Jean COCTEAU (1889–1963).

A friendly exchange of letters with René HENER (1911–1979), a writer and poet who founded the journal *Points et contrepoints* (1935–1979), in which he championed traditional poetry. “Is it not pleasant to live in a city that still argues about the sex of angels and the prescribed length of their wings?” (12 September 1960). In the margin of a blue felt-tip pen sketch of Orpheus’s profile, he expresses his “dread of ‘intellectuals’” (30 January 1961). He gives the addresses of Paul Morand and Simenon, and recommends “a very young, unknown professor – a thousand times more interesting, it seems to me, than famous men. His name is Pierre GEORGEL” (14 March). He warmly recommends the young Pierre Georgel and Jean-Marie MAGNAN: they “are the young people who will best know how to speak of me” (17 May). He is astonished by a “totally incompetent article against my films. A critic has the right to understand nothing of a work and to say so. But 61655

this right becomes strange if it is inserted amidst praise that springs more from the heart than from the intellect” (11 October). Enclosed is a handwritten list (1 page, in-8) of addresses, including Aragon, Morand, Simenon, Georges Mathieu, etc.; a telegram to René Hener; a printed thank-you card following the poet’s death, plus a blank visiting card belonging to Mrs Georges Simenon.