Your reason for embarking on La mort de Virgile at once with Le temps restitué seems quite evident. You were drawn to the second part of Broch's novel, and would never have thought of starting anywhere else. Also, since your first plan was to voice only the verse sections of the text, one obvious place to begin was with the first three such passages, which are placed close together. Le temps restitué sets these complete, but also includes fragments from the prose links, while the title comes from the prose immediately before the first break into poetry: ‘the regiven, reawakened time beyond the bonds of fate, abolishing chance, the unalterable law of time absolved from lapsing, the everlasting now into which he was being held.’

According to your inscription on the draft, you started Le temps restitué in March 1956, which might indicate either that you began composing within days of forming your first plan for the second book of La mort de Virgile or else that you were dating work from that plan.

Almost a year passed. Then came a letter from Hodeir. He was concerned, and was writing, on 20 March 1957, to hold you to your task. ‘As for the idea of keeping La M. de V. aslant from you, you know what I think. … I don't know if you fully realize what you represent for your friends.