Letters to Lawrence Durrell, 1937–1977
The champion's habit at its longest run — four decades with Durrell.
Read our take
Morale des Épicentres
by Anaïs Nin
A French curiosity of the shelf: Marcel Moreau's book, published with a group of Nin's letters to him — her contribution, not her volume.
- 2004
About Anaïs Nin
The story, briefly
Spoiler-freeAn honest label first: this 2004 French volume is by the Belgian writer Marcel Moreau, and Nin's part is an appendix — a group of the letters she wrote him, published with his text. It earns its place on her shelf as the accessible trace of a real late friendship: Nin discovered Moreau's ferocious prose in the sixties, championed it, and corresponded with him until her death. We catalogue it as a contribution rather than a Nin book proper. (Letters and essays — nothing to spoil.)
The story, in more detail
Moreau belongs to the late chapter of Nin's lifelong habit: finding an intense, unclassifiable writer and taking up the cause. She encountered his work in the 1960s, corresponded with him across the decade of her fame, and wrote publicly in his support — one of several younger European writers who found in her a champion when the French establishment kept its distance. The letters published here are her side of that friendship, in French, warm and characteristically insistent on the writer's obligation to intensity.
The 2004 volume sets those letters after Moreau's own text, and the pairing is the point: the reader meets the prose she championed and then the championing itself. For Nin completists it is a genuine if minor entry — her letters in their original language, in a book that would not exist without the friendship — and we list it the way the bibliographies do, as a contribution to another writer's volume.
What's inside
Two parts: Marcel Moreau's French text, and, following it, a group of Anaïs Nin's letters to him from the years of their friendship — her encouragement, her readings of his work, and the late-life voice of her French correspondence. The volume is in French and has not been translated.
Why we recommend it
Nin in French
Her letters in their original language — a register the English volumes never show.
The champion's habit, late
The pattern that began with Miller and Durrell, still running in the last decade.
A shelf curiosity
The rarest kind of Nin item: one that exists inside someone else's book.
What this book explores
Timeline
1960s–1977
Nin discovers Moreau's prose, champions it, and corresponds with him until her death.
2004
Moreau's volume appears in France with her letters as its second part.
Book editions
Paperback
- Paperback
- 2004
Reader reviews
Readers may also like
A Literate Passion
Where the pattern began: the first writer she championed, at full length.
Read our take
Morale des Épicentres: frequently asked questions
Is Morale des Épicentres a book by Anaïs Nin?
No — it is by the Belgian writer Marcel Moreau, published in 2004 with a group of Nin's letters to him as its second part. We list it as a contribution rather than a Nin volume.
Who is Marcel Moreau?
A Belgian-born French-language writer of intense, unclassifiable prose, whom Nin discovered in the 1960s and championed; the two corresponded until her death in 1977.
What is Nin's part of the book?
A group of her letters to Moreau from the years of their friendship — encouragement, readings of his work, and her late French voice.
Is it available in English?
No. The volume is in French and has not been translated.
Why include it on Nin's shelf at all?
It is the accessible published trace of a documented friendship, and completist bibliographies list it — clearly labeled, as here, for what it is.