QUENEAU Raymond. - Lot 166

Lot n° 166
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Estimation :
4000 - 5000 EUR
QUENEAU Raymond. - Lot 166
QUENEAU Raymond. 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 which never appeared; the text was reprinted in volume by Gallimard, in 1986, following the Journal 1939-1940. Queneau reviews the tumultuous history of 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 first draft manuscript is contained in 2 notebooks forming 42 small in-4 pages (22 x 17 cm), in black ink, the first with a green cover titled "f and V. 1" (pp. 1-12), the second with a pink L'Écolier cover, titled "Philosophes et Voyous 2" (pp. 13-42). It has numerous corrections, additions in the margins, and changes. It is a first draft, corresponding in part to the published version, with many variants, as well as developments not retained in the final text. We quote the beginning: "A good part of the phoney 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 I have a diploma, a licentia docendi). Ah ah. The fellow looked at me sympathetically and, remembering the good kils of big red wine we had drunk together, concluded: it's true, I had always thought you were a philosopher. This remark confirmed the idea I had begun to have of what a philosopher could be. Corrected typescript (12 pages in-4, 27 x 21 cm), with numerous autograph corrections and additions, giving an intermediate version before publication in the journal. Attached is a typed note on Les Temps modernes letterhead: "N.D.L.R. This first study will be followed, in some time, by a second, in which our collaborator will examine, in particular, the case of the Christian philosopher and will define, in contrast to these different kinds of frivolity, the conditions of serious activity." Preparatory notes and draft; about 60 pages of different formats. * 2 small notebooks in-4 (22 x 17 cm) with pale blue and sandy pink covers, titled "f and V", containing 24 pages partly written, some left as notes, with quotations from works, passages crossed out, etc.; plus about 30 pages of various sizes (including small pieces of paper or a visiting card), containing notes and remarks. Let us quote this note: "the philosopher wants to seduce, not the rogue who is seductive in himself: the "propaganda" / the baroque, seductive painting of the Jesuits / the "Joy" of Stalin / the "Peace" of the present-day communists." * 6 pages in-4 on green paper, on the back of a typewritten draft with corrections: "Money, and incidentally love, are the two main causes of the misfortune of men; who are, in general, in bad (human) condition"...
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