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(Created page with "My dear little one, I too was tormented over my brother, his hospital at Étain was bombarded while he was operating, the shells smashing his operating table. He was mentioned in despatches in any case, but not for that, for countless other acts of courage that he never ceases to perform<ref name="n10" />. Unfortunately he is moving forward into the most terrible dangers, and until the end of the war I don’t what news the next day is going to bring me.")
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=[http://www.corr-proust.org/letter/02844 Marcel Proust à Lucien Daudet <nowiki>[le lundi soir 16 novembre 1914, ou peu après]</nowiki>]=
=[http://www.corr-proust.org/letter/02844 Marcel Proust to Lucien Daudet <nowiki>[Monday evening 16 November 1914, or shortly after]</nowiki>]=
<small>(Click on the link above to see this letter and its notes in the ''Corr-Proust'' digital edition, including all relevant hyperlinks.)</small>
<small>(Click on the link above to see this letter and its notes in the ''Corr-Proust'' digital edition, including all relevant hyperlinks.)</small>


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My dear little one,
Mon cher petit,
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<div lang="fr" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr">
If it were not such a joy - as much as we are able to feel any at this time - to receive a letter like yours, and from someone about whom I have never stopped thinking for a single day with ever increasing tenderness, what a relief it is already to read those pages in which there is no mention of “the Boche”, “their Kultur”, “crying like a little child”, “little sister”, nor the rest of it. All things that we can easily tolerate the more we suffer when we think about the martyrdom of the soldiers and officers, so moved are we by their sacrifice.
Si ce n'était pas une telle joie — autant qu'on peut en avoir en ce moment —, de recevoir une pareille lettre, et de quelqu'un à qui je n'ai cessé un jour de penser avec une tendresse sans cesse grandissante, quel repos déjà de lire ces pages où il n'y a ni « Boche », ni « leur Kultur », ni « pleurer comme un gosse », ni « sœurette », ni tout le reste. Toutes choses du reste qu'on supporte bien facilement tant on souffre en pensant au martyre des soldats et des officiers, et tant on est ému de leur sacrifice.
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<div lang="fr" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr">
But all the same had the press, and notably Le Figaro<ref name="n2" />, had better standards then victory would be all the more glorious.
Mais tout de même la presse, et notamment le Figaro<ref name="n2" />, aurait une meilleure tenue que la victoire n'en serait que plus belle.
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Frédéric Masson, whose style in the past I have felt to be that of an old grumbler, is far too much at the present time the embodiment of French “culture”. If he is sincere in finding the Meistersingers inept and inflicted through snobbery, he is more to be pitied than those he declares to be afflicted with “Wagneritis”<ref name="n3" />. If instead of being at war with Germany we had been at war with Russia, what would people have said about Tolstoy and Dostoevsky? It is simply that, since contemporary German literature is so dull that we can’t even discover a single name and a title that the critics of “Foreign Reading” inform us about from time to time only for us to forget them straight away, and not knowing where to start, we limit ourselves to Wagner<ref name="n4" />.
Frédéric Masson, dont j'ai souvent goûté le style vieux grognard autrefois, incarne vraiment trop en ce moment la « culture » française. S'il est sincère en trouvant les Maîtres Chanteurs ineptes et imposés par le snobisme, il est plus à plaindre que ceux qu'il déclare atteints de « wagnerite » <ref name="n3" />. Si au lieu d'avoir la guerre avec l'Allemagne nous l'avions eue avec la Russie, qu'aurait-on dit de Tolstoï et de Dostoïewski ? Seulement, comme la littérature contemporaine allemande est tellement stupide qu'on ne peut même pas retrouver un nom et un titre que seuls les critiques des « Lectures étrangères » nous apprennent de temps en temps pour que nous les oubliions aussitôt, aussi ne trouvant où se prendre, on se rabat sur Wagner<ref name="n4" />.
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<div lang="fr" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr">
My dear little one, I don’t know why I’m telling you all this and so stupidly, because through brevity I completely distort my thoughts, which are not the ones you are going to imagine. In a word, my dear little one, besides all this, you haven’t written to me for two months, since the outbreak of war, but truly there has not been <u>a single day</u> when I haven’t spent hours of my time with you. My dear little one, you cannot believe how my current affection grafted onto that of former times has taken on a new force; but I’m sure you don’t believe me. You will see, in the end.
Mon cher petit, je ne sais pas pourquoi je vous parle de cela et aussi stupidement, car par la brièveté, je fausse entièrement ma pensée qui n'est pas celle que vous allez croire. Enfin, mon cher petit, avant tout ceci, vous ne m'avez pas écrit depuis deux mois, depuis la guerre, mais vraiment il n'y a pas encore eu un jour où je n'ai passé des heures avec vous. Mon cher petit, vous ne sauriez croire comme mon affection actuelle bouturée sur celle d'autrefois a pris une puissance nouvelle ; mais je suis sûr que vous ne me croyez pas. Enfin, vous le verrez.
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<div lang="fr" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr">
