CP 03065/en

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This page is a translated version of the page CP 03065 and the translation is 100% complete.


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Marcel Proust to Antoine Bibesco [Tuesday, 4 January 1916]

(Click on the link above to see this letter and its notes in the Corr-Proust digital edition, including all relevant hyperlinks.)

[1]

My dear Antoine,

Forgive me for not having responded to your letter earlier[2]. I have been in a lot of physical and mental pain. You are much in my thoughts, and, in these days, however sad, we remember that the years return laden with the same natural beauties, but without bringing people back with them. Alas, in 1916, there will be violets, apple blossoms; before them, the flowers of frost, but Bertrand will no longer be there [3].

I am not writing to you at length because I am very tired, and I send you all of my best regards, which I also beg you to share with Emmanuel, if he is with you.

Marcel Proust

Is M. Carp [4] of bad stock like Marghiloman[5] and Take Jonesco[6], or of good stock like Filipesco[7] (I mean in terms of family, as a matter of opinion, I know that he is the most hardened of Germanophiles). — And in terms of intelligence, where do you place him?

I have more faith in our victory than ever. But I find that some arguments demand revision and refinement. The fortification argument [8], for example, is true, but in inverse proportion to the fortress' size. Like while infinitely multiplying the sides of a polygon, we see it merge with its circumference. Suppose (horresco referens – “horresco” is very Romanian) the Germans, god forbid, conquer the entire world, they would be in a fortress, but would be comfortable there. At the moment I find their fortress too vast for my liking. I think the earlier we can cut off Poland etc. etc., the more pertinent the argument will become and the better it will be. Tibi.

MP.

[9] [10]

Notes

  1. ↑ The writing paper of the original is identical to that of a letter to Frédéric de Madrazo dated [around the end of December 1915] (CP 03049; Kolb, XIV, no. 161). The "thoughts" that Proust sends for the year 1916 had led Philip Kolb to place this letter around the beginning of January 1916. But the mention, in the same words in the postscript, of several Romanian politicians (MM. Carp, Marghiloman, Take Ionesco, Filipesco) appears to be influenced by Proust reading an article in Le Figaro of 4 January 1916 about Romania which mentions exactly these same four names, while the other newspapers hardly mentioned Romania at this period, the country having remained neutral (see below notes 4, 6 and 7). It is therefore possible to date this letter to [Tuesday 4 January 1916]. [FL]
  2. ↑ Letter has not been found. [FP]
  3. ↑ It was apparently on Sunday 28 February 1915 that Antoine Bibesco paid a visit to Proust to inform him of the death of Bertrand de Fénelon: see Proust's letter to Louis de Robert [and not Louis d'Albufera] of [beginning? of March 1915] (CP 02921; Kolb, XIV, no. 32; Lettres, no. 401). The news was confirmed in Le Figaro of Saturday 13 March 1915 ("Le Monde et la Ville: Deuil" [Society and Town: Mourning], p. 3). [PK, FL, FP]
  4. ↑ Petre Carp (1837-1919), statesman and Romanian publicist, was the founder of Pays roumain, a newspaper directed against the liberals. He was twice Prime Minister, in 1901 and 1911. In 1914, soon after the start of the war, he strove to provoke Romania into participating in the conflict on the side of the Central Powers (Parlamentul Romîn, II, 334-335; Larousse du XXe siècle (1928-1933), vol. II, p. 8; see also the very detailed Wikipedia article on the subject [in English]). Le Figaro of 4 January 1916, in an article taking stock of the political situation in Romania ("La Roumanie", p. 2), underlined the fact that Carp, Marghiloman, and their supporters, argued in favour of neutrality in order to conceal their germanophilia. [PK, FP, FL]
  5. ↑ Alexandru Marghiloman (1854-1925), member of the Romanian Conservative party, was a germanophile. At the start of the conflict he supported neutrality. After Romania entered the war on the side of the Allies in May 1916, when its military defeats by Germany forced Romania to capitulate, King Ferdinand I appointed Marghiloman Prime Minister in March 1918 to negociate a separate peace with Germany, hoping that a German-friendly minister would obtain more favourable terms. It came to nothing, the peace treaty was not ratified by the Romanian delegates, and the Marghiloman government was overthrown in October 1918. [PK, FP, FL]
  6. ↑ Take Ionesco (1858-1922), barrister and Romanian statesman, deputy, former minister, was actually from a modest background but completed his higher education in Paris and married an Englishwoman. A francophile, he campaigned in 1914 against the germanophiles (see the very detailed Wikipedia article on this subject [in English]). Le Figaro of 4 January 1916 ("La Roumanie", p. 2) stressed the ardent desire of leaders of the opposition, including Take Ionesco, to rejoin the Allies and deplored the Romanian government's decision to maintain the country's neutrality. Proust's spelling ("Jonesco") corresponds to the gallicizing of his name in the press of the time. [PK, FP, FL]
  7. ↑ Nicolae Filipescu (1862-1916), statesman and Romanian political writer, former deputy, former minister. He founded the National Action league, which led the way for Romanian intervention in the war on the side of the Allies. In the Figaro article which Proust was able to read on 4 January 1916 ("La Roumanie", p. 2), he is mentioned, along with Take Jonescu [sic], as being among the political leaders in favour of their entry into the war. See also his obituary in the announcements of death in Le Figaro, 16 October 1916 ("Mort de M. Filipesco" [Death of Filipescu], p. 1). [PK, FP, FL]
  8. ↑ The comparison of Germany and Austro-Hungary to "a besieged fortress" was circulating frequently in the press of 1915: see for example Le Temps of 2 April 1915, p. 4: "Les difficultés économiques en Allemagne et en Autriche" [The economic difficulties in Germany and Austria]; or Le Temps of 12 December 1915, p. 2: "Le discours du chancelier impérial" [The imperial chancellor's speech]. [FP]
  9. ↑ Translation notes: Ref. note 4: "Pays roumain" appears to be a French translation. The newspaper founded by Carp was called Térra. (Yorktaylors)
  10. ↑ Contributors: Bheavyside, Kvaidya, Yorktaylors.
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