Les Couleurs du jour

In 1951, Henri Hoppenot, a great diplomat who had served as the Free French representative in Washington during the war, was appointed to Bern — the site of the great postwar international conferences. A cultivated man, “the ambassador had read the reports and analyses sent from Sofia by the counselor Gary. He appreciated the young diplomat-author’s unusual career” (Pavlowitch, Tous immortels, p. 78). So it was on to Bern, with Lesley Blanch. It was there that the author prepared Les Couleurs du jour, and it was there, at the end of the year, that the Journal officiel published his change of name: Romain Kacew became Romain Gary.

In his new novel, Gary directly evokes his memories of the time when Kacew/Gary served in the air force: Les Couleurs du jour (The Colors of the Day) was the name the Lorraine squadron gave to the flares used to distinguish enemy aircraft from friendly ones. The book is divided into four parts: blue, red, black and white. Its hero, Jacques Rainier, a former Free French fighter, is preparing to join UN troops in Korea.

Gary proved prophetic: a few months later, in the spring of 1952, Hoppenot was appointed ambassador and head of the French delegation to the United Nations in New York. He brought Romain Gary onto his team, as secretary, consul and spokesman.

A fine copy of the deluxe issue.