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Influential French poet and playwright (1880–1918) credited with coining the word ‘surrealism,’ writing some of the earliest works to be described as such. ALS in French, signed "Gui," four pages on two adjoining sheets, 5.25 x 8.25, May 28, 1915. Handwritten letter to his muse, "Lou," Louise de Coligny-Châtillon, who inspired some of his greatest love poems, written from the front lines during World War I. He begins his letter with a remark about the soldiers in the rear, in part (translated): "It's not always the strongest, the healthiest who are at the front; in the rear, you find the best-dressed and the happiest. They lead a very comfortable life there. My charming little Lou, I see that people are getting quite used to the war… in Paris!!!!"
He then expresses concern about a sum of money he sent her: "(In my letter yesterday, a money order for 50 francs!!! I hope you received it…)" He goes on to explain that this is not the time for poetry: "No way to write many verses right now, too much work, although it's calm at the moment from a military point of view, but they don't leave me in peace, no way to be alone for ten minutes!!"
And he ends his letter with a declaration: "My little one, I take you completely, your mouth in my mouth, your pretty breasts against my chest, your buttocks in my hands, and let's go!" In fine condition.
Apollinaire volunteered for service in the French army at the outbreak of World War I, first serving in the artillery and later as an infantry officer; he was wounded by shrapnel to the head in 1916 and died two years later during the influenza pandemic. During the war he conducted an intense, largely epistolary love affair with Louise de Coligny-Châtillon, an aristocratic woman who became the muse for some of his most passionate writings, including Poèmes à Lou, published posthumously in 1955. Their relationship intertwined erotic longing with the brutality of the front, shaping Apollinaire’s fusion of modernist experimentation, personal emotion, and the lived experience of war.
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