize, to the detriment of François Nourissier. The press campaign was initiated by the young Bernard Pivot, who made a point of revealing the “little literary machination” of which the winner of the Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris was the victim. He is also the one who reveals the voting intentions of the various parties. Aragon suspects that one of the members of the Academy was behind this leak, which eventually bore unhealthy fruit. It has since been known that Aragon’s influence could only have been limited, the jury being composed of 26 members, including many Gaullists.
The “open” letter from Aragon, sent in the same envelope as ours, is now kept in the Municipal Archives of Nancy.