CP 03031/en
Marcel Proust to Lionel Hauser [22 or 23 November 1915]
(Click on the link above to see this letter and its notes in the Corr-Proust digital edition, including all relevant hyperlinks.)
My dear Lionel
As per your authorization[2], I’m sending you (as included in this letter) that which concerns those two hundred Caucasian[3]. As for Crédit Industrial, they assure me that my Egyptian, Carpet, etc. has no market at all so far.
Pardon me if I have once again blundered with your brother-in-law[4]. You admitted to me that my error is not entirely my fault. When you had the kindness to speak of him with me[5], it seemed to me indeed that I could not withdraw securities through my stockbroker before liquidation. However, to not neglect having turned to him, I wanted to set up a "balance" with him afterwards[6]. You told me that my letter had thrown you into an unspeakable rage. The outcome was inevitable: Lionel tells me of his brother-in-law, he foams at the idea that once my balance is liquidated I’ll get new ones, hence before my balance is liquidated he thinks that I can then turn to his brother-in-law. Let us try to seize the first decent opportunity to take my business elsewhere[.]
It seems then that this too was wrong. So please excuse me for so often having good but unachievable intentions or ones which turn out to do the most damage to your firm, as in the case of my sale. (I must say that I am very happy with Crédit Industriel, which seems to be equally happy with me.) That’s the nature of good intentions, that one way or another they often pave the wretched way to Hell. But anything could happen, and maybe when I’m better motivated, more favoured by luck, I’ll have a good intention that will come to pass, which won’t displease you, and I’ll be happy.
As for Léon, it seems to me that nothing more needs to be done; if you’re of a different opinion, I’ll send poor little Bardac to you before he leaves[7] (know that I say poor little without disdain, because I like him very much. But to have lost, in just a few months, an ear, the facial nerve, and that of the leg[8], his father[9], and much more besides, is really quite sad. He remains infinitely spirited and full of heart).
Yours truly, with affectionate gratitude
Marcel Proust
Notes
- ↑ Although responding to a letter from Hauser of 20 November 1915 (CP 03030; Kolb, XIV, no. 142), the present letter cannot be from any earlier than 22 November: cf. mention of the death of Noël Bardac (see note 9 below). As Proust enclosed in the same envelope a stock market or bank document relative to the sale of 200 North Caucasian securities, it is possible that he had not posted this letter but had it delivered by hand by Céleste Albaret, she having in fact made a visit to Hauser's bank on 24 November. This letter could therefore date from 22 or 23 November 1915. Hauser, short of staff and overwhelmed by numerous subscriptions to a new loan offer, would not reply to it until 26 November (CP 03034; Kolb, XIV, no. 146). As for the letter from Hauser of 23 November 1915 (CP 03032; Kolb, XIV, no. 144), in which the banker announces his discovery of an unofficial market in which North Caucasian had in fact been priced at 36 francs per share, it is probable that he wrote it before he received this one (otherwise he would not have failed to confirm receipt of the broker's document); but it was not sent until several days later, joined with Hauser's reply of 26 November. [PK, FL]
- ↑ Hauser, in his letter of 20 November 1915 (CP 03030; Kolb, XIV, no. 142), had written: "[...] if you would be good enough to tell me on what day the transaction took place, I will have it verified." [PK]
- ↑ This relates to the justification for the sale of 200 North Caucasian shares by the stockbroker Léon at 36 francs each; the Cote de la Bourse did not publish any stock market quotation below 40. Proust had expressed his astonishment in his letter of Thursday [18 November 1915], and sent him the documents relative to the sale so that Hauser could check that the transaction was all in order. [FL]
- ↑ In his letter to Hauser of [18 November 1915] (CP 03028; Kolb, XIV, no. 140), distrusting the unprecedented rate the stockbroker Léon had obtained to sell his North Caucasian (see note 3 above), Proust was considering whether to take back the sale of the remaining 800 shares from Léon if Hauser's brother-in-law could realize them at a better rate. In his reply dated 20 November 1915 (CP 03030; Kolb, XIV, no. 142), Hauser warned him that he could not change his broker until he had "liquidated his balance", all the North Caucasian having been forward bought for him by Léon. [PK, FL]
- ↑ Allusion to a letter from Lionel Hauser that has not been found, which is referred to in Proust's letter of [Monday evening 1 November 1915] (CP 03019; Kolb, XIV, no. 131). [PK]
- ↑ In his letter of [Monday evening 1 November] (CP 03019; Kolb, XIV, no. 131), Proust made his plan known, once his financial situation was stabilized, to use the savings made through Hauser's good advice to "take back into the family [...] the securities that were currently set aside on his orders", in other words: to resume his speculations, but employing as his broker, instead of Léon, Hauser's brother-in-law who he judged to be more reliable. [FL]
- ↑ According to his military record in the Archives de Paris, Henri Bardac, who had rejoined his regiment (106e régiment d'infantrie) at the start of August 1914, had then been assigned to the International Commission for Relief in London, by the ministerial decree of 1 August 1915. Here, when Proust says "before he leaves", it does not mean a return to the front after leave, but a return to London after a stay in Paris. [FL]
- ↑ His military record mentions that the commission for discharge of 6 May 1918 declared him "permanently unfit for military service on account of facial paralysis of the left side following injury in action, deafness on the left side, ankylosis of the ankle". No military hospital is indicated so it is impossible to know the approximate date he received these wounds. Proust's letter suggests that his wounds must have been received in 1915. According to the personal data recorded in his military record, Henri Bardac measured 1m 60, which may also explain why Proust referred to him as "little Bardac". [FL]
- ↑ Henri Bardac's father, the banker Noël Bardac, died on 21 November 1915 (see Le Figaro, 22 November 1915, p. 3, "Le Monde et la Ville : Deuil" [Society and Town: Deaths]). [PK]
- ↑ Translation notes:
- ↑ Contributors: Yorktaylors