Naissance d’un personnage : Raboliot.

A rare and essential text by Maurice Genevoix, written more than half a century after the publication of Raboliot, in which the author revisits the circumstances surrounding the genesis of his major novel. In a tone at once tender, introspective and free, he recalls his beginnings as a novelist, his illusions, his youth — “even a maturing one” — and above all his irrepressible desire to one day devote a novel to the land of Sologne:

“Il y a, mon Dieu… est-ce vingt ans, est-ce trente ans ? Ne cherchons plus, disons que j’étais jeune encore, avec le bagage d’illusions, de naïvetés aussi, qui est l’apanage ou l’un des privilèges, comme vous voudrez, de la jeunesse… même mûrissante. Toujours est-il qu’en ce déjà lointain temps, j’éprouvai le désir de consacrer l’un de mes futurs romans à évoquer la terre de Sologne…”

There follow valuable reflections on the making of the novel, the formative encounters at Brinon-sur-Sauldre, the village figures who would inspire its characters without ever betraying them, and the slow maturation of a novel nourished by affection, observation and lived truth. An indispensable complement to Raboliot, both for understanding the man and for grasping his literary process.

A rare piece, printed in a very small number and often absent from bibliographies.

From the library of Maurice Genevoix, at “Les Vernelles” (bookplate).