ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about the conversation of Claude Rostand and Francis Poulenc. Poulenc's writings and interviews give little idea of his political opinions. He is not an ideologue and refuses to pronounce on such questions. On several occasions he posits an analogy between artistic and political ideas, with the Left representing for him, on the artistic front, an openness to new things, and the Right a certain conservatism. This volume comprises selected articles from Francis Poulenc: J'ecris ce qui me chante edited by Nicholas Southon. Many of these articles and interviews have not been available in English before and Roger Nichols's translation, capturing the very essence of Poulenc's lively writing style, makes more widely accessible this significant contribution to Poulenc scholarship. Poulenc has in fact outpaced his colleagues in Les Six by many a mile, as singers and instrumentalists all over the world will attest, and while he would never have accepted the title of 'genius', preferring 'artisan'.
