Recherche de la base et du sommet. Suivi de Pauvreté et privilège

This is René Char’s third title, following Feuillets d’Hypnos and Lettera Amorosa, published in the “Espoir” series edited by Albert Camus. The series reflected Camus’s own aspirations: “We are living in nihilism. Can we escape it? That is the question forced upon us. But we shall not escape it by pretending to ignore the sickness of our age, or by denying it. The only hope is, on the contrary, to name it and take stock of it, in order to find a cure at the far end of the illness. This series is precisely such an inventory.” This is exactly the purpose of the present volume, which gathers Char’s texts of political engagement, in which “the heroism and generosity of the figure of the Resistance stand out against the vindictive guilt that pervades an age of compromise” (Antoine Coron, in René Char, BnF).

Alongside his friend’s poetic texts, Camus also published in the series the posthumous works of Simone Weil, as well as writings by poets, novelists and journalists to whom he felt close: Colette Audry, Roger Grenier, Jean Bloch-Michel, Jean Daniel, Jean Sénac…

A very fine copy, beautifully bound by Alix.