Il N'y A Pas D'amour Heureux

''Il n’y a pas d’amour heureux'' () is a poem written by Louis Aragon in January 1943, and published in ' in 1944. The poem reflects on the inherent contradiction between love and the pain that it inevitably brings to those who experience it. An underlying meaning, made explicit in the final stanza, applies this theme to the French Resistance, in which Aragon participated.

History

The poem was written in Montchat, a neighborhood in the third arrondissement of Lyon, at the home of Aragon's friend René Tavernier, a fellow poet and resistance member; Tavernier harbored Aragon there during the Occupation along with Aragon's partner Elsa Triolet.. The former location of the house, now occupied by , has been marked since 1993 by a commemorative plaque.

In a 1963 interview with broadcast on RTF, Aragon explained that at the time he wrote the poem, Triolet intended to leave him due to a Resistance rule that a couple active in the movement could not live together, as this would pose an operational security risk.

The poem's manuscript was displayed in 1972 at a Bibliothèque nationale exposition on Triolet. René Tavernier's son Bertrand, however, claimed that the poem's original manuscript was still in his father's possession, and that the one displayed at the Bibliothèque nationale was a later copy. The poem was in fact dedicated to his mother Geneviève, according to whom Aragon made a second manuscript after the war when the original dedication provoked a quarrel with Triolet. A facsimile of the Tavernier manuscript was published in 2010 in the review '.

Adaptations

Adaptations of the 1950s

In 1953 the poem, stripped of its final stanza and subjected to minor changes, was set to music and recorded by Georges Brassens, who later reused the same melody for another poem, , by Catholic writer Francis Jammes. Aragon, a lifelong Communist, took offense to this as well as to the abridgment of the poem's conclusion. In his estimation, this change altered the entire meaning of his work, which was intended as a poem of the Resistance and not simply a love song. Despite Aragon's objections, the adaptation proved popular and would go on to be covered by such prominent artists as Nina Simone. In 1955, Catherine Sauvage released a recording that reincorporated the final verse.

Other Adaptations

The work has since been performed by many other artists, including:
*
* Barbara
* Georges Chelon
* Hugues Aufray
* Nina Simone
* Françoise Hardy
* Keren Ann
* in the album ''Lhssad'' (2008)
* Youssou N'Dour
* Danielle Darrieux, in the film ''8 Women'' (2002)
* Élodie Frégé
* in the album ''Chansons d'Aragon'' (1961)
* Marc Ogeret
* Hélène Martin

See also

*
* Le Temps des cerises – another well-known French song/poem with a similar dual theme

References

{{reflist

External links

Original French text of the poem
French poetry
French poems
1943 poems
Georges Brassens songs