My dear little one, I found out a month afterwards that your brother-in-law had suffered an automobile accident, but I had no idea that Léon had been in it and had been seriously injured. Could you ever imagine that I wouldn’t have written to you! So were you too in the motor car? (since you say: I’ve got Léon beside me injured). I am in retrospect very upset to learn this<ref name="n5" />. I shall write to your brother. I was going to do so anyway to tell him of my admiration. War, alas, has confirmed, consecrated and immortalized his “Pre-war”<ref name="n6" />. Ever since Balzac, we have never known a man of imagination discover so forcefully a social law (in the sense where Newton (?) discovered the law of gravity<ref name="n7" />). Yes I was going to write to him about that and I wouldn’t have mentioned the accident! I hope that if his prophesy was not listened to, we will know how to “<u>apply</u>” his discovery and put it into practice, <u>you and I</u>, <u>Post</u>-war. But I do not think (and I think this is also your brother’s opinion even though I didn’t read it in his articles) that it must consist in making us inferior, depriving, I don’t say our musicians, but our writers, of the prodigious fecundation that it is to hear Tristan, and the Ring Cycle, like Péladan who no longer wants us to learn German<ref name="n8" /> (which General Pau and General Joffre<ref name="n9" />, fortunately speak fluently).
Mon cher petit, j'ai su un mois après que votre beau-frère avait eu un accident d'automobile, je n'ai nullement su que Léon y était et avait été gravement blessé. Pouvez-vous croire que je ne vous aurais pas écrit ! Et vous, vous étiez donc aussi dans la voiture ? (puisque vous dites : j'avais Léon blessé à côté de moi). Je suis rétrospectivement bien ému d'apprendre cela<ref name="n5" />. Je vais écrire à votre frère. J'allais d'ailleurs le faire pour lui dire mon admiration. La guerre a hélas vérifié, consacré et immortalisé l'« Avant-guerre » <ref name="n6" />. Depuis Balzac, on n'avait jamais vu un homme d'imagination découvrir avec cette force une loi sociale (dans le sens ou Newton (?) a découvert la loi de la gravitation<ref name="n7" />). Oui, j'allais lui écrire pour cela et je ne lui aurais pas parlé de l'accident ! J'espère que si sa prophétie ne fut pas écoutée, nous saurons « appliquer » sa découverte et pratiquer, nous, l'Après-guerre. Mais je ne pense pas (et je pense que c'est aussi l'avis de votre frère quoique je n'aie pas lu ses articles) qu'elle doive consister à nous rendre inférieurs, à priver je ne dis pas nos musiciens, mais nos écrivains de la prodigieuse fécondation que c'est d'entendre Tristan, et la Tétralogie, comme Péladan qui ne veut plus qu'on apprenne l'allemand<ref name="n8" /> (que le général Pau et le général Joffre<ref name="n9" />, heureusement, possèdent à fond).
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My dear little one, I too was tormented over my brother, his hospital at Étain was bombarded while he was operating, the shells smashing his operating table. He was mentioned in despatches in any case, but not for that, for countless other acts of courage that he never ceases to perform<ref name="n10" />. Unfortunately he is moving forward into the most terrible dangers, and until the end of the war I don’t what news the next day is going to bring me.
Mon cher petit, moi aussi j'ai été tourmenté pour mon frère, son hôpital à Étain a été bombardé pendant qu'il opérait, les obus crevant sa table d'opération. Il a été du reste cité à l'ordre du jour, pas pour cela, mais pour tant d'autres choses courageuses qu'il ne cesse de faire<ref name="n10" />. Malheureusement, il va au-devant des plus grands dangers, et jusqu'à la fin de la guerre je ne sais ce que le lendemain m'apportera comme nouvelles.
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As for me I am to go before a medical board and I shall probably be taken, because they take everybody. But I have been stupid because I didn’t need to get myself registered, having been struck off the staff as an officer<ref name="n11" /> and these Boards are only for privates, according to what Clément de Maugny<ref name="n12" /> told me, when he came to see me one evening<ref name="n13" /> as he was passing through Paris; a very nice chap, having much improved, probably under his wife’s influence. He spoke to me very kindly about you and with great admiration for your last book<ref name="n14" />. I must say that he seemed to me infinitely less enthusiastic about Swann! And we have even both been sidelined by a book by somebody who he is close to and which is especially interesting, it appears, because it talks about “people we know”<ref name="n15" />. He, [Maugny]<ref name="n16" /> has written a book (historical I think<ref name="n17" />) and has spoken to me about “ready copies” (?). I don’t really know what that means. Aside from that, all very “couldn’t give a damn”, “the General said: send me [Maugny]<ref name="n18" />", but also with a simplicity full of real grace, which even struck my housekeeper: “Such simplicity for a Vicomte<ref name="n19" />! »
