Lot n° 163
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QUENEAU Raymond (1903-1976).
Autograph MANUSCRIT,... - Lot 163 - Drouot Estimations
QUENEAU Raymond (1903-1976).
Autograph MANUSCRIT, typescript and autograph NOTES for Philosophes et voyous, [1950]; 42, 12 and 60 pages, mostly in-4.
Preparatory notes and first draft manuscript of this philosophical-comic study.
Philosophes et voyous was published in January 1951 in Les Temps Modernes (n° 63, pp.1193-1205), and was to be followed by a second part that never appeared; the text was reprinted in volume by Gallimard, in 1986, following the Journal 1939-1940.
Here Queneau brings together the tumultuous history of the relations between philosophers, from Plato to Kierkegaard, and thugs, from Diogenes to Vidocq, showing that in reality it is not easy to distinguish between them: "For if the thug is a voyeur, and if he runs the streets, if he 'circulates everywhere', what can differentiate him from the philosopher? This excessively erudite and wildly funny article is an offbeat contribution to the "existentialist" philosophy of the time.
The manuscript of first draft is contained in 2 notebooks forming 42 pages small in-4 (22 x 17 cm), in black ink, the first one with green cover titled "and V. 1" (p. 1-12), the second one with pink covers of the brand L'Écolier, titled "Philosophes et Voyous 2" (p. 13 to 42). It presents numerous corrections, additions in the margins, and modifications. It is a first draft version, corresponding in part to the published version, with numerous variants, as well as developments not retained in the final text. We quote the beginning:
"A good part of the phony war, I spent in a depot, with the rejects of the French army: cripples, invalids, incompetents, communists, anarchists, forgotten, crazy, misguided. We drank a lot, mainly red wine. We had a lot of leisure time, filled with sleep, card games and playing hooky. I took an active part in all these activities, especially in the consumption of red wine. That I was intellectual amazed my classmates. One of them asked me one day what I did for a living; embarrassed, I answered: professor (not true); of what? Of philosophy (not true, either, but finally: I have a diploma, a licentia docendi). Ah ah. The fellow looked at me with sympathy and, remembering the good kils of big red wine that we had drunk together, concluded: it's true, I had always thought that you were a philosopher. This remark confirmed me in the idea that I had started to make me of what could be a philosopher ".
Corrected typescript (12 pages in-4, 27 x 21 cm), with numerous autograph corrections and additions, giving an intermediate version before the publication in review. Attached is a typed note on the letterhead of Les Temps modernes: "N.D.L.R. This first study will be followed, in some time, by a second one, where our collaborator will examine, in particular, the case of the Christian philosopher and will define, in contrast with these different kinds of frivolity, the conditions of serious activity".
Preparatory notes and draft; about 60 pages of different sizes. * 2 small notebooks in-4 (22 x 17 cm) with pale blue and sandy pink covers, titled "and V", containing 24 pages partly written, some left as notes, with quotations from works, passages crossed out, etc.; plus about thirty pages of various sizes (including small pieces of paper or a business card), containing notes and remarks. Let us quote this note: "the philosopher wants to seduce, not the thug who is seductive in himself: the "propaganda" / the baroque, the seductive painting of the Jesuits / the "Joy" of Stalin / the "Peace" of the current communists". * 6 pages in-4 on green paper, on the back of a typewritten draft with corrections: "Money, and incidentally love, pass for the two main causes of the misfortune of men; which are, in general, in bad condition (human)".
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