This article tries to explore César Vallejo’s (1892-1938) presence in the archives of Claude Esteban (1935-2006), poet and translator whose works respond to the drama of bilingualism. The study of his translations of the Peruvian poet wants to reveal the intimate links between translation and poetic creation, whose necessity, in Claude Esteban, lies in the perilous attempt—or the temptation—of a reconciliation between French and Spanish, the languages that, for long, held him “quartered”.