CP 03292/en
Marcel Proust to Jean Cocteau [shortly after 21 May 1917]
(Click on the link above to see this letter and its notes in the Corr-Proust digital edition, including all relevant hyperlinks.)
Dear Jean
had I not been in the middle of a terrible attack today I would have liked to tell you - and Monsieur Picasso - of the sneezing fits and bouts of despondency that have been unrelentingly provoked in me by the dominical blue and the white astragals of the misunderstood acrobat[2], dancing “As if hurling reproaches at God” [3] I live with such nostalgia. The other ballets[4] were so-so. This one was heart-rending, and continues to unfold in me I can’t tell you what regrets. I still see the mauve horse[5] like the Swan “with mad gestures, Like ridiculous and sublime exiles”. [6] “And then I think of you”.[7] Of you Jean, and I think too of the little girl’s “tartan”, so touching, of the little girl who stops and starts so wonderfully. What concentration in all that, what nourishment for these times of famine and what sorrow when I still had the use of my legs not to have frequented the sawdust of circuses and all that is left to me tonight is heart-rending regret. Thank you dear Jean for helping me in so many ways[8] to make the effort in the state I was in to go to the Châtelet and seek “The only such delectable bread That is not served at his table By the world we follow”. [9] How handsome Picasso is!
Affectionately yours,
Marcel
Notes
- ↑ This letter dates from shortly after 21 May 1917, because Proust wrote it after attending one of the Ballet Russes performances held at the Théâtre du Châtelet on the 21 or 23 May 1917. The Ballets Russes left for Madrid 24 May ("Dans les théâtres" [In the theatres], Le Gaulois, 18 May 1917, p. 4). [PK, FP]
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- ↑ Translation notes:
- ↑ Contributors: