The General Told Me

One day in 1970, in the last year of his life, Charles de Gaulle was walking on the grounds of his estate at Colombey les-Dcux Eglises with his aide-decamp, Colonel Jean d'Escrienne. During their chat, D'Escrienne asked the general to repeat the name of a politician he had mentioned. "So you plan to write a book about me some day," said De Gaulle. Last week D'Escrienne's book, Le General m'a dit . . . (The General Told Me), was published in Paris. It contains no major political revelations, but abounds in illustrations of an extraordinary personality. A sampling:

> In 1967 De Gaulle needed a gift to take on his visit to Pope Paul VI. Culture Minister Andre Malraux suggested three abstract paintings. One was titled The Holy Face. On looking it over, De Gaulle inquired: "Where is the Holy Face?" An embarrassed adviser replied: "Eh bien, mon general, if you stand here, in a certain light . . ." De Gaulle interrupted: "No, you won't make me offer that to the Pope!" The Pope got a tapestry instead.

> De Gaulle said Malraux never won the Nobel Prize for Literature because "he is catalogued as a Gaullist, and a Gaullist can't have the prize because it is given practically with the approval of the Americans." The diplomat-poet Saint-John Perse, "who has always been against me," won his Nobel "precisely because of that. The judges didn't even read him, and in any case wouldn't have understood anything in his poetry."

> After being criticized for saying Jews were "an elite people, dominating and sure of itself," De Gaulle said the words were intended as a compliment. Sardonically, he added: "If only one could call the French an elite people, dominating and sure of itself."

> When reminded of Winston Churchill's comment on France: "How can you govern a country with 300 cheeses?" De Gaulle retorted: "There are at least 350."

> At the end of an Elysee luncheon for a Middle Eastern chief of state, De Gaulle reflected: "Our problems were those of our ancestors, and our children will still have to solve them after we are gone. In truth, since I have been born I don't believe I have ever seen one problem solved."

> Driving through the Bois de Boulogne one day, De Gaulle passed a graceful brunette. She recognized him and waved a scarf. De Gaulle waved back and then half-whispered to his aide-de-camp a few lines of Musset:

"Have you seen in Barcelona

An Andalusian woman with tanned

breast

Pale as a beautiful autumn

night. . ."

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