An unpublished draft for Citadelle
Autograph manuscript.
4to. ½ p. In French.
€ 7,500.00
Very likely a draft for the unfinished essay Citadelle that Saint-Exupéry worked on from 1941 until his death in 1944 and that was published in 1948. Under the impression of World War II and the rapid change of human relations under the conditions of modernity, Saint-Exupéry expresses his conviction of the necessity of a spiritual and humanist renewal of humanity through love in Citadelle. These themes are pronounced in the highly interesting unpublished manuscript that starts with an invocation of god and the promise to "repair the mores" and to "re-erect the altar". The love that is at the core of Saint-Exupéry's project of renewal is not "immediate love", in which he doesn't believe anymore. To him, love doesn't mean tenderness towards specific things or people but a depository of something divine that "alone radiates". However, the renewal can't be a project of the elite and the problem of mediating spirituality in Saint-Exupéry's sense leads to "inner contradiction" that makes him think "without enthusiasm of Descartes". The manuscript ends with another invocation of the creator who is "surprised in his obscure ant-work" and the "humble image of a bad adventure, a scattered family and a sick child" that provokes "religious crisis".
Minimal tears and creases.