Moi je vais passer un conseil de révision et je serai probablement pris, car on prend tout le monde. Du reste j'ai été stupide car je n'avais pas à me faire inscrire, ayant été rayé des cadres comme officier<ref name="n11" /> et ces Conseils n'étaient que pour les soldats, à ce que m'a dit Clément de Maugny<ref name="n12" /> qui, passant par Paris, m'a vu un soir<ref name="n13" /> ; très gentil, ayant beaucoup gagné, sans doute sous l'influence de sa femme. Il m'a parlé très gentiment de vous et avec une grande admiration de votre dernier livre<ref name="n14" />. Je dois dire qu'il m'a paru infiniment moins enthousiaste de Swann ! Et même que nous sommes enfoncés tous les deux par un livre de quelqu'un qui le touche de près et intéressant surtout, paraît-il, parce qu'il y est question de « gens que nous connaissons » <ref name="n15" />. Lui-même, [Maugny] <ref name="n16" /> a fait un livre (je crois historique<ref name="n17" />) et m'a parlé de « bons à tirer » (?). Je ne sais pas bien ce que c'est. À côté de cela très « va-te-faire-fiche », « le Général a dit : qu'on m'envoie [Maugny] <ref name="n18" /> », et aussi d'une simplicité pleine de grâce vraiment, et qui a frappé même ma femme de chambre (qui est aussi cuisinière, valet de chambre, etc.), laquelle m'a dit : « Quelle simplicité pour un vicomte<ref name="n19" /> ! »
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My dear little one, until my appearance at the review board I shall look after myself, so that I will be able to go to it. But all the same if you come to Paris I will be able to receive you (but I won’t get up). Afterwards, if I’m not “taken”, so much the easier. But I will be.
Mon cher petit, jusqu'à mon conseil de révision, je me soignerai, pour pouvoir y aller. Mais tout de même si vous venez à Paris, je pourrai vous recevoir (mais je ne me lève pas). Après, encore plus facilement si je ne suis pas « pris ». Mais je le serai.
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My dear little one, everything I have to say to you would fill volumes, and I wanted to reply to you straight away so as not to let myself be “decimated” by this burst of activity towards you if I were to resist. I hope that you don’t have too many of your friends “killed in action”, but one loves even those one does not know, we weep even for the unknown.
Mon cher petit, tout ce que j'aurais à vous dire exigerait des volumes et j'ai voulu vous répondre tout de suite pour ne pas me laisser « décimer » par cet élan vers vous si j'y résistais. J'espère que vous n'avez pas trop d'amis parmi les « Morts au champ d'honneur », mais on aime même ceux qu'on ne connaît pas, on pleure même les inconnus.
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And on this subject, my dear little one, I was utterly stupefied by something I was told: ill-informed as I am about the magnitude and the steady brightness of the new stars that have been shining for some time, I thought I owed a lot of respect towards M. [Z…]<ref name="n20" /> who I have never read, but who I was told possessed some genius. But I was quoted these words of his the other day, which made me sick and that I can’t quite believe are accurate. I am writing them out completely word for word where they concern people I don’t know and whose names I wouldn’t be able to invent, even less their first names: “Yes, this war! But in the end it would have this result at least, of reconciling Célimène and Alceste (Comte and Comtesse de [X.], née [***]). Oronte told me to tell you that Valère had done very well”, (these first names stand for M. [de A.] and the young Duc [de B] don’t they). “What I can’t endure is when I learn of <u>the death of somebody of good family</u>” (that’s to say fashionable). “Oh yes! to find out that a [***] has been killed is a terrible blow to me.” Can it really be possible! I wouldn’t have believed M. [Y.] or any other buffoon capable, I’m not saying of speaking, but of thinking like that, but a writer, a philosopher! […] I hope that none of it is true. I don’t deny anything […] and I think that the “people from good families” are sometimes very good. But their death can’t cause me greater pain than that of others. And the chance nature of friendships has meant that so far they have caused me much less.
Et à ce propos, mon cher petit, j'ai été bien stupéfait de quelque chose qu'on m'a dit : peu renseigné sur la grandeur réelle et l'éclat fixe des étoiles nouvelles qui resplendissent depuis quelque temps, je croyais devoir un très grand respect à M. [Z...] <ref name="n20" /> dont je n'ai jamais rien lu, mais qu'on m'avait dit génial. Or, on m'a cité de lui ces propos tenus l'autre jour, qui m'ont fait vomir et que je ne puis croire exacts. Je vous transcris d'autant plus littéralement qu'il s'agit de personnes que je ne connais pas et dont je n'aurais pu inventer les noms, et encore moins les prénoms : « Oui, cette guerre ! Enfin du moins elle aura eu ce résultat de réconcilier Célimène et Alceste (le comte et la comtesse de [X.], née [***]). Oronte m'a dit de vous dire que Valère s'était très bien conduit (ces prénoms désignent n'est-ce pas M. [de A...] et le jeune duc [de B...]). Ce que je ne peux pas supporter, c'est quand j'apprends la mort de quelqu'un de bien (c'est-à-dire de chic). Ah ! oui apprendre qu'un [***] a été tué, pour moi c'est un coup terrible. » Est-ce vraiment possible ! Je n'aurais pas cru M. [Y...] ou tel autre bouffon capable, je ne dis pas de parler, mais de penser ainsi, mais un écrivain, un philosophe ! […] J'espère que tout cela est faux. Je ne renie rien […] et je crois que les « gens bien » sont quelquefois très bien. Mais leur mort ne peut pas me faire plus de peine que celle des autres. Et le hasard de mes amitiés fait qu'elle m'en a causé jusqu'ici beaucoup moins.
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As for those killed in the war they are exemplary, even more than can be expressed. Everything that has been written about poor Psichari, who I didn’t know but I heard so much about, is completely false<ref name="n21" />. And apart from one or two of them, those literary men who now think that they are “serving” through their writing, talk very badly about it all. (There are exceptions - have you read “Les Trois Croix” by Daniel Halévy in the Débats<ref name="n22" />, a paper in which, incidentally, there is an article every day by I don’t know who, called “The Military Situation”, which is remarkable and plainly written).
