Louis ARAGON Autographed letter signed Resistance

  
ARAGON (1897 - 1982), French writer. Autographed signed letter to the writer Jean Cayrol. (First semester 1946); 1 page in-4° on letterhead paper "French thought in the service of peace". As part of the organization of the international congress on "French thought in the service of peace", which will take place at salle Playel in Paris from June 27 to 30, 1946, Aragon insists that Jean Cayrol, a writer and former deportee, participate. He highlighted the date of the 29th, at the top of the letterhead, indicating the date of his speech: "Dear J. Here it is: on the 29th, congress for the framework below of the CNE with the other writers' organizations. On the 26th, the CNE sale. I not only want you to come, but also to speak at the congress (as a deported writer). Theme: witness, the deported writer becomes a fighter for peace. The congress, public, at Pleyel, will be very important (foreign writers present).

All this would require you to be there a little in advance. There will be "facilities" for the congress participants, but I (the CNE) can assure you of additional ones.

Do you have a place to stay in Paris? We will have a 50% discount for the trip.

Write back by return mail. I am counting on you. The congress of French thought in the service of peace, held from June 27 to 30, 1946, brings together commissions of scientists, intellectuals, and artists whose goal is to work on pacifist resolutions on an international scale for maintaining peace in the world. The intervention of Paul Eluard, for whom "poetry will merge tomorrow for all men with the love of life as it merged yesterday with the love of freedom," is particularly noted. Louis Aragon, on the other hand, asks for works from our writers that match the genius of our people, its heroes, and its builders.

Jean Cayrol (1910 - 2005), writer and publisher, joined the resistance during the war. He was arrested on denunciation in 1942 and deported to the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp. After the war, he published "Funeral song in memory of Reverend Father Jacques," whom he knew in the concentration camp, arrested for hiding Jewish children and resistance fighters in his school.

He won the Renaudot Prize in 1947 for his novel "I will live the love of others," the Grand Literary Prize of Monaco in 1968, and was a member of the French Academy from 1973 to 1995. A discreet man, he discovered young talents whom he took the risk of publishing, such as Philippe Sollers or Erik Orsenna.