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=[http://www.corr-proust.org/letter/03804 Marcel Proust à Robert de Flers <nowiki>[le 16 juin 1919]</nowiki>]=  
=[http://www.corr-proust.org/letter/03804 Marcel Proust to Robert de Flers <nowiki>[16 June 1919]</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>


8bis rue Laurent Pichat<ref name="n1" />
8bis rue Laurent Pichat<ref name="n1" />


Mon cher Robert
My dear Robert,


Si tu ne me trouves pas trop "avant-guerre" (je ne le suis nullement !) en te parlant livres, je viens te demander, au sujet de trois volumes de moi qui paraîtront à la fin de la semaine aux Editions de la Nouvelle Revue française<ref name="n2" />. Calmette, sans préjudice de ce que pouvait écrire sur mes livres le critique littéraire du Figaro, avait l'habitude, avant cette critique, et dès l'apparition du livre, de mettre en tête du journal un long article. C'est ainsi que Lucien Daudet fit paraître en tête du Figaro un article de trois colonnes sur Du Côté de chez Swann<ref name="n3" />, ce qui n'empêcha pas Chevassu d'en parler ensuite<ref name="n4" />. Il me semble que cette gentillesse m'est d'autant plus due cette fois, que le Figaro après avoir, grâce à toi, annoncé un feuilleton de moi, a refusé, à cause de la cherté de papier, de le publier (sans le connaître d'ailleurs)<ref name="n5" />, malgré les démarches de Bernstein. Je crois donc que ce sera une compensation toute naturelle que le Figaro ne manque de faire cette fois-ci pour moi ce qu'il faisait autrefois. Les volumes qui paraissent cette semaine sont d'une part la suite de Swann, qui porte le titre de : « A l'Ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs » et qui est le second volume de A la Recherche du Temps Perdu dont Du Côté de chez Swann était le premier. En même temps paraissent un volume de « Pastiches et Mélanges », et une réimpression de « Du Côté de chez Swann » . Je n'ose pas espérer que tu interrompes ta magnifique série d'études sur la Russie ; la Roumanie<ref name="n6" />, pour parler toi-même de mes livres. Parmi les écrivains qui je crois le feraient volontiers je pense très au hasard (celui-là en ne lui disant pas que je l'ai désigné) à Louis de Robert, à Edmond Jaloux, à Francis de Miomandre. C'est un article qu'Edmond Rostand voulait faire, que André Gide ferait admirablement, et certainement avec plaisir. Je pense que Léon Blum le ferait aussi volontiers. S'il te semble impossible en ce moment de mettre en tête d'un journal un article sur des livres, je me résignerais à « l'Instantané »<ref name="n7" />. Je crois que peu de personnes le feraient aussi bien que Robert Dreyfus qui me connaît si bien. Pardonne moi les répétitions, le désordre de cette lettre. Mon état de santé aggravé depuis quelque temps est devenu déplorable depuis que, la maison que j'habitais ayant été transformée en banque, j'ai dû déménager. J'ai loué provisoirement du moins à Madame Réjane<ref name="n8" /> et le voisinage du Bois ajoute mes crises d'asthme de foin à des souffrances plus sérieuses, mais qui y trouvent une raison de recrudescence. Je n'ai dit cette nouvelle adresse à personne pour qu'on ne vienne pas troubler le peu de repos – à peu près nul – que j'ai. C'est te dire que je me fie à ta discrétion si on te demande où j'habite.
If you don't find me too “pre-war” (which I am not at all!) by talking to you about books, I want to speak to you about three volumes of mine which will be published at the end of the week by Editions de la Nouvelle Revue française<ref name="n2" />. Generally, as soon as a book of mine has been published, and before whatever the literary critics of Le Figaro could say, Calmette used to publish a long article at the top of the first page. This is how Lucien Daudet managed to get a three-column article on Du Côté de chez Swann published in Le Figaro<ref name="n3" />, which didn’t prevent Chevassu from reviewing it later<ref name="n4" />. It seems to me that this kindness is owed to me even more so this time because, after having announced, thanks to you, that it would publish my series, Le Figaro then refused to do it (without reading it for that matter) due to the high cost of paper<ref name="n5" />, despite Bernstein’s efforts. So I think it would be fair compensation this time if Le Figaro doesn’t fail to do for me what it has done in the past. The volumes that are coming out this week are on one hand the continuation to Swann, entitled: <u>“A l’Ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs”</u>, which is the second volume of “A la Recherche du Temps Perdu,” of which “Du Côté de chez Swann” was the first. At the same time a volume of <u>“Pastiches et Mélanges”</u> will appear, and a reprint of “Du Côté de chez Swann.” I wouldn’t dare hope that you would interrupt your magnificent series of studies on Russia, Romania<ref name="n6" />, to speak about my books yourself. Among the writers that I think would do it willingly (they have not been told that I had designated them) Louis de Robert, Edmond Jaloux, Francis de Miomandre come to mind. It’s an article that Edmond Rostand wanted to write, that André Gide would write admirably, and certainly with pleasure. I think that Léon Blum would also write it willingly. If it does not seem feasible to you at the moment to write an entire article in the newspaper, I would resign myself to a "snapshot"<ref name="n7" />. I think that very few people could do it as well as Robert Dreyfus, who knows me so well. Excuse me for repeating myself and the incoherence of this letter. The state of my health has been deteriorating for some time, and has become deplorable since the house I lived in was transformed into a bank, and I was forced to move. I rented, at least provisionally, a property of Madame Réjane's<ref name="n8" />, and the neighbourhood near the Bois explains my worsening asthma, which has progressed from mild attacks to more serious ones. I did not tell anyone of my new address so that they would not interrupt the little rest, if any, that I am getting. That is to say, I trust your discretion if you were asked where I live.