Quant aux morts de la guerre, ils sont admirables, et tellement autrement qu'on ne dit. Tout ce qu'on a écrit sur le pauvre Psichari que je ne connaissais pas, mais dont on m'a tant parlé, est si faux<ref name="n21" />. Du reste à part un ou deux, les littérateurs qui en ce moment croient « servir » en écrivant, parlent bien mal de tout cela. (Il y a des exceptions, avez-vous lu « Les trois Croix » de Daniel Halévy, dans les Débats<ref name="n22" />, journal où, entre parenthèses, il y a tous les jours un article de je ne sais pas qui, intitulé « La situation militaire », qui est remarquable et clair).
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In any case all these men of importance are as ignorant as children. I don’t know if you read an article by General Zurlinden about the origin of the word Boche, which, according to him, only goes back to last September when our soldiers etc<ref name="n23" />. He too must never have talked with anybody who wasn’t of “good family”. Otherwise he would have known as well as me that servants, the common people, have always said: “a head like a Boche”, “he’s a dirty Boche”. I must say that coming from them it is often quite droll (as in the wonderful story about Paulhan’s mechanic<ref name="n24" />). But when the academicians say “Boche” with a false heartiness as they address the people, like grown ups who lisp when they are talking to children (Donnay, Capus, Hanotaux<ref name="n25" /> etc.<ref name="n26" />) it is excruciating.
Du reste tous ces hommes importants sont ignorants comme des enfants. Je ne sais si vous avez lu un article du Général Zurlinden sur l'origine du mot boche, qui selon lui, remonte au mois de Septembre dernier quand nos soldats etc<ref name="n23" />. Il faut que lui aussi n'ait jamais causé qu'avec des gens « bien ». Sans cela il saurait comme moi que les domestiques, les gens du peuple ont toujours dit : « une tête de boche » « c'est un sale boche ». Je dois dire que de leur part c'est souvent assez drôle (comme dans l'admirable récit du mécanicien de Paulhan<ref name="n24" />). Mais quand des académiciens disent « Boches » avec un faux entrain pour s'adresser au peuple comme les grandes personnes qui zézaient quand elles parlent aux enfants (Donnay, Capus, Hanotaux<ref name="n25" /> etc. <ref name="n26" />) c'est crispant.
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My dear little one, I am paralysed with fatigue and I no longer have the strength to give you all the news about Reynaldo. He was at Melun and having asked to be sent East he was sent to Albi, from where however, alas, he will leave for “the trenches” […] Since the start of this war I can’t tell you all the proofs of moral nobility that he has shown. I’m not just talking from the point of view of the war, but even indirectly. […] Truly Reynaldo is a rock of goodness on which we can build and live. And truly good. He is truly beyond measure […]<ref name="n27" /> suffering. And I don’t know why I cite that particular example. If you want to write to him it would be best to write to him at his regiment, Hôtel du Vigan Albi Tarn. I’m sure that would give him great deal of pleasure because he has very special feelings for you and quotes you at his every word, never comparing you other than favourably
Mon cher petit la fatigue me paralyse et je n'ai plus la force de vous donner des nouvelles de Reynaldo. Il était à Melun et ayant demandé à partir dans l'Est, a été envoyé à Albi d'où il va cependant hélas, partir pour « les tranchées » […] Je ne puis vous dire, depuis le commencement de cette guerre, toutes les preuves de noblesse morale qu'il a données. Je ne dis pas spécialement au point de vue de la guerre, mais même par ricochet […] Vraiment Reynaldo est un roc de bonté sur lequel on peut bâtir et demeurer. Et de bonté vraie. Il est vrai par-dessus tout […]<ref name="n27" /> la souffrance. Et je ne sais pourquoi je cite plutôt cet exemple. Si vous désirez lui écrire, il vaudrait mieux plutôt qu'à son régiment, lui écrire Hôtel du Vigan Albi Tarn. Vous lui ferez sûrement grand plaisir car il a pour vous des sentiments tout particuliers et vous cite à tout propos et ne vous compare jamais que pour vous préférer.
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My dear little one, please present my respectful best wishes at the feet of Madame your mother and Madame your sister, I shall write to your brother. A thousand tender thoughts from your
Mon cher petit mettez mes respectueux hommages aux pieds de Madame Votre Mère et de Madame Votre Sœur, je vais écrire à votre frère. Mille tendresses de votre
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Marcel
Marcel
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P.S. Hôtel Brunswick seems to be a bit “Boche”<ref name="n28" />. It’s true that Béranger<ref name="n29" /> neutralizes it though.
P.S. Hôtel Brunswick me semble un peu « boche »<ref name="n28" />. Il est vrai que Béranger<ref name="n29" /> neutralise.
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“Odile”<ref name="n30" /> is also very “Jumilhac"<ref name="n31" /> » as M. Corpechot<ref name="n32" /> would say, also very “Barrès”<ref name="n33" />, but above all must be very nice being as she is your niece<ref name="n34" />.
« Odile<ref name="n30" /> » est aussi très « Jumilhac<ref name="n31" /> » comme dirait M. Corpechot<ref name="n32" />, et aussi très Barrès<ref name="n33" />, et surtout doit être bien gentil étant votre nièce<ref name="n34" />.
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<ref name="n35" /> <ref name="n36" />
<ref name="n35" /> <ref name="n36" />
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==Notes==
==Notes==
<references>
<references>


