[Ads-l] Request help tracing: A work of art is never finished, merely abandoned (in French)

Sat Apr 27 18:40:53 UTC 2019

Dear ADS list members: The Quote Investigator (QI) website has an
article about the saying in the subject line which has been attributed
to Jean Cocteau (in French):

Un ouvrage n’est jamais achevé . . . mais abandonné.
A work of art is never finished, merely abandoned.

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2019/03/01/abandon/

As indicated in the QI article, I believe this adage is a streamlined
version of a statement appearing in the March 1933 issue of "La
Nouvelle Revue Française" within an article titled "Au sujet du
Cimetière marin" by Paul Valéry.

A correspondent sent me a tip indicating that an individual with a
library account in Quebec apparently can electronically borrow a PDF
version of the article online via the following link:

http://banq.pretnumerique.ca/resources/54b99491cdd23087a977e015?l=en

If you can access this article (PDF or hardcopy) via a Quebec
connection or some other way, and you wish to help me, please let me
know on-list or off-list. The goal is to verify the quotation and the
metadata.

Date: Mars 1933 (March 1933)
Periodical: La Nouvelle Revue Française (The New French Review),
Article: Au sujet du Cimetière marin (Concerning the Cemetery by the Sea)
Author: Paul Valéry, Start Page 399
Quote Page 399
Publisher: La Nouvelle Revue Française, Paris, France

[Begin excerpt]
Aux yeux de ces amateurs d’inquiétude et de perfection, un ouvrage
n’est jamais achevé, – mot qui pour eux n’a aucun sens, – mais
abandonné ; et cet abandon, qui le livre aux flammes ou au public (et
qu’il soit l’effet de la lassitude ou de l’obligation de livrer) est
une sorte d’accident, comparable à la rupture d’une réflexion, que la
fatigue, le fâcheux ou quelque sensation viennent rendre nulle.
[End excerpt]

This 1933 issue is probably not available in many libraries. Here is a
link to another online version, but it is expensive to access.

http://www.gallimard.fr/Catalogue/GALLIMARD/La-Nouvelle-Revue-Francaise-1909-1943/La-Nouvelle-Revue-Francaise228

With appreciation
Garson O'Toole

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