ARAGON, Louis (1897-1982)

ARAGON, Louis (1897-1982)

Autograph letter signed « Aragon » [to the comtesse de Clermont-Tonnerre]
S.l.n.d, Vendredi, 1 p. in-4to
Fold marks, some tiny stains

Violent charge of Louis Aragon against Thomas Mann

« Excusez-moi, Madame, de ne pas vouloir déjeuner avec Thomas Mann, sont la conduite pendant la guerre, le pacifisme d’entre-deux guerres, et la signature au bas de l’ignoble manifeste contre les exécutions en Russie ne peuvent pas me rendre plus aimable la détestable littérature.
Très respectueusement
Aragon »

We know the attachment of Aragon to the communist regime of the USSR. Although we have not found the manifesto in question here, it is clear that Aragon intends here to undermine the career of the German writer, starting with his bias for Imperial Germany during the Great War. Concerning the interwar period, Mann chose to flee into exile in 1933 in order to stay away from the political turmoil that his country was then experiencing under the Nazi regime.