<ref name="n1"> Note 1 </ref>
<ref name="n1"> The mention of an article by Daniel Halévy in the Journal des Débats of 17 November 1914 (an evening paper) allows us to date this letter from Monday evening 16 November 1914, or shortly after. [PK, FL, CSz] </ref>


<ref name="n2"> Note 2 [CSz] </ref>
<ref name="n2"> Title suppressed by Lucien Daudet when first published, reinstated after a note in the Christie's auction catalogue. [CSz] </ref>


<ref name="n3"> Note 3 </ref>
<ref name="n3"> Frédéric Masson, in an article entitled "L'art sans patrie" (Art without a native country) that appeared on the front page of L'Écho de Paris, 17 September 1914, said this of Richard Wagner: "Parisians, insulted by this gentleman for not having applauded his music sufficiently, dragged through the mud by him, have drowned out this wretched rhapsody, The Meistersingers, with their bravos, a piece in which they were not even able to see the broadside he was directing against them [...]" In an article printed in the same newspaper on the following 12 October, under the title "La Drogue" (The Drug), he asserted: "Wagnerism being the thorough expression of German culture, the French people afflicted with Wagneritis are voluntarily surrendering to Germany." Frédéric Masson, a historian specialising in the 1st Empire and member of the Académie française since 1903, contributed to La Presse, the Revue de Paris and L'Écho de Paris. [PK] </ref>


<ref name="n4"> Note 4 </ref>
<ref name="n4"> Proust, along with many of his contemporaries, knew very little about the German literature that came out at the time, no doubt on account of the war of 1870-1871. [PK]</ref>


