BEDOUIN (Jean-Louis). - Lot 41

BEDOUIN (Jean-Louis). Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine. 1929-1996. French literary critic, visual artist and surrealist poet. L.A.S. to René Alleau. S.l., November 6, 1959. 2 pages 1/2 large in 4 SUPERB LETTER TO HIS FRIEND RENÉ ALLEAU IN WHICH HE DISCUSSES THE NOTION OF DETERNITY......J'arrive à peine à reprendre pied, (...). It is in vain that I would seek here the equivalent of this slightly perfumed air, of this golden athmosphere (sic) which reminds every man there that he can be of the companions of Dionysos. And if it is in the virtue of gold to make sacred what it touches, what can we say of these last days we spent in Provence, helping with our hands to celebrate the sacrifice of the grapes in the crusher... The substance of your letter, so rich in meaning and so beautiful, matched perfectly with that of these sumptuous and simple days. I would have replied immediately, had the work that was being done (and not only in the vats!) not required as much vigilance on our part as the good dispositions of the stars and the rains (...).Now that this charm is no more than a memory, we find ourselves once again tossed about by the bituminous waters (...). Eternity, I'm sure, is the only thing that counts, not this future that I thought I had to invoke as a miracle always possible (...). The fact remains that the word, like others, is by no means free of resonances which, quite possibly, made me reject it unconsciously. (...), it evokes something static, constraining, apt to slow down all growth. Couldn't we speak of an eternity in motion, made up of all times, all births and all deaths (I'm not necessarily thinking of the "eternal return")?... All this is to express the deep interest I've taken in reading you, rather than to discuss a problem that largely escapes my competence, insofar as I'm more of a poet than a metaphysician. In all sincerity, however, I must add that poetry can, in my opinion, grasp certain spiritual realities more closely and more quickly than philosophy ever could (...). It is this conviction, perhaps highly subjective, that has sustained me throughout the text I am sending you here. René Alleau (1917-2013) was a historian of the occult sciences. He was a close associate of André Breton. A Freemason, he was a member of the Paris Guénonian Lodge Thebah, belonging to the Grande Loge de France. René Alleau's Aspects de l'alchimie traditionnelle was prefaced by Eugène Léon Canseliet (1899-1982, author and alchemist, disciple of Fulcanelli).