The Caetani-Mathews Papers: Introducing René Char to the American Readership

In this article I intend to shed light on the work of Marguerite Caetani, modern and cosmopolitan editor and patron in the context of post-World War II literary history. "Hypnos Waking", the first anthology of René Char's poetry ever to appear in the United States, was published by Random House in 1956. The volume, which pioneered a long series of "Char studies" in the US, was translated by American scholar Jackson Mathews and included works that had been previously published in «Botteghe Oscure», an international and multilingual literary journal based in Rome and edited by American-born princess Marguerite Chapin-Caetani. Caetani's leading role in promoting Char's poetry on both sides of the Atlantic emerges with utmost clarity from the correspondence she exchanged with both Char and Mathews in the years preceding publication of "Hypnos Waking". The study of these letters shows how Caetani used her considerable influence in the literary world to boost Char's reputation and give maximum visibility to his work. In this article I contend that Caetani's interest in Char reveals a deep consonance of aesthetic views, and draw a comparison between his poetry and her editorial philosophy through the cross-disciplinary concept of literary counterpoint.