<ref name="n5"> Note 5 </ref>
<ref name="n5"> A note by Lucien Daudet explains: "On the night of the mobilization, the motor vehicle which was taking the three of us from Paris to La Roche was wrecked in a head on collision with another vehicle." Mme Daudet, in her journal about her family and the war of 1914-1919 (Paris, Fasquelle, 1920), p. 7, relates how, on Sunday 2 August 1914, she received a note written in pencil by her son Lucien saying: "Motor accident outside Artenay close to Orléans, Léon with a head wound, Robert hurt in his hand and face, wounds dressed and out of danger. Lucien uninjured." [PK] </ref>


<ref name="n6"> Note 6 </ref>
<ref name="n6"> Léon Daudet's book, L'Avant-guerre. Études et documents sur l'espionnage juif-allemand en France depuis l'affaire Dreyfus (Pre-war. Studies and documents about German-Jewish espionage in France during the Dreyfus Affair), Paris, Nouvelle Librairie Nationale, 1913, reprinted a series of articles that had appeared over eighteen months in L'Action française. [PK, FL] </ref>


<ref name="n7"> Note 7 </ref>
<ref name="n7"> Isaac Newton  (1642-1787), English physicist, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher, famous for discovering the universal laws of gravity and his analysis of light. Proust's hesitation is understandable, because the German scholar and philosopher Leibniz had made this same discovery before him but it was Newton who was credited with it. [PK, FL] </ref>


<ref name="n8"> Note 8 </ref>
<ref name="n8"> Reference to an article printed on the front page of Le Figaro, 28 September 1914, under the title "Leur lange" (Their Language), in which Péladan wrote: "[...] more German spoken, on the stage, more German language on French soil. Can one still have a friend who is German? [...] More German in the university syllabus. [...] Has it not been demonstrated that we can only talk to them with steel, is it not understood that we can no longer trade with them? So what then is the use of studying German? [...]" [PK] </ref>


<ref name="n9"> Note 9 </ref>
<ref name="n9"> Note 9 </ref>

Revision as of 11:37, 7 February 2022

Other languages:

Marcel Proust to Lucien Daudet [Monday evening 16 November 1914, or shortly after]

(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 little one,

If it were not such a joy - as much as we are able to feel any at this time - to receive a letter like yours, and from someone about whom I have never stopped thinking for a single day with ever increasing tenderness, what a relief it is already to read those pages in which there is no mention of “the Boche”, “their Kultur”, “crying like a little child”, “little sister”, nor the rest of it. All things that we can easily tolerate the more we suffer when we think about the martyrdom of the soldiers and officers, so moved are we by their sacrifice.

But all the same had the press, and notably Le Figaro[2], had better standards then victory would be all the more glorious.

Frédéric Masson, whose style in the past I have felt to be that of an old grumbler, is far too much at the present time the embodiment of French “culture”. If he is sincere in finding the Meistersingers inept and inflicted through snobbery, he is more to be pitied than those he declares to be afflicted with “Wagneritis”[3]. If instead of being at war with Germany we had been at war with Russia, what would people have said about Tolstoy and Dostoevsky? It is simply that, since contemporary German literature is so dull that we can’t even discover a single name and a title that the critics of “Foreign Reading” inform us about from time to time only for us to forget them straight away, and not knowing where to start, we limit ourselves to Wagner[4].

My dear little one, I don’t know why I’m telling you all this and so stupidly, because through brevity I completely distort my thoughts, which are not the ones you are going to imagine. In a word, my dear little one, besides all this, you haven’t written to me for two months, since the outbreak of war, but truly there has not been a single day when I haven’t spent hours of my time with you. My dear little one, you cannot believe how my current affection grafted onto that of former times has taken on a new force; but I’m sure you don’t believe me. You will see, in the end.

My dear little one, I found out a month afterwards that your brother-in-law had suffered an automobile accident, but I had no idea that Léon had been in it and had been seriously injured. Could you ever imagine that I wouldn’t have written to you! So were you too in the motor car? (since you say: I’ve got Léon beside me injured). I am in retrospect very upset to learn this[5]. I shall write to your brother. I was going to do so anyway to tell him of my admiration. War, alas, has confirmed, consecrated and immortalized his “Pre-war”[6]. Ever since Balzac, we have never known a man of imagination discover so forcefully a social law (in the sense where Newton (?) discovered the law of gravity[7]). Yes I was going to write to him about that and I wouldn’t have mentioned the accident! I hope that if his prophesy was not listened to, we will know how to “apply” his discovery and put it into practice, you and I, Post-war. But I do not think (and I think this is also your brother’s opinion even though I didn’t read it in his articles) that it must consist in making us inferior, depriving, I don’t say our musicians, but our writers, of the prodigious fecundation that it is to hear Tristan, and the Ring Cycle, like Péladan who no longer wants us to learn German[8] (which General Pau and General Joffre[9], fortunately speak fluently).

