Le square

Le square [The Square], Gallimard, Paris 1955, 12x19cm, original soft cover.
First edition, one of 25 numbered copies on pur fil, the only deluxe issue (grands papiers).
"[...] Le Square (1955) [...] shows her desire to create, an exploratory practice of sensuality and language, revealing the author's talent. The novelist adopts certain positions of the Nouveau Roman, whereby language plays an important role. The constant in her aesthetic is a willingness to experiment to find a better way of expressing what she feels, a compulsion to verbalize that runs throughout her work. Experimentation explains the evolution of her technique up to the excellence of her masterpieces (Moderato cantabile, Le Ravissement de Lol V. Stein [The Ravishing of Lol Stein], Le Vice-consul [The Vice-Consul], India Song, L'Amant [The Lover], Écrire [Writing]), where she endeavors to modify the components of her texts, through a process of elimination and improvement, to communicate the major theme of her works: passion". (Anna Ledwina, L'écriture durassienne: mise en scène de l'ellipse et de l'innommable)
A rare and beautiful copy of this novel-dialogue, adapted for the stage a year after publication.