LEDUC, Violette (1907-1972)

LEDUC, Violette (1907-1972)

Autograph letter signed « Violette Leduc » to Yvon [Belaval]
S.l., 6 november [19]57, 1 p. in-8° on lined paper

Violette Leduc gives some news after her stay at the Vallée-aux-Loups

« Cher Yvon,
Merci de votre lettre affectueuse.
Oui, venez quand vous pouvez.
Je souhaite que vous ayez moins de fatigue, physiquement et moralement.
Je ne suis plus à La Vallée aux loups depuis juin 57. Je vais rarement bien. Simone de Beauvoir est une amie extraordinaire.
[…]
Je vous embrasse fraternellement, Yvon.
Violette Leduc »

Struggling with manic-depressive tendencies just as she had achieved literary success with her first novel Ravages, published in 1955, Violette Leduc stayed at a clinic in Versailles at the end of 1954 before spending six months at the rest home of Dr. Henri Le Savoureux in La Vallée-aux-Loups (the former residence of Chateaubriand from 1807 to 1818).
Deeply in love with Simone de Beauvoir, who inspired her 1948 prose poem L’Affamée, their relationship gradually evolved into a tender and affectionate bond that lasted until Violette Leduc’s death in 1972.
As early as 1949, Sartre and Beauvoir provided her with a small allowance through Éditions Gallimard in order to protect Violette’s delicate emotional state. Then, starting in 1954, Beauvoir took on this responsibility alone for her protégé, thanks to the Goncourt Prize she won for Les Mandarins.