The novel which made the French writer Roger Peyrefitte an instant literary success. Story of friendship of two boys in a Catholic school in the 1930's.
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With the death of the French writer Roger Peyrefitte, also the transatlantic cooperation ha lost a loyal friend. The writer died on November 5, 2000 in Paris, at the age of 93 years. He lost after a long fight with the Parkinson's disease, explained a spokesman for the circle of friends of Peyrefitte in the French capital. The author, who was born on August 17, 1907 in Castres, has made his international breakthrough as a young diplomat with his novel "Secret Friendships".
Many of his books were published also in the USA. Peyrefitte belonged to the friends of Jean Cocteau, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Arno Breker, Ernst Fuchs, and many others. To the important publications belong the trilogy about the life and mission of Alexander the Great, a book about Charles de Gaulle, as well as novels with contemporary, entertaining background.
Since 1990, Peyrefitte was the Grandmaster of the Alexander Order for Art and Science. The Chancellor of the Order in USA, John Zavrel recalls about the poet: "His hands shaked in the last years, but his spirit was wide awake". Until the last months of his life Peyrefitte was a public personality who supported not only the French-German friendship. "Also the strengthening of European-American relations were close to his heart", says Zavrel. "Although he was not as widely known as Jean Cocteau, his engagement for the young generation was excellent". He supported the youth exchange program and held free lectures and readings for the young people.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Magnanimous Gesture by Roger Peyrefitte,
By A Customer
This review is from: Secret Friendships (Paperback)
"Secret Friendships" illustrated for the first time in USAWriter Roger Peyrefitte made a special edition for the Alexander Order By Joe F. Bodenstein Paris/New York - It was the last magnanimous gesture of the French writer Roger Peyrefitte towards the United States: he let a special edition of his famous novel "Secret Friendships" from 1942 to be illustrated. Several days before his death in November appeared this poetic story of a friendship between two young students at an elite school for boys in France. "There is a special reason for it", said publisher B. John Zavrel. Peyrefitte, as the Grandmaster of the Alexander Order for Science and Art, wanted to make possible a special edition for readers and book collectors. To this purpose, the book was illustrated by the contemporary British painter Hugo Haig-Thomas. The artist is well known as portraitist of high aristocracy and the top society. For this unique commission the Englishman has selected tender pen drawings to accompany the text: Farewell to Mother, Sleeping Boy with Red Poppies, The Dream, and The Boy in Orange Garden are some of the titles of the classically beautiful drawings. This special treat for book lovers was published exclusively by Zavrel in West-Art Publishers. This book became a worldwide bestseller in 1940s. To the enchanted readers belonged among others Marlene Dietrich, Orson Welles, Gregory Peck and Rock Hudson. Today, after many years, this timeless novel in modern presentation has lost nothing from the freshness of this story of youthful friendship and affection. More than this, the text has become a part of world literature. The book is expanded with several quotes by the friends and admirers of Peyrefitte. So wrote the surrealistic artist Salvador Dali, to whom America devotes an art museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, in an homage in 1976: "My friend Roger Peyrefitte is one who magnificently inspires literature. He is also an excellent observer of the secrets of life. The Divine Dali shares these interests." The French President Francois Mitterrand praised in 1988 the former diplomat Peyrefitte for his global thinking and his international friendships: "As a French writer, Roger Peyrefitte is a Cosmopolitan. The subjects of his interests are in the United States, Europe and Asia. No wonder that his books are read around the world." And the sculptor Arno Breker, bound in friendship with Peyrefitte, Dali, Jean Cocteau and Ernst JŸnger, noted in 1990: "Even more dangerous than the tip of his pen is the love of Roger Peyrefitte. I can call him a dear brother in Apollo."
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