Swiss editor Bernard Comment is the man behind the publishing coup titled "Fragments," a collection of the diva's musings until 1962, the year she died a mysterious death that contributed to her myth. The book, with more than 250 pages of notes, letters, poems and even cooking recipes, is being published jointly by French publisher Editions du Seuil in Europe and Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the United States, where it will debut next week.
Comment, who is in charge of the Fiction & Co section of Editions du Seuil, reportedly was granted the world rights to Monroe's writings by Anna Strasberg, who inherited them at the death of her husband, Lee Strasberg, Monroe's friend and acting teacher, said local news agency Swissinfo.
The agency spoke to Comment a day ahead of the book's official launch in Europe, quoting the editor as saying that the book inspires a better understanding of the star's real nature.
"She was very generous, endlessly giving of herself," Comment said of Monroe, adding that what struck him most about the original texts was "the way Marilyn explored her own despair."
"It often leaves you reeling, and it is always touching. ... What also struck me was the poetic brilliance of some of the writing, although the style is never affected," he told Swissinfo.
The writings, which Comment describes as "intimate," were not originally designed for publishing. Through humorous and wistful reflections, they reveal the actress's intellectual and creative abilities, often hidden behind her sex symbol status and "dumb blonde" attitude.
Further details of the book's contents have not been disclosed, and Comment said there are "no revelations about her sex life, or about the Kennedys."
A note on the U.S. publisher's website describes the Monroe that surfaces from her writings as "a woman far more curious, searching and hopeful than the one the world got to know."
"Even as Hollywood studios tried to mold and suppress her, Marilyn never lost her insight, her passion and her humor. To confront the mounting difficulties of her life, she wrote," it says.