ACADEMIE FRANCAISE. - TROYAT Henri (1911-2007...

ACADEMIE FRANCAISE. - TROYAT Henri (1911-2007).
MANUSCRIT autograph signed "Henri Troyat", Discours de reception a l'Academie Francaise, 1960; 2-127 small leaves in-fol. mounted on tabs and bound in a small in-fol. square volume in burgundy half-chagrin with corners.
Working manuscript of his acceptance speech to the Academie Francaise in Claude Farrere's chair.
Lev Aslanovitch Tarassov, known as Henri Troyat, was elected to the Academie on May 21, 1959 to the chair of Claude Farrere (who died on June 21, 1957); born in Moscow, he was the first writer of foreign origin to be admitted to this institution. The reception took place on February 25, 1960; Henri Troyat was received by Marshal Juin.
Troyat expresses his emotion when he thinks of his native Russia, "the distance between where I was born and where I am now", the domes of the Kremlin quite different from this one, the little boy he was who, "fleeing his war-torn country with his parents, landed in Paris at the beginning of 1920", thinking he would only stay a few months. He recalls the force that French culture and art soon had on the young immigrant: "Soon France took hold of him completely". Then, with his talent as a biographer, he retraces the life and work of his predecessor Claude FARRERE (1876-1957), concluding: "Like the old Arab storytellers he had met, Claude Farrere wanted, until his last breath, to imagine fables and spread them around him for our amusement. At a time when too many writers would feel they were falling apart if they didn't bring a political, mystical, aesthetic or social message to the world, he had the naive courage to be just a roomancier. If some of his heroes lack weight, if a sketchy psychology animates them, if implausible adventures push them from one chapter to the next, the kind of warm-hearted enthusiasm the author puts into writing his books wins him the reader's sympathy more than once. Those who judge so-called escapist literature harshly should examine their memories carefully: there is almost no one who, at some point in his or her life, has not been charmed by a novel or tale by Claude Farrere, no one who, at the age of hesitant vocations, is not indebted to him for a desire to travel, for a Japanese, Turkish or Indochinese dream, for a surge of heroism or love, no one whose inner universe does not bear his mark, on the level of the beautiful illusions of adolescence".The first draft manuscript, written in blue ink on the front of the two-sheet pages, contains numerous cross-outs, whole passages crossed out (often in red pencil), cross-references and additions on the back of the facing page, and variants with the published text (Plon, 1960). It was given as a gift to the great bibliophile Jean DAVRAY (1914-1985), a very close friend of Troyat, as evidenced by this beautiful dedication (on the leaf following the title page): "Pour Jean Davray. My dear Jean, you were so close to me while I was writing this speech! We talked about it so much together! Please accept the manuscript as a token of my fraternal friendship! Henri, March 19, 1960. Jean Davray had a fine photo of a young Troyat bound at the top, along with the subscription form for his academician's sword and 4 invitation cards.
We enclose 3 L.A.S., 1954-1959, to Andre MAUROIS; and a L.A.S. to Andre Lasseray, 1959 (with drafts by Lasseray).
Plus 2 L.A.S. from Paul CLAUDEL concerning a possible candidacy for the Academie (1927-1932).