Suzanne Renaud – Lettres à Suzon / Dopisy Suzon (1947-1963)

The poet Suzanne Renaud sent nearly all of these 45 letters from Petrkov, the Bohemian village where she lived with the Czech engraver Bohuslav Reynek from 1936, to her niece Suzanne, nicknamed Suzon, the eldest daughter of her sister Marcelle, whom, because of political events, she never saw again after 1947. Censorship and modesty prevented Renaud from freely writing about her daily life. The few times she mentioned herself, it was with a dash of humour to resist the Communist regime’s oppression with dignity. Written in her beautiful poetic language, the letters are a source of biographical and literary information. They provide insight into the personality of Renaud, whose thoughts silently distil wisdom. Few of Suzon’s replies have been found, so Souvenirs de famille [Family Memories] by Magali Robert, her sister, accompanied by documents, echo the letters to enrich the backdrop of this epistolary connection and shed light on the context.

 

Lettres à Suzon

Miluse Vidonne – From Prague to Grenoble. A Road to the “Free” World

On the sidelines of the exhibition Bohuslav Reynek – Estampes des années cinquante [Bohuslav Reynek – Prints from the 1950s], Miluse Vidonne gives a brief, brisk, simply written account of her daily life in Czechoslovakia under the Soviet regime before moving to Grenoble, in the “free” world. Reynek’s art, which bears witness to a time when the West’s betrayal condemned Suzanne Renaud to a life of exile behind the Iron Curtain, was kept out of the public eye in his homeland for several decades.

Supplement to the catalogue of the exhibition in Saint-Martin d’Uriage, 2013.
Romarin, Grenoble 2013.
Language: French
Illustrations: two watercolours by the author.
Format 21 x 21 cm.
48 pages. Softbound, illustrated cover.
ISBN : 2–910544–13–3