ALAIN-FOURNIER Handwritten letter signed to A. Du Fresnois 1914

  
ALAIN-FOURNIER - Handwritten signed letter addressed to the writer André du Fresnois. [Trie-Château (Oise)], July 8, 1914. 1 page in-8, handwritten address on the back "Monsieur André de Fresnois". An important and moving document, mentioning the last two places of residence of Alain-Fournier before his mobilization and death. "I do not know if La Revue critique has passed on to you what I had said for you over the phone in response to your letter. I suggested, in case you needed to talk to me, to come to Trie and spend half a day there. I also gave you my address until Wednesday: Teleph. 3 - at Trie-Château - Oise Post. Casimir Périer at the Château de Triela. Town / via Trie-Château - Oise After July 15: Villa Souberbielle / In Cambo / Basses-Pyrénées I will be in Paris on Wednesday morning and, if you wish, we can meet...

In May 1912, Alain-Fournier became the secretary of Claude Casimir-Perier, son of the former president of the Republic, to whom Charles Péguy had introduced him. He also became the lover of his wife, Pauline Benda-Perier, a famous actress known as Madame Simone. He was thus regularly welcomed at their property in Trie-la-Ville (near Gisors, in the Vexin normand) or at the Villa Souberbielle in Cambo-les-Bains, near Espelette in the Basque country, rented every summer by the Periers. It is in these two places that he began writing his second novel, Colombe Blanchet, which remained unfinished.

The writer therefore stayed in the Vexin until July 15, before leaving with the Periers for the Pyrenees, where he would only stay for fifteen days: mobilized on August 1, 1914, he joined his garrison in Mirande without passing through Paris. He fell at Verdun on the afternoon of September 22.

A very moving document, as its recipient, André du Fresnois, would meet the same tragic fate: mobilization led the young man, writer and literary critic at La Revue critique, to the front in Lorraine, in the first days of the conflict. He fell on August 22 during the battles at Courbesseaux, during the battles of the Grand-Couronné to protect Nancy. Photos and additional descriptions available upon request.

_gsrx_vers_625 GS 6.9.7 (625). _gsrx_vers_1608 GS 9.5 (1608).