SIMON CLAUDE: (1913-2005) French novelist, Nobel Prize winner for Literature, 1985. An interesting A.L.S., Claude Simon, one page, 4to, Place Monge, Paris, 3rd March 1987, to a gentleman, in French. Simon responds to his correspondent?s three questions about his background and his inspirations, remarking ?apr?s m??tre exerc? ? diverses activit?s, dont la peinture, il m?a sembl? que j??tais un peu moins maladroit en ?crivant?(Translation: ?after trying my hand at various activities, including painting, it seemed to me that I was a little less clumsy when it came to writing?), further listing his four favourite writers as Joseph Conrad, Marcel Proust, James Joyce, and William Faulkner, and also adding that creating and producing give him intense satisfaction, as well as ?l?extraordinaire ?merveillement de d?couvrir ce qui se dit (par le travail de et dans la langue) toujours bien plus riche que mes intentions premi?res? (Translation: ?the extraordinary wonder of discovering what is expressed (through the work of and within the language), which is always far richer than my original intentions?). VG