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I received your letter Tuesday evening and its contents interested me very much.
I received your letter Tuesday evening and its contents interested me very much.


I am hurrying to write back in order to clear up the misunderstanding that your reading of my last letter might have given you<ref name="n1" />.
I am hurrying to write back in order to clear up any misunderstanding that your reading of my last letter might have given you<ref name="n1" />.


I have no aspirations at all for your friends to place their money and even less their securities with me. As you can see that simplifies the matter greatly. The only thing to which I aspire is to have as clients those people who possess a large fortune and do not regard themselves as the issue from Jupiter’s thigh.
I have no aspirations at all for your friends to place their money and even less their securities with me. As you can see that simplifies the matter greatly. The only thing to which I aspire is to have as clients those people who possess a large fortune and do not regard themselves as the issue from Jupiter’s thigh.


Comme tu n'ignores pas, lorsqu'une Ville ou un État fait un emprunt, l'établissement qui en fait l'émission alloue une commission au banquier qui lui apporte une souscription, c'est pourquoi plus on a de clients qui souscrivent au dit emprunt plus la commission que l'on reçoit devient intéressante.
As you are not unaware, when a City or a State takes out a bond, the institution that has issued it allocates a commission to the banker who procures a subscription to it, which is why the more clients one has who are subscribers to the said bond the more the commission that one receives from it provides interest.


Je ne crois donc pas que la difficulté que tu me signales soit insurmontable, car même lorsque la fortune provient de la femme et se trouve placée sous le régime dotal, les intérêts provenant de ce capital sont à la disposition du mari. Or comme je ne pense pas que tes amis en question dépensent la totalité de leurs revenus ils doivent être à même de placer à nouveau le montant de leurs économies.
I do not believe therefore that the difficulty you point out is unsurmountable, because even when the fortune comes from the wife and is governed by the rules of the dowry, any interests arising from that capital are at the disposal of the husband. So as I do not believe that the friends you mention are expending the totality of their revenues they must be in a position to invest anew the sum of their savings


Il s'agirait donc en premier lieu de connaître les gens en question et puis d'avoir la certitude que quand ils recevront une circulaire ou une lettre de ma maison ils ne la jetteront pas au panier mais donneront suite à ma proposition dans la mesure de leur disponible, pourvu bien entendu que ma proposition leur agrée. Mais si tes amis sont des gens tellement chics qu'ils croient me rendre service en me donnant audience, et s'ils doivent me considérer comme un être de qualité inférieure parce que je n'ai pas de particule, je t'avoue que j'aime autant ne rien faire pour acquérir leur clientèle<ref name="n2" />.
So first of all it would be a case of getting acquainted with the persons in question and then to have the certainty that when they receive a circular or a letter from our firm they don’t throw it in the wastepaper basket but follow up on my proposal to the extent that is available to them, provided of course that my proposal is agreeable to them. But if your friends are such elegant gentlemen that they think they are doing me a service by giving me an audience, and if they feel the need to consider me as a person of inferior quality because I don’t have a "de" in my name, I assure you that it would please me just as much not to make any effort to acquire their clientele<ref name="n2" />.


Maintenant que tu connais le fond de ma pensée et celui de tes amis, je te laisse libre d'agir comme tu jugeras bon.
Now that you know my considered opinion and that of your friends, I leave you free to act as you think fit.


Tu auras vu par notre lettre d'hier<ref name="n3" /> que nous avons encaissé un dividende de 5,80 francs par titre sur tes actions Banco del Rio de la Plata. Nous avons donc bien fait de ne pas les vendre à 320 puisqu'après détachement du coupon ils cotent 321 ce qui fait en somme 326,80 avec coupon.
You will have seen from our letter of yesterday<ref name="n3" /> that we have encashed a dividend of 5.80 francs per unit on your Banco del Rio de la Plata shares. So we have done the right thing not to sell them at 320 because after the ex-dividend they are valued at 321 which makes a total of 326.80 with the dividend.


Si, comme je l'espère, elles atteignent bientôt 323 il est possible que je me décide à les vendre puisque cela représente 330, en tenant compte du coupon.
If, as I hope, they soon reach 323 it is possible that I will decide to sell since that amounts to 330 taking the dividend into account.


Crois-moi mon cher Marcel,
Believe me my dear Marcel,


Ton bien sincèrement dévoué.
Your very sincerely devoted.


