Hervé BAZIN (1911-1996). Typescript signed with autograph corrections and additions, [Letter to the President of the Republic, 1975]; 4 pages in-4. Enclosed is a photocopy of a highly corrected early version of this text (dated 12/14.XII.75); a photocopy of the published article; and a L.A.S. from Hervé Bazin to Maurice Dalinval on the reactions to his column (January 14, 1976, 2 p. in-8, Académie Goncourt letterhead). Strong open letter to French President Giscard d'Estaing. "To be honest, Mr. President, I recall that my name was on the list of those who invited people to vote for François Mitterrand. I continue to belong to the Socialist family and don't feel embarrassed. After all, the presence of your portrait next to the bust of Marianne in town halls speaks for itself [...] I wish you, Mr. President, an army that is as one and indivisible as the Republic, but where we can protest against Adjudant Flic and wear the long hair that floated on the shoulders of Bayard, Turenne and Bonaparte [...] I wish you to be able to put aside all the obstacles that have prevented you from voting for François Mitterrand.I hope you will be able to keep the financiers out of our so-called capitalist finances, even though their very basis - capital - is being eaten away by inflation, as is income, which is now lower than the percentage of devaluation [...].] Finally, Mr. President, because I don't believe that the Gaullists and their friends have remade Gaul, and because I do believe that they wish it well - a good that is different from ours - I hope that you will have in your chest, barred by the great cordon, something of the breath of Jaurès to repeat that there is no monopoly on generosity, to order that proof of this be provided to all, along with the necessary warning : that without a retreat from egoism, without rapid and profound change, France will not be able to avoid a revolution". Enclosed is a photocopy of a much-corrected early version of this text (dated 12/14.XII.75); a photocopy of the published article; and a L.A.S. from Hervé Bazin to Maurice Dalinval on the reactions to his column (January 14, 1976, 2 p. in-8, Académie Goncourt letterhead). "La lutte des classes est une réalité réjouissante. I mean, there's the high class, there's the low class and there are those who have none at all! So I'm not surprised by the difficulties you must have encountered in getting my letter published. Among my friends, the reaction was no less lively: I didn't know where tense and tense were anymore. The phone rang a lot. There was talk. Which proves at least two things: firstly, that your newspaper is carefully scrutinized in front of people; secondly, that any truth remains a versatile revulsive. It has to be said that in politics, the abandonment of ritual language is scandalous; and that it's undoubtedly more difficult to do without it on the rue de Bièvres (where I had lunch on Monday) than on the Champs-Elysées. I'm sure we'll see each other more often, here or in Paris. We can't remain indifferent to the great misery of the mutual incomprehension of men of good will".