Alain RESNAIS (1922-2014). L.A.S. "Alain" following a letter from Jacques RASTIER, Paris April 18, 1943, to Frédéric de Towarnicki in Nice; 10pages in-8 in black hickory (including 4 and a quarter by Resnais), stamped envelope with Alain Resnais address on back. A moving declaration of friendship between four young men separated by the war [In 1940, Alain Resnais, a student at the Cours Simon, hung out with up-and-coming playwright Jacques Rastier, future poet-philosopher Frédéric de Towarnicki (who wrote the screenplay for Resnais's unrealized film Les Aventures de Harry Dickson) and future writer-journalist Georges Walter. The strong friendship between the four men would last beyond the war. In 1943, Resnais and Rastier were in Paris, Towarnicki and Walter in Nice]. Jacques Rastier talks about the great work he is working on, and "the secrets of our friendship [...] Alain alone, who carries a bit of you and whom I definitely recognize as our own, brings me in puffs, in this cell where I live, the perfume of our past lives"... Alain Resnais continues: "Now the writing and the style (or rather the lack of it) have changed. Only one identical feeling remains: that of a faithful friendship, against which a long silence has not yet been able to prevail. What can I say to you that is not an affirmation of your perpetual, dual presence? You, Georges, whose influence on me I see every day - and you, Fred, whose Dionysian joy remains "the example" for me! May your estrangement not last. When will I hear your triumphant Valkyrie echoing through the St Germain district, O Fred, future flower of the Flore! Jacques, after a few worrying detours, took up the line that runs from Orphée to Blanche-la-Noire. His new work is built in the midst of the most astonishing coincidences - I'd almost say omens! As for me, I'm continuing along the same path, if not with success, at least with perseverance"...