PARS.- And manuscript complete of the famous novel Abroad by French writer Albert Camus will be auctioned on Wednesday in Paris, surrounded by a certain mystery since it is considered after the publication of the book.
This exceptional example, put up for sale by the Tajan auction house, is estimated at between 500,000 and 800,000 euros (between 545,000 and 870,000 dollars).
Albert Camus, Nobel Prize winner in Literature in 1957, intrigued the French publishing world after his death with the appearance of this 104-page manuscript, written entirely in his own handwriting and bound in black leather.
“Its history and precise dating are mysterious,” the auction house emphasizes in its presentation of the lot.
Camus ends the manuscript by inscribing a probably false date: “April 1940.”
The novel
Abroad It was actually written at that time in Paris and corrected until September 1941, before being published by the Gallimard publishing house in May 1942.
But Camus specialists estimate that this manuscript is of a particular type, since it dates back to 1944, according to the testimony of the author’s wife, Francine Camus, and other indications.
Probably in July of that year, Albert Camus would have produced, for a bibliophile, and with a certain taste for detail, a manuscript with the appearance of those that usually precede the publication of a novel.
Some passages are: “covered with erasures, added between the lines and in the margins, all dotted with arrows and references,” details the Tajan house.
“Camus composes 14 sketches in the margins, which sometimes have the appearance of hidden jokes,” his statement adds.
The writer, in occupied Paris, subsists with few resources. And the name of the first buyer is not known.
This highly valuable piece has already been the subject of two auctions, in 1958 and 1991. Since that date, it belongs to a collector whose name remains secret.
Abroadinitially printed in 4,400 copies, became a bestseller and then one of the classics of French literature, with million-dollar sales.
The plot revolves around a young Algerian office worker, Meursault, who recounts how he murdered an Arab victim whose name is never mentioned, for unclear reasons.
FUENTE: AFP
