6 November 2013

Léon Werth: Père Lachaise Columbarium #3

Léon Werth (1878–1955) was a close friend of Octave Mirbeau, which probably says quite a lot. He was anti-bourgeois, anti-military, anti-clerical, libertarian, etc. In 1913 his novel La Maison Blanche (with a Preface by Mirbeau) got through to the third Goncourt selection but failed to win. Fifteen months in the trenches had convinced him of the folly of war, and the anger it caused in him was translated into Clavel Soldat (1919), which caused a scandal.

Saint-Exupéry was a great friend of Werth's after they met in 1931, and the aviator-writer dedicates Le Petit Prince to him, calling him the best friend he has in the world.

No comments: