Louis-René des Forêts 1918–2000
paris, france
D
es Forêts was a novelist, painter, and translator who, as Albert Camus
and many other writers maintained, had a significant impact on the
direction of French literature. After publication of Les Mendiants(1943), his novel Le Bavard (1946) caused a minor sensation in France for ques-
tioning the positions of its narrator, writer, and readers. His work, which pointed
to the inadequacy of words and art to capture memory and life, would inspire
Marguerite Duras and other writers. Des Forêts founded the journal L’Éphemère
with Yves Bonnefoy, André du Bouchet, and Claude Esteban. During World
War II he was involved in the Resistance. He also served as a literary adviser to the
publisher Robert La√ont (1944–1946) and worked for Gallimard. Principal
works: Les Mégères de la mer, 1967; Poèmes de Samuel Wood, 1988; Face à l’immé-
morable, 1993; Ostinato, 1997.
It Is High Time
It is high time to go back to the sun,
The fire of its alcohol purifies the air
We drink it down lustily in order to forget
The one who came in the night to tear open our heart
And to bid us farewell with her child’s hand,
A candle sometimes held in the air
Which she blows out regretfully
But without tarrying further
And without our seeing her disappear.
She is also the one we see smiling, standing
Amid the roses and the aster
In the full light of her gracefulness
Proud as she always was
She only lets herself be seen in dreams,
Too beautiful to let sorrow sleep
With so many false returnings
Which only bear witness to her absence.