Signé; Louis Aragon - Le Fou d'Elsa [avec envoi autographe signé à Jean Bouret] - 1963

A fine copy of the original edition published in 1963, printed on fine paper (not numbered). Our copy is enriched with a dedication from the author to Jean Bouret: [If he is willing to bite into this grenade. Aragon]

Set in a half-green forest leather binding, with a rounded spine decorated with gold lines, the author's name and title in gold lettering, gilded top. Covers and spine preserved. In very good condition despite rubbed corners, interior in excellent condition of freshness.

Le Fou d'Elsa reflects an immense intellectual commitment by Louis Aragon to appropriating the culture and history of the Arab and Muslim world and to understanding its relationship with the Christian world and the modern world. Louis Aragon's poems in Le Fou d'Elsa are embedded within a biographical narrative and a sociological and historical analysis recounting Muslim-ruled Andalusia.

It is in 'Le Fou d'Elsa' that Louis Aragon mentions, twice, that 'The future of man is woman,' which became a famous maxim and, after reversing the word order, the title of Jean Ferrat's song 'La femme est l'avenir de l'homme'.

Louis Aragon
The Fool of Elsa. Poem.
Paris, Nrf Gallimard, 1963
in-8 (23 x 18 cm); 458 pages. 3 figures.