<ref name="n4" />
<ref name="n4" />
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<references>
<references>


<ref name="n1"> Note 1 </ref>
<ref name="n1"> In his letter to Proust of 29 August 1916 (CP 03187; Kolb, XV, no. 123), Hauser wrote: "one of the principal branches of my firm is the administration of people's wealth" and suggested to Proust that he "make him known" to his millionaire friends. Proust thought that Hauser wanted to be entrusted with the administration of their estates, and replied (CP 03189; Kolb, XV, no. 125) that the fortunes of his three millionaire friends came either from a spouse or from a mother belonging to a banking family, and that these estates must continue to be administered by those banks. But Proust had misread and misinterpreted Hauser's letter, because the latter had merely suggested he "inform them [...] about his services [...] for the investment of their funds". [FL] </ref>


<ref name="n2"> Note 2 </ref>
<ref name="n2"> Hauser is alluding to the three aristocratic friends whose alliances to wealthy Jewish families Proust had described in his previous letter (CP 03189; Kolb, XV, no. 125). [CSz] </ref>


<ref name="n3"> Note 3 </ref>
<ref name="n3"> Letter not found. This letter of Thursday 31 August 1916 from Hauser's bank must have been a purely financial communication,  apparently a notification of receipt of dividends. [FL] </ref>


<ref name="n4"> Note 4 </ref>
<ref name="n4"> Unsigned carbon copy. [FL] </ref>


<ref name="n5"> Translation notes: </ref>  
<ref name="n5"> Translation notes: </ref>  


<ref name="n6"> Contributors: </ref>
<ref name="n6"> Contributors: Yorktaylors. </ref>


</references>
</references>

Latest revision as of 04:34, 18 February 2021


Other languages:

Lionel Hauser to Marcel Proust 1 September 1916

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

Paris, 1 September 1916

My dear Marcel,

I received your letter Tuesday evening and its contents interested me very much.

I am hurrying to write back in order to clear up any misunderstanding that your reading of my last letter might have given you[1].

I have no aspirations at all for your friends to place their money and even less their securities with me. As you can see that simplifies the matter greatly. The only thing to which I aspire is to have as clients those people who possess a large fortune and do not regard themselves as the issue from Jupiter’s thigh.

As you are not unaware, when a City or a State takes out a bond, the institution that has issued it allocates a commission to the banker who procures a subscription to it, which is why the more clients one has who are subscribers to the said bond the more the commission that one receives from it provides interest.

I do not believe therefore that the difficulty you point out is unsurmountable, because even when the fortune comes from the wife and is governed by the rules of the dowry, any interests arising from that capital are at the disposal of the husband. So as I do not believe that the friends you mention are expending the totality of their revenues they must be in a position to invest anew the sum of their savings

So first of all it would be a case of getting acquainted with the persons in question and then to have the certainty that when they receive a circular or a letter from our firm they don’t throw it in the wastepaper basket but follow up on my proposal to the extent that is available to them, provided of course that my proposal is agreeable to them. But if your friends are such elegant gentlemen that they think they are doing me a service by giving me an audience, and if they feel the need to consider me as a person of inferior quality because I don’t have a "de" in my name, I assure you that it would please me just as much not to make any effort to acquire their clientele[2].

Now that you know my considered opinion and that of your friends, I leave you free to act as you think fit.

You will have seen from our letter of yesterday[3] that we have encashed a dividend of 5.80 francs per unit on your Banco del Rio de la Plata shares. So we have done the right thing not to sell them at 320 because after the ex-dividend they are valued at 321 which makes a total of 326.80 with the dividend.

If, as I hope, they soon reach 323 it is possible that I will decide to sell since that amounts to 330 taking the dividend into account.

Believe me my dear Marcel,

Your very sincerely devoted.

[4]

[5] [6]

Notes

  1. ↑ In his letter to Proust of 29 August 1916 (CP 03187; Kolb, XV, no. 123), Hauser wrote: "one of the principal branches of my firm is the administration of people's wealth" and suggested to Proust that he "make him known" to his millionaire friends. Proust thought that Hauser wanted to be entrusted with the administration of their estates, and replied (CP 03189; Kolb, XV, no. 125) that the fortunes of his three millionaire friends came either from a spouse or from a mother belonging to a banking family, and that these estates must continue to be administered by those banks. But Proust had misread and misinterpreted Hauser's letter, because the latter had merely suggested he "inform them [...] about his services [...] for the investment of their funds". [FL]
  2. ↑ Hauser is alluding to the three aristocratic friends whose alliances to wealthy Jewish families Proust had described in his previous letter (CP 03189; Kolb, XV, no. 125). [CSz]
  3. ↑ Letter not found. This letter of Thursday 31 August 1916 from Hauser's bank must have been a purely financial communication, apparently a notification of receipt of dividends. [FL]
  4. ↑ Unsigned carbon copy. [FL]
  5. ↑ Translation notes:
  6. ↑ Contributors: Yorktaylors.
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