POINTS 2

The second issue of POINTS was published in April-May of 1949. POINTS 2 offered a balance of short stories and poems in French and English, a format that had been established with the first issue that hopefully would find an audience in France and abroad in England and America where primary distribution points had been established.

Commentary © James A. Harrod, COPYRIGHT PROTECTED; ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The end papers of POINTS 2 announced a contest with a prize purse that the editors hoped would attract attention from young writers with talent.

In order to stimulate the short story, "POINTS" is organizing

a contest, for the best short story, in both the English and French

languages. The prize will be 10,000 francs. Two "five men"

committees (one French, the other Anglo-American) will Judge

and choose the stories.

"POINTS" cordially invites all young writers to submit short

stories for this contest. All stories must be sent in not later than

July 14, 1949, and clearly marked "contest". The prize stories

will appear in " POINTS " No 4, in September 1949.

The stories submitted can range in length from 1,500 to 5,000

words.

« POINTS » organise un concours de la meilleure nouvelle en

langue francaise et en langue anglaise. Deux jurys, l’un francais,

1'autre anglo-americain, composes chacun de cinq membres, decer-

neront chacun un prix de 10.000 francs.

Les nouvelles doivent etre envoyées avant le 14 juillet 1949 et

doivent porter la mention « concours ». Les nouvelles couronnées

par les jurys seront publiées dans 1c numero 4 de « POINTS », en

septembre 1949.

La longueur des textes devra, approximativement etre de dix

pages.

N.B. — Un prochain numéro sera uniquement consacré à des textes

d'épouvante et de terreur.

Sindbad Vail's comments in his "Notes by the Editor" introduction to POINTS 2 allude to the motivation for the contest.

It is with great pleasure that the Editor of the English section

of "POINTS" presents the 2nd number of the magazine. Some

harsh critics, after reading the 1st issue, were all for scrapping the

enterprise and advising the undersigned to go hack to whatever he

was doing before. It would be untruthful for the editor to say that

he was not at the time vastly discouraged and pessimistic, perhaps

almost resigned to follow those morbid counsels. Fortunately, other

people, less sneering, more cheerful, in other words happier sorts

cheered us up. This editor is the first to admit that the contents of

"POINTS" 1 were not of the highest quality nor of brilliant origi-

nality. Then so what ? The whole point of "POINTS" was lost

or, rather, unexplained in the 1st issue. This magazine is devoted

almost entirely to young writers who so far have had very little

opportunity to be published, and therefore, naturally enough, the

first number did not contain any material of breathtaking quality.

Did some people expect as to find new Hemingways and Faulkners

right off the bat? Who knows perhaps in twenty years, some of

our contributors may be what the former are today. "POINTS"

wants to-give the young writer of today a break. We do not want

to publish left-overs from the arrived. If occasionally, we receive

a good text from an established writer, it would not be refused, but

then we would really have to like it, and I mean that. I'll say

straight off that I'd publish a "medium" article from an unknown

before I would a "bad" one from a known.

"We now arrive to the second point of "POINTS". Apart from

encouraging young writers (a naive and most ignoble waste of time,

as some people have already told me, for they added, and they

were all over forty, there are no good young writers today), what

is the object of "POINTS"? Are we futuristic, surrealistic, arriére-

garde, avant-garde even existentialist or even nihilistic, classical,

baroque, psychological, inhibited, uninhibited, amorous, virtuous,

pedantic, pederastic, do we believe in any isms, asms, or perhaps

spasms, etc., etc. Enough cracks. "POINTS" follows no special

line, and we stick by that. All that one has to do to be printed is

to write something that the editors like. Any subject can be chosen,

anyone can be imitated or one can even be original. It is hard for

some people to realize, especially smart-aleck Americans in Paris

today, that such a magazine can exist. It is particularly hard to

believe for the "Florists and Montanians", as some of them have

extra-inflated egos, wish to believe that they are in Paris for some

reason, and virtuously think that a magazine must follow some

bright new modern creed, boring or otherwise.

It has also been said that it was a great mistake to make

"POINTS" a bilingual magazine. "We feel on the contrary that

this is not the case. "We wish to appeal to those people who like

to read both languages, we do not want to isolate ourselves and cater

only to those who read solely their native tongue. "We feel there is

a certain public that desires to read a magazine in two languages.

It is presumed that the Americans and English living in France are

learning French and even wish to read it as well as their native

language, and it is a known fact that many Frenchmen are keen

to read English and thus become better acquainted with it. This is

one of the main reasons why "POINTS" was ever started.

In this issue, the editor will not discuss the writers or their

works. Obviously various readers will like or dislike certain arti-

cles and short stories. There is one article I do want to mention

though. It is Stanley Geist's "Memoirs of a Paris Tourist 1947".

I've been told that this article is outdated. That, no doubt, is open

to discussion. But I honestly believe that this article is so well

written, so intelligent (and that so much of it still holds true today)

that from the literary point of view, the two years lapse is un-

important.

The two editors wish to congratulate Roy Bongartz whose " The

End Begins in About Five Minutes ", which appeared in the first

number of "POINTS", has been printed in the April number of

Cyril Connolly's " Horizon ".

SINDBAD VAIL.

The contents of POINTS 2 offered another group of relatively unknown writers.

Sindbad Vail – Notes by the Editor

Henri Thomas – La Barque

Lester Mansfield – Here, Pretty Kitty

Noel Devaulx – Gorreker

Gordon Sager – The Folly of old Age

Hans Ruch – Une vie de chat

James McGovern – Nickel Bar of Soap

Armen Lubin – Poémes

James Blair – Doctor Smith’s Last Patient

Marthe  Robert – Les Intrus / La Grille / Le Cirque

Stanley Geist – Memoirs of a Tourist, Paris 1947

Michel Forstetter – Gouache

Howard Simpson – It’s lime

Elliot Silverstein – The Silent

Felisberto Hernandez – Chez les Autres

Lionel Abel – The Eternal Type

G.-H. Bougeant – Des Bois d’Amour

Gaston Gaoua – Sébastien Velpuche

Marcel Bisiaux – Notes

HERE, PRETTY KITTY

© The Estate of Lester Mansfield

Memoirs of a Tourist, Paris 1947

© The Estate of Stanley Geist

 Sébastien Velpuche


© The Estate of Gaston Gaoua