My dear little one, I too was tormented over my brother, his hospital at Étain was bombarded while he was operating, the shells smashing his operating table. He was mentioned in despatches in any case, but not for that, for countless other acts of courage that he never ceases to perform[10]. Unfortunately he is moving forward into the most terrible dangers, and until the end of the war I don’t what news the next day is going to bring me.

As for me I am to go before a medical board and I shall probably be taken, because they take everybody. But I have been stupid because I didn’t need to get myself registered, having been struck off the staff as an officer[11] and these Boards are only for privates, according to what Clément de Maugny[12] told me, when he came to see me one evening[13] as he was passing through Paris; a very nice chap, having much improved, probably under his wife’s influence. He spoke to me very kindly about you and with great admiration for your last book[14]. I must say that he seemed to me infinitely less enthusiastic about Swann! And we have even both been sidelined by a book by somebody who he is close to and which is especially interesting, it appears, because it talks about “people we know”[15]. He, [Maugny][16] has written a book (historical I think[17]) and has spoken to me about “ready copies” (?). I don’t really know what that means. Aside from that, all very “couldn’t give a damn”, “the General said: send me [Maugny][18]", but also with a simplicity full of real grace, which even struck my housekeeper: “Such simplicity for a Vicomte[19]! »

My dear little one, until my appearance at the review board I shall look after myself, so that I will be able to go to it. But all the same if you come to Paris I will be able to receive you (but I won’t get up). Afterwards, if I’m not “taken”, so much the easier. But I will be.

My dear little one, everything I have to say to you would fill volumes, and I wanted to reply to you straight away so as not to let myself be “decimated” by this burst of activity towards you if I were to resist. I hope that you don’t have too many of your friends “killed in action”, but one loves even those one does not know, we weep even for the unknown.

And on this subject, my dear little one, I was utterly stupefied by something I was told: ill-informed as I am about the magnitude and the steady brightness of the new stars that have been shining for some time, I thought I owed a lot of respect towards M. [Z…][20] who I have never read, but who I was told possessed some genius. But I was quoted these words of his the other day, which made me sick and that I can’t quite believe are accurate. I am writing them out completely word for word where they concern people I don’t know and whose names I wouldn’t be able to invent, even less their first names: “Yes, this war! But in the end it would have this result at least, of reconciling Célimène and Alceste (Comte and Comtesse de [X.], née [***]). Oronte told me to tell you that Valère had done very well”, (these first names stand for M. [de A.] and the young Duc [de B] don’t they). “What I can’t endure is when I learn of the death of somebody of good family” (that’s to say fashionable). “Oh yes! to find out that a [***] has been killed is a terrible blow to me.” Can it really be possible! I wouldn’t have believed M. [Y.] or any other buffoon capable, I’m not saying of speaking, but of thinking like that, but a writer, a philosopher! […] I hope that none of it is true. I don’t deny anything […] and I think that the “people from good families” are sometimes very good. But their death can’t cause me greater pain than that of others. And the chance nature of friendships has meant that so far they have caused me much less.

As for those killed in the war they are exemplary, even more than can be expressed. Everything that has been written about poor Psichari, who I didn’t know but I heard so much about, is completely false[21]. And apart from one or two of them, those literary men who now think that they are “serving” through their writing, talk very badly about it all. (There are exceptions - have you read “Les Trois Croix” by Daniel Halévy in the Débats[22], a paper in which, incidentally, there is an article every day by I don’t know who, called “The Military Situation”, which is remarkable and plainly written).

In any case all these men of importance are as ignorant as children. I don’t know if you read an article by General Zurlinden about the origin of the word Boche, which, according to him, only goes back to last September when our soldiers etc[23]. He too must never have talked with anybody who wasn’t of “good family”. Otherwise he would have known as well as me that servants, the common people, have always said: “a head like a Boche”, “he’s a dirty Boche”. I must say that coming from them it is often quite droll (as in the wonderful story about Paulhan’s mechanic[24]). But when the academicians say “Boche” with a false heartiness as they address the people, like grown ups who lisp when they are talking to children (Donnay, Capus, Hanotaux[25] etc.[26]) it is excruciating.

