Rue d’Ulm
Inscribed and signed: “à Suzanne Genevoix, en hommage amical et fidèle, A. Peyrefitte.”
Preserved with the copy: an interesting autograph letter signed by Maurice Genevoix (2 p. on 1 leaf), dated from Alicante, 30 August 1974 (Peyrefitte probably gave it back to Suzanne Genevoix along with this copy at the time of the reissue of his text). It responds to the original typescript of this Rue d’Ulm, which Peyrefitte had sent in 1974 to the former student of the École normale, who had “read it with as much attention as interest […] Of course, too, the memory of the incident you mention is as present to me as ever. […] the chain, arms crossed behind the back, etc. […] Entirely in agreement with your comment as to their — as they used to say — motivations. Mental patterns, indeed, for the most part, referring to a tradition that could not be more reactionarily sclerotic…”
From the library of Maurice Genevoix, at “Les Vernelles” (bookplate).