NÉMIROVSKY, Irène (1903-1942)

NÉMIROVSKY, Irène (1903-1942)

Autograph letter signed « Irène Némirovsky » [to André Chaumeix]
Paris, 1st Dec. 1935, 1 p. 1/2 in-8° on laid paper, in black ink
Watermarked, on her letterhead of 10, avenue Constant Coquelin [Paris]
Usual central fold, very slight wear at the bottom edge, not serious

Irène Némirovsky deeply moved by André Chaumeix’s heartfelt praise of her book The Wine of Solitude

« Cher Maître,
Je vous remercie de tout mon cœur de la belle critique que vous avez bien voulu écrire pour Le Vin de solitude. Vous vous imaginez avec quelle impatience j’ai attendu ce mois-ci la Revue des Deux Mondes sachant qu’un article de vous à propos du livre y paraîtrait.
Tout ce que vous écrivez non seulement me cause un plaisir dont vous vous doutez, mais une émotion profonde et très douce.
Encore une fois merci et croyez-moi, je vous prie, cher Maître, très sincèrement votre
Irène Némirovsky »

Published in serial form at the beginning of March 1935 in La Revue de Paris, The Wine of Solitude appeared in August of the same year from the Albin Michel publishing house. The work, which the author herself described as a “nearly autobiographical novel,” was the result of two years of careful development. While it was unanimously praised by critics, the book, which sold 10,000 copies, did not achieve the commercial success hoped for by the novelist and her publisher.

This letter was written in thanks to journalist and academician André Chaumeix for his laudatory review of the novel, at a time when he was in charge of the literary column of Revue des Deux Mondes (and would go on to assume its general directorship two years later).