My dear little one, I am paralysed with fatigue and I no longer have the strength to give you all the news about Reynaldo. He was at Melun and having asked to be sent East he was sent to Albi, from where however, alas, he will leave for “the trenches” […] Since the start of this war I can’t tell you all the proofs of moral nobility that he has shown. I’m not just talking from the point of view of the war, but even indirectly. […] Truly Reynaldo is a rock of goodness on which we can build and live. And truly good. He is truly beyond measure […][27] suffering. And I don’t know why I cite that particular example. If you want to write to him it would be best to write to him at his regiment, Hôtel du Vigan Albi Tarn. I’m sure that would give him great deal of pleasure because he has very special feelings for you and quotes you at his every word, never comparing you other than favourably

My dear little one, please present my respectful best wishes at the feet of Madame your mother and Madame your sister, I shall write to your brother. A thousand tender thoughts from your

Marcel

P.S. Hôtel Brunswick seems to be a bit “Boche”[28]. It’s true that Béranger[29] neutralizes it though.

“Odile”[30] is also very “Jumilhac"[31] » as M. Corpechot[32] would say, also very “Barrès”[33], but above all must be very nice being as she is your niece[34].

[35] [36]

Notes

  1. ↑ The mention of an article by Daniel Halévy in the Journal des Débats of 17 November 1914 (an evening paper) allows us to date this letter from Monday evening 16 November 1914, or shortly after. [PK, FL, CSz]
  2. ↑ Title suppressed by Lucien Daudet when first published, reinstated after a note in the Christie's auction catalogue. [CSz]
  3. ↑ Frédéric Masson, in an article entitled "L'art sans patrie" (Art without a native country) that appeared on the front page of L'Écho de Paris, 17 September 1914, said this of Richard Wagner: "Parisians, insulted by this gentleman for not having applauded his music sufficiently, dragged through the mud by him, have drowned out this wretched rhapsody, The Meistersingers, with their bravos, a piece in which they were not even able to see the broadside he was directing against them [...]" In an article printed in the same newspaper on the following 12 October, under the title "La Drogue" (The Drug), he asserted: "Wagnerism being the thorough expression of German culture, the French people afflicted with Wagneritis are voluntarily surrendering to Germany." Frédéric Masson, a historian specialising in the 1st Empire and member of the Académie française since 1903, contributed to La Presse, the Revue de Paris and L'Écho de Paris. [PK]
  4. ↑ Proust, along with many of his contemporaries, knew very little about the German literature that came out at the time, no doubt on account of the war of 1870-1871. [PK]
  5. ↑ A note by Lucien Daudet explains: "On the night of the mobilization, the motor vehicle which was taking the three of us from Paris to La Roche was wrecked in a head on collision with another vehicle." Mme Daudet, in her journal about her family and the war of 1914-1919 (Paris, Fasquelle, 1920), p. 7, relates how, on Sunday 2 August 1914, she received a note written in pencil by her son Lucien saying: "Motor accident outside Artenay close to Orléans, Léon with a head wound, Robert hurt in his hand and face, wounds dressed and out of danger. Lucien uninjured." [PK]
  6. ↑ Léon Daudet's book, L'Avant-guerre. Études et documents sur l'espionnage juif-allemand en France depuis l'affaire Dreyfus (Pre-war. Studies and documents about German-Jewish espionage in France during the Dreyfus Affair), Paris, Nouvelle Librairie Nationale, 1913, reprinted a series of articles that had appeared over eighteen months in L'Action française. [PK, FL]
  7. ↑ Isaac Newton (1642-1787), English physicist, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher, famous for discovering the universal laws of gravity and his analysis of light. Proust's hesitation is understandable, because the German scholar and philosopher Leibniz had made this same discovery before him but it was Newton who was credited with it. [PK, FL]
  8. ↑ Reference to an article printed on the front page of Le Figaro, 28 September 1914, under the title "Leur lange" (Their Language), in which Péladan wrote: "[...] more German spoken, on the stage, more German language on French soil. Can one still have a friend who is German? [...] More German in the university syllabus. [...] Has it not been demonstrated that we can only talk to them with steel, is it not understood that we can no longer trade with them? So what then is the use of studying German? [...]" [PK]
  9. ↑ Note 9
  10. ↑ Note 10
  11. ↑ Note 11
  12. ↑ Note 12
  13. ↑ Note 13
  14. ↑ Note 14
  15. ↑ Note 15
  16. ↑ Note 16
  17. ↑ Note 17
  18. ↑ Note 18 [CSz]
  19. ↑ Note 19 [CSz]
  20. ↑ Note 20
  21. ↑ Note 21
  22. ↑ Note 23
  23. ↑ Note 23
  24. ↑ Note 24 [PK]
  25. ↑ Note 25
  26. ↑ Note 26
  27. ↑ Note 27
  28. ↑ Note 28
  29. ↑ Note 29
  30. ↑ Note 30
  31. ↑ Note 31 [FL]
  32. ↑ Note 32
  33. ↑ Note 33
  34. ↑ Note 34
  35. ↑ Translation notes:
  36. ↑ Contributors:
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