ON THE JDD
His discovery had created the event in the literary world. On September 19, the Plon editions revealed the existence of a "posthumous novel" by Françoise Sagan, disappeared in 2004. It was the son of the author, Denis Westhoff, who had found this manuscript, a photocopy "lost in a pile of files and archives, "he explained.
A work not so authentic
On October 20, more than a month later, the Journal du dimanche reveals that this unfinished work has been greatly modified and completed. François Sagan's novel is not really one. "One thing is certain, the book Plon is not a book of Françoise Sagan, nor anyone else," can we read in the Journal du dimanche .
The incredible story of the unpublished book by Françoise Sagan, whose manuscript was found by her son:
"The four corners of the heart" is available at @EditionsPlon! @Europe1@NicolasCarreaupic.twitter.com/j9r7Rs5Ufx
The original text has been modified by a professional rewriter before it was published by Plon. If the main elements of the story, including the plot, remain the same, the writing style is much smoother and flatter than that of Françoise Sagan. Because of tiny changes, Sagan's style has been distorted, according to the newspaper. A "medieval ramp" in the original manuscript becomes, for example "a medieval style ramp" at Plon and a "jumper" becomes a "seducer". Added to this is a disappearance of some pages of the authentic text, such as 16 and 17.
In this case, many questions remain unanswered, including the identity of this famous rewriter. "Who administered a correction to Sagan?" Denis Westhoff, in the preface, says he was the only one who could rewrite it.As a son of "The child of Françoise Quoirez he inherited the gifts of the 'writer?', wonders the JDD . "According to Sophie Charnavel, [patron saint of Plon, Ed] he did not touch the text, entrusted to a corrector outside the house.He had he already worked with Sagan? What was his specifications?" the newspaper.
Found in archives
This novel, which tells the torment lovers between Bourgeois Tourangeaux, had benefited, in September, from an exceptional print run of 90,000 copies. The 202-page work consists of two volumes titled The Four Corners of the Heart and The Beat Heart respectively .
In the preface to the book, Denis Westhoff, says that "the outline of the letters was not quite clear". "Erasures, annotations and corrections, the origin of which I did not know, had been unequally made, and of these two volumes being lost in a pile of files, documents and various archives, I had to time to understand that it was indeed a single novel, "he wrote. Sagan's son then sent the text to Plon's boss, Sophie Charnavel, as a Word file saved on a USB key stamped by Sagan's signature.