Translations:CP 04852/16/en

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↑ The extract published in Le Matin is mainly centered on the scene where, in a restaurant in Venice, the protagonist observes a dinner between M. de Norpois and his old mistress Mme de Villeparisis during which the ambassador entrusts his friend with various diplomatic secrets that he just learned. In the version in Le Matin, Norpois mentions in particular "two dispatches from Ribot to Jonnart" which testify to the duplicity of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexandre Ribot in June 1917, during the ultimatum undertaken by Jonnart to force the abdication of Constantine, the King of Greece. Indeed, King Constantine being under the control of the German ambassador, Charles Jonnart (1857-1927), appointed by Ribot on 25 May 1917 "High Commissioner of the Protective Powers of Greece, with full civil and military powers" , undertook at the beginning of June 1917 to land in Salamis on a warship at the same time as a French expeditionary force invaded Thessaly, and he demanded, on 10 June the abdication of King Constantine in favor of his second son, ultimatum accepted 12 June 1917. According to the words of Norpois, Ribot, "frightened by the violent action of Jonnart", would have tried to dissuade him in a first dispatch, then, after the success of this ultimatum, would have warmly congratulated in a second dispatch, affirming that he would have helped him in the event of any obstacle. This passage on the dispatches sent by Ribot, which no longer exists in Albertine disparue (RTP, IV, p. 211-212), was therefore not deleted by Proust from the extract intended for Le Matin. — We find the text that appeared in Le Matin (including Norpois's speech) in the (much longer) version of the Venetian episode published by Feuillets d'Art on 15 December 1919. Proust states in a letter to Robert de Billy [shortly after 15 December 1919] that it was the editors of this review who "completed the article by adding [the extract] published in Le Matin" (see CP 03994; Kolb, XVIII, no. 314), which would have forced him to cut out the dedication to Billy from the proofs at the last moment, for fear that such diplomatic gossip would harm the career of his friend, ambassador to Athens since 1917. (About Billy's diplomatic career and the question of this dedication, see Nathalie Mauriac Dyer, "Robert de Billy. 'Et puis c'est si amusant de causer avec vous' [And then it's so amusing to chat with you]", in Le Cercle de Proust, tome 3, ed. J.-Y. Tadié, Paris, Champion , “Recherches proustiennes” collection, 2021, pp. 142 and 148). Since the print copies intended for each of the two publications and the corrected proofs have not been found, it is impossible for us to verify Proust's assertions. In fact, it seems rather that Proust had taken for Le Matin a few pages of the episode initially intended for the Feuillets d'Art: in his letter of [14 or 15 October 1919] to Jacques Porel, he mentions "one thing that I wrote about Venice for […] le Feuillet d'Art [sic] from which I would like to detach a page for Le Matin which has been asking me for a page for so long” (see CP 03924; Kolb, XVIII, no. 243). Le Matin having therefore published the extract in question on 11 December, the editorial staff of the journal could have decided at the last moment to reinsert these pages in order to reconstitute the entire episode that Proust had entrusted to it. For the text of Les Feuillets d'Art and a comparison of its variants with that of Le Matin, see Nathalie Mauriac Dyer's transcription, Proust inachevé. “Albertine disparue,” Paris, Champion, 2005, “Annexes”, p. 325-341. — In Albertine disparue (RTP, IV, p. 209-213), Norpois' diplomatic indiscretions were modified when the 1922 typescript was made (see Mauriac Dyer, op. cit., p. 279-283), narrative consistency not making it possible to preserve the political events of 1917 (and even of September 1919 for the capture of Fiume by d'Annunzio, commented on by Norpois in this same extract from Le Matin) while the protagonist's stay in Venice is supposed to take place long before the First World War. [FL]

[n5-1] The extract published in Le Matin is mainly centered on the scene where, in a restaurant in Venice, the protagonist observes a dinner between M. de Norpois and his old mistress Mme de Villeparisis during which the ambassador entrusts his friend with various diplomatic secrets that he just learned. In the version in Le Matin, Norpois mentions in particular "two dispatches from Ribot to Jonnart" which testify to the duplicity of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexandre Ribot in June 1917, during the ultimatum undertaken by Jonnart to force the abdication of Constantine, the King of Greece. Indeed, King Constantine being under the control of the German ambassador, Charles Jonnart (1857-1927), appointed by Ribot on 25 May 1917 "High Commissioner of the Protective Powers of Greece, with full civil and military powers" , undertook at the beginning of June 1917 to land in Salamis on a warship at the same time as a French expeditionary force invaded Thessaly, and he demanded, on 10 June the abdication of King Constantine in favor of his second son, ultimatum accepted 12 June 1917. According to the words of Norpois, Ribot, "frightened by the violent action of Jonnart", would have tried to dissuade him in a first dispatch, then, after the success of this ultimatum, would have warmly congratulated in a second dispatch, affirming that he would have helped him in the event of any obstacle. This passage on the dispatches sent by Ribot, which no longer exists in Albertine disparue (RTP, IV, p. 211-212), was therefore not deleted by Proust from the extract intended for Le Matin. — We find the text that appeared in Le Matin (including Norpois's speech) in the (much longer) version of the Venetian episode published by Feuillets d'Art on 15 December 1919. Proust states in a letter to Robert de Billy [shortly after 15 December 1919] that it was the editors of this review who "completed the article by adding [the extract] published in Le Matin" (see CP 03994; Kolb, XVIII, no. 314), which would have forced him to cut out the dedication to Billy from the proofs at the last moment, for fear that such diplomatic gossip would harm the career of his friend, ambassador to Athens since 1917. (About Billy's diplomatic career and the question of this dedication, see Nathalie Mauriac Dyer, "Robert de Billy. 'Et puis c'est si amusant de causer avec vous' [And then it's so amusing to chat with you]", in Le Cercle de Proust, tome 3, ed. J.-Y. Tadié, Paris, Champion , “Recherches proustiennes” collection, 2021, pp. 142 and 148). Since the print copies intended for each of the two publications and the corrected proofs have not been found, it is impossible for us to verify Proust's assertions. In fact, it seems rather that Proust had taken for Le Matin a few pages of the episode initially intended for the Feuillets d'Art: in his letter of [14 or 15 October 1919] to Jacques Porel, he mentions "one thing that I wrote about Venice for […] le Feuillet d'Art [sic] from which I would like to detach a page for Le Matin which has been asking me for a page for so long” (see CP 03924; Kolb, XVIII, no. 243). Le Matin having therefore published the extract in question on 11 December, the editorial staff of the journal could have decided at the last moment to reinsert these pages in order to reconstitute the entire episode that Proust had entrusted to it. For the text of Les Feuillets d'Art and a comparison of its variants with that of Le Matin, see Nathalie Mauriac Dyer's transcription, Proust inachevé. “Albertine disparue,” Paris, Champion, 2005, “Annexes”, p. 325-341. — In Albertine disparue (RTP, IV, p. 209-213), Norpois' diplomatic indiscretions were modified when the 1922 typescript was made (see Mauriac Dyer, op. cit., p. 279-283), narrative consistency not making it possible to preserve the political events of 1917 (and even of September 1919 for the capture of Fiume by d'Annunzio, commented on by Norpois in this same extract from Le Matin) while the protagonist's stay in Venice is supposed to take place long before the First World War. [FL]

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Translations:CP 04852/16/en

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