Paul CLAUDEL. L.A.S., Lophem-Lez-Bruges, Easter [April 21, 1935, to Henri Bidou]; 2 pages in-8 on the letterhead of the Abbaye de St-André. On his failure at the Académie Française (March 28, 1935). Claudel thanks Bidou for his "generous and witty article in the Revue de Paris. In closing its door to me, the Académie acted under the impulse of one of those deep, organic instincts that govern communities. It felt, not without reason, that I didn't belong there, that there was nowhere to put me. It's not the first time this has happened to me. I've never had a hat, a collar, a suit, a pair of shoes etc. that "fit", as they say. I have successively dismayed and disconcerted every guild, including that of writers. Only in diplomacy, contrary to popular belief, is a certain originality not an absolute scandal, and I have never been denied or challenged the most complete freedom of attitude. That's why, after 45 years of service, I'm leaving this career, which I love and in which I've never suffered any ill treatment, with so much regret"...