Francois d’Assise
Presentation copy inscribed by Delteil to Jack Kerouac: “à Jack Kerouac, ce “beat” de l’an 1200, avec mon intérêt, ma sympathie et mon admiration. Delteil.”
“I have called this text François d’Assise and not Saint Francis. You will note that I insist on this nuance. I maintain that any man, if he wishes, can become François d’Assise, without being in the least a saint. I can easily imagine a lay, even an atheist, François d’Assise: what matters is the ‘Francis-like’ state of mind, not a reserved seat on a gilded throne in paradise. What is needed is a ‘useful’ saint, a saint who ‘sanctifies’ men.”
Delteil had read Kerouac, and Kerouac’s human, sometimes mystical, experiences could only appeal to him. It was quite naturally, quite simply, that he sent him his latest book — and the last one he would consider important. Two years later, when Grasset proposed publishing his complete works, Delteil chose to keep only six novels: Sur le fleuve Amour, Choléra, Jeanne d’Arc, Don Juan, Jésus II and this François d’Assise:
“All of Delteil in a single volume, and everything else to the fire. In fact, I am thereby condemning and shamelessly destroying about three-quarters of my work. Yes, yes, I truly believe that a life matters more than a masterpiece (…) I disown and consider null and void any other work or text of mine besides those making up the present collection: and, as far as I am concerned, I forbid forever its sale or reprinting.”
The copy bears the Kerouac estate stamp “Property of the Estate of Jack Kerouac, John Sampas, Executor the Estate of Jack Kerouac,” together with the embossed seal “Jack Kerouac Estate.”