A Guide to the Letters of Julien Green 1927-1939 Green, Julien, Letters of 10792

A Guide to the Letters of Julien Green 1927-1939

A Collection in
The Special Collections Department
Accession Number 10792

Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
USA
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Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Processed by: Special Collections Department

Repository

Special Collections, University of Virginia Library

Accession number

10792

Title

Letters of Julien Green

Physical Characteristics

This collection consists of 12 letters.

Language

English

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Letters of Julien Green, Accession #10792, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

The letters were given to the library by Peter Hoy of Merton College, Oxford University, on September 14, 1988.

Scope and Content Information

This addition to the papers of Julien Green, a Parisian novelist of American parentage, is comprised of 12 autograph letters signed spanning 1927-1939 possibly to [Jacques Patin, an editor at Le Figaro] regarding publication of Green's personal journals in excerpts in the Paris newspaper Le Figaro and in book form. (The journals were ultimately published in 1972 as Journal: 1926-1972, 9 vols., and partially translated in 1939 as Personal Record 1928-1939 and in 1962 as Diary 1928-1957.) All the letters are in French.

Green is initially resistant to the project: ". . .I have given much thought to your request, which is a great honor to me, but I don't believe, unfortunately, that I'm able to send you a paper that would satisfy both of us. I could, doubtless, write a page or two which we could call a summary, but neither you nor I would be happy with it. . ." (undated letter). But he soon complies: "I have been in bad health and preoccupied lately and haven't sent you anything, but I am in the process of finishing an article that you are going to receive from here in two or three days. . .[I] am going to publish my journal, or a part of my journal, towards the end of May. . . I will try to choose excerpts in a way of forming a homogenous whole. . ." (undated letter).

Later letters include discussions of Green's growing enthusiasm for the project (22 May 1927 and 27 June 192[7?]); the importance of the printers following the corrected proofs carefully (". . .It's important that the words to omit completely disappear. . .I'm thinking in particular of the first page. . ."; undated letter); and the publication of excerpts in Le Figaro (3 May 1938, 29 March 1939).

Contents List

Julien Green to Jacques Patin 1927 May 22

Green writes enthusiastically about something the editor has left for him to read and says he owes to the editor his ability to write on the subject of his book; with envelope.

Julien Green to [Jacques Patin?] [1927 June 27

Julien Green to [Jacques Patin?] 1938 May 3

Discusses the appropriate payment for publication of excerpts from the journals; "It is impossible, in short, to accept less than 100 francs for an installment. . ."

Julien Green to [Jacques Patin?] 1938 May 4

Letter accompanying corrected proofs, asking that the accuracy of the correctioins be checked

Julien Green to [Jacques Patin?] 1938 Oct. 13

Julien Green to [Jacques Patin?] 1939 Mar. 29

["Here is the year 1938 of my journal. I hope that it will interest you and that you could excerpt some of it to fill a few columns in Le Figaro. . ."