The correspondence exchanged between Jean Paulhan and Paul Claudel begins significantly with the death of Jacques Rivière in 1925, at the moment when Jean Paulhan succeeds him as director of N.R.F. The controversy surrounding the final years of Jacques Rivière's life plays an important role in the initial notes of the letter writers.

This correspondence is also characterized by cyclical tensions that give it all its flavor: Claudel shifts to outright hostility towards N.R.F. when its publishing stance no longer serves him, clearly expressing this. Paulhan tries diplomatically to reinstate the esteemed playwright back into his magazine, while attempting to maintain N.R.F.'s openness and non-political stance.

These letters also reflect the intellectual upheaval of the interwar and postwar period. The history of N.R.F. is outlined in the background, while a new aspect of Claudel's writing emerges, that of his interpretative work. The critical analysis provided by Catherine Mayaux sheds light on Claudel's exceptional creativity in his maturity, illuminates the significance of the sometimes tumultuous relationships between the poet and N.R.F., its Director—who is closely connected to him—and highlights, more broadly, his relationships with the literary and diplomatic circles of his time.