La Vie devant soi

The novel was originally to be called La Tendresse des pierres. The cover, by André François — a Hungarian-born illustrator (born André Farkas), a regular contributor to The New Yorker and a pupil of Cassandre — had been specially commissioned. Gary changed the title at the very last minute after Annie Pavlowitch, wife of Paul Pavlowitch (“Ajar”), pointed out that La Tendresse des pierres was the title Gary had already used a few years earlier in Adieu Gary Cooper, as the title of the book being written by Jess Donahue, the novel’s young heroine. Alarmed, Gary and Pavlowitch rushed to Cahors — there was no telephone at the Pavlowitch family farmhouse in the Causses — to persuade Michel Cournot to change everything, even though printing was already under way. Thousands of copies had to be pulped: the title was changed on the cover, and the title leaves reset. Printing, originally scheduled for July, was postponed to August. André François’s design was kept. The final title appears to have been found by Cournot, the publisher at Mercure de France, drawing on a passage from the book (“you mustn’t cry, my dear, it’s natural for old people to die. You have your whole life ahead of you”); Bona (pp. 338–339), however, states that it was Gilbert Minnazoli, the production manager at Mercure de France, who “came up with La Vie devant soi.”

Copies bearing an autograph note by Émile Ajar are extremely rare, and those with a presentation inscription even more so (four copies known); only one bears a dedication in Gary’s own hand and signed with his real name.