Les Lorrains de la NRF, New French magazine

We can say that we are even drowned under the acronyms: the CAC 40, the UN, the RER, the VTT, the CIA, the CHU, University hospital center, where we don’t let you down, the BIT and the ECU, this having nothing pig, it is simply the International Labor Office and the European Unit of Account (European currency unit). You also find the BANA, additional budget for air navigation, and when the Bana is distorted, it means that at some point the Bana nia… There is also the ZUS, priority urbanization zone, not to be confused with the Zan that one sucks and the Suze that wears out like Suzette’s lollipop. But let’s come back to these three prestigious letters, NRF, like Nouvelle revue française, a review of literature and criticism whose audience was powerful. This NRF, founded in 1909, will then give birth to the editions of the NRF, at Gallimard. The NRF had a duke of Lorraine as its director, but yes, a duke of Lorraine more precisely, Jacques Réda who was sometimes called thus: “the duke” because he was crazy about jazz and had written a book at Duke Ellington.

First issue of the NRF in 1909

Jacques Reda, originally from Lunéville, was also a writer, poet, winner of numerous prizes including the Goncourt for poetry in 1999. 90 years earlier, in 1909, it was another Lorrain, Marcel Drouin, from Saint-Nicolas de Port , who is part of the team of six founding writers. Over the years, it will become more than a literary journal, sparking debates in society and becoming a reference beyond the world of books. The review will also have some trouble at the Liberation because it collaborated, it is a French writer close to the Nazis, Pierre Drieu la Rochelle who directs it then. It was reborn in 1953 under the label – had to think about it – of Nouvelle nouvelle revue française. In any case, it is an exceptional review whose authors have been the greatest names in literature: Aragon, Proust, Saint-Exupéry, Sartre or Apollinaire, from whom I quote a sentence to start the week off right: “It’s high time to rekindle the stars” (It’s not really connected with the end of abundance but too bad…).


source site-36

Latest