Jean DESBORDES (1906-1944). Corrected typescripts and autogr - Lot 69

Jean DESBORDES (1906-1944). Corrected typescripts and autograph manuscripts for Les Tragédiens, [1931]; leaves in-4, with annotated covers (some edges creased). Interesting set on the development of Desbordes' first novel. After the somewhat scandalous success of J'adore, launched by Cocteau, Jean Desbordes set about writing his first novel, Les Tragédiens, published by Bernard Grasset in 1931, which Cocteau helped him to correct. In an article in the May 1931 issue of the Nouvelle Revue Française, Cocteau wrote about the tragic story of the all-consuming love between a mother and her son. In his words, "every line of Les Tragédiens is a marvel, a river of fire, ice and shadow". File includes: - 3 autograph sheets (in-4) of drafts, of which we quote the last entitled Le Sang (primitive title of the novel): "Le Sang. The blood of the family tree. The visible blood that we hide and the invisible blood that flows carelessly in family scenes, at the dinner table... This is the real one, and we have no shame about it. And little by little, the mother's example will push the son towards adventures that will detach them from each other. It's the law of blood: the first thread to be cut, linking the son to his mother, is nothing. It's just a foretaste of the real thing, the terrible thread that the son himself will one day cut. Then the mother will use every trick in the book, all her powers of comedy, all her imaginations as a woman in love, will be focused on this effort to prevent the son from leaving, to prevent him from living, to have him rather dead to herself than let him live elsewhere". - Typescript entitled Le Sang (56p.), annotated at the head "(first half, recopied but uncorrected), comprising 4 chapters, only chap. I is numbered; at the head, after a quatrain by Cocteau, is a "Avant-propos" (p. 3-4), in which Desbordes addresses his readers, and from which we quote the end: "Following a first work of delirium, the most violent, the most insolent poets want to meet the expectations of critics, write real books, compose rubrics in which they lose all freedom. I'm not trying to hide my impotence and my lack of literary usage, of love songs, of false memories, of false lies; what else do those need who gave me a welcome without which, ceasing to believe, I would have despaired". - Corrected typescript, "première moitié du Sang CORRIGÉE" (90p.), chapters I to IX. On the title page, the original title Le Sang has been crossed out, replaced by Les secrets de famille, then in blue pencil by Les Tragédiens; at the top of the page, Desbordes has inscribed then crossed out: "Rêves d'aristocrates ou locomotive renversée"; he has also drawn up the plan or "ordre" of the book: "Vers de Jean - Lettre préface - Chapitre I poursuite. - Chap. 2 La clef des songes. - Chap. 3 Cemetery - 4 Armistice. - 5 College. The song of departure. - 6 Blood, animal kingdom. - VII The Burning Bush - Garden dispute. - VIII vague dispute. The Tragedians. - IX Breeding. - X Tragic Night. - XI Paris. All is not so clear. - XII Pursuit. Bread from the cages". The typescript shows numerous and important corrections, with passages crossed out: the Lettre-préface is almost entirely crossed out and rewritten in the margin; chapters IV and V bear numerous autograph corrections and additions by Jean Cocteau, who has crossed out many lines. - Corrected typescript of chapters X to XIII (26p.), with numerous passages crossed out, and important autograph corrections and additions, including the last chapter almost entirely crossed out and partly rewritten in the margins and line spaces. - Autograph manuscript of "Dernier chapitre (titre: départ de maison)" (23p.), first draft manuscript, abundantly crossed out and corrected; followed by the typescript overloaded with corrections and additions, with passages crossed out and redone (24p., 8 of which entirely autograph). 2 vintage photographs of Jean Desbordes are enclosed: bust (17.5 x 12.5 cm), wearing a beret in front of a sailors' store in Toulon (24 x 18 cm, slight defects).