François MITTERRAND Signed Autograph Letter. Youth Letter. 1939

  

The Autographes des Siècles bookstore has been specializing for many years in the sale of autograph letters and manuscripts. Autograph letter signed to Marie-Louise Terrasse, known as Catherine Langeais.

Four pages, small in 4°. February 9 and 10, 1939.

Never has my will felt more unshakeable. Mitterrand, exhausted from his military service, finds solace in the virtues of love. "My beloved, I did not fulfill my commitment to write to you for this evening's mail. Forgive me, I had little time. This morning, I went to the Fort de Vanves; there, I fired a machine gun; then around 1 PM, I returned to Ivry. The march only felt burdensome in the very last kilometers: my shoulders were sore from the straps of the backpack. This evening, I have a bit of a vacant head. For now, I am writing to you from my bed: between the call and the extinguishing.

In this position, my writing and the cleanliness of my paper may leave something to be desired. It is unnecessary to tell you that I thought of you again during this day.

I am becoming a man of habit, and my days are built on the same model: joy if I see you, sorrow otherwise, regret for our last meeting, hope for the next. In sum, you are, my Zou, a very important person. For it is no small thing to be able to fill the existence of a being. Tell me about it in your letter that I am waiting for. Tell me, especially if it is true, that you thought of me. You made me discover this: that I believed I despised words and attached only to unexpressed thoughts, and that in reality, words are necessary to keep me from doubting thoughts. A flaw of love: it obscures the meaning of nuances, it demands a certain brutality; it tends to confuse nuance and doubt. My little girl, I think that the transposition of inner impulses into the outer plane is poor, however wonderful it may be. Love words lose a bit of the infinity that mingles with thoughts of love along the way.

Like everything that materializes a pure domain. And yet how enchanting those words are!

A being is bound despite itself to its first word of love. What power those three words "I love you" possess. It is the whole history of the world.

My little girl, this morning I received your letter. If you only knew the happiness your letters bring me! I need your constant presence so much. You speak to me of your fragility and of the strength I can give you. My dear, because I love you, it seems to me that I can do anything.

And this will is ready to do anything to keep you. This influence you have over me, simply by your love, has been enough to give me the momentum I was missing, the momentum that can only attach to an essential reason for living. And then, I know that our love cannot end after all it has given us. Wouldn't it be lamentable to see it reduced to one of those little adventures that one smiles at later and which are practical for everyone? Besides, it wouldn't be possible: there is no little adventure where the suffering of a whole life can be born.

Fragile, we are without each other. But we love each other. And we will never be without each other again.

Our thoughts are united, our sweetest memories are those we have shared together. My Marie-Louise, who could bend our strength, what ties us, the most wonderful of promises? I still have so much to tell you. But that will be for later. Now I will leave you (not really).

I hope that tomorrow will bring me morning and evening what I am waiting for from it. And I tell you that I love you, my little peach who will never know seasons other than the most beautiful. By her real name, Marie-Louise Terrasse, she met François Mitterrand on January 28, 1938, during the ball at the École normale supérieure, with whom she became engaged, although she was only 15 years old.

Mitterrand wrote more than 300 letters to her, whom he nicknamed Zou. Consult our manuscripts The Autographes des Siècles Gallery specializes in the sale and expertise of autograph letters and manuscripts from great personalities of past centuries. Purchase / Payment Methods We accept the following payment methods: Bank transfers and checks.

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