Crois mon cher Robert à ma bien profonde amitié admirative
Believe, my dear Robert, in my profound friendship and admiration


Marcel Proust
Marcel Proust
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<references>
<references>


<ref name="n1"> Note 1 </ref>
<ref name="n1"> This letter must date from [Monday 16 June 1919], the moment Proust learned that his three books were going to come out "at the end of the week." See note 2 below. [PK]  </ref>


<ref name="n2"> Note 2 </ref>
<ref name="n2"> Proust received the information in a letter addressed to him by Gustave Tronche on Sunday 15 June 1919: "your books will be in all the bookshops in Paris at the end of the week" (CP 03802; Kolb, XVIII, no. 121). [PK, FP] </ref>


<ref name="n3"> Note 3 </ref>
<ref name="n3"> Lucien Daudet, "Du côté de chez Swann," Le Figaro, 27 November 1913, p. 1. [PK, FP] </ref>


<ref name="n4"> Note 4 </ref>
<ref name="n4"> Francis Chevassu, "La Vie littéraire : À la recherche du temps perdu, par Marcel Proust; Le Peuple de la mer, par Marc Elder," Le Figaro, 8 December 1913, p. 4. [PK, FP]  </ref>


<ref name="n5"> Note 5 </ref>
<ref name="n5"> Alfred Capus refused to publish Proust's serialization in September 1918: see Proust's letter to Lionel Hauser  of 15 September [1918] (CP 03588; Kolb, XVII, no. 148). [PK, FP] </ref>


<ref name="n6"> Note 6 </ref>
<ref name="n6"> Allusion to the articles by Robert de Flers that had recently appeared on the front of the Figaro, notably, on the 5th and 6th May 1919, “Les Marionnettes de Berlin,” on the 16th of May “La Route du pain,” on the 21st May “Ne pleurons pas ou la route de Bucarest a Versailles,” on the 5th of June “Pour les moindres puissances: La Petite Table.” There was another one on the 27th of June, not yet published when Proust wrote, entitled “Pour les moindres puissances: La Barrière.” [PK, FP] </ref>


<ref name="n7"> Note 7 </ref>
<ref name="n7"> This was the solution that Robert de Flers was going to propose in his letter in reply to Proust of [2 or 3 July 1919] (CP 03836; Kolb, XVIII, no. 155). [PK] </ref>


<ref name="n8"> Note 8 </ref>
<ref name="n8"> Proust left 102 Boulevard Haussmann for 8bis rue Laurent-Pichat about 31 May. He stayed there until 1st October. [CSz] </ref>


<ref name="n9"> Translation notes: </ref>  
<ref name="n9"> Translation notes: </ref>  


<ref name="n10"> Contributors: </ref>
<ref name="n10"> Contributors: Cbrennan, Yorktaylors, Ktulyakova </ref>


</references>
</references>

Latest revision as of 19:52, 10 October 2021


Other languages:

Marcel Proust to Robert de Flers [16 June 1919]

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

8bis rue Laurent Pichat[1]

My dear Robert,

If you don't find me too “pre-war” (which I am not at all!) by talking to you about books, I want to speak to you about three volumes of mine which will be published at the end of the week by Editions de la Nouvelle Revue française[2]. Generally, as soon as a book of mine has been published, and before whatever the literary critics of Le Figaro could say, Calmette used to publish a long article at the top of the first page. This is how Lucien Daudet managed to get a three-column article on Du Côté de chez Swann published in Le Figaro[3], which didn’t prevent Chevassu from reviewing it later[4]. It seems to me that this kindness is owed to me even more so this time because, after having announced, thanks to you, that it would publish my series, Le Figaro then refused to do it (without reading it for that matter) due to the high cost of paper[5], despite Bernstein’s efforts. So I think it would be fair compensation this time if Le Figaro doesn’t fail to do for me what it has done in the past. The volumes that are coming out this week are on one hand the continuation to Swann, entitled: “A l’Ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs”, which is the second volume of “A la Recherche du Temps Perdu,” of which “Du Côté de chez Swann” was the first. At the same time a volume of “Pastiches et Mélanges” will appear, and a reprint of “Du Côté de chez Swann.” I wouldn’t dare hope that you would interrupt your magnificent series of studies on Russia, Romania[6], to speak about my books yourself. Among the writers that I think would do it willingly (they have not been told that I had designated them) Louis de Robert, Edmond Jaloux, Francis de Miomandre come to mind. It’s an article that Edmond Rostand wanted to write, that André Gide would write admirably, and certainly with pleasure. I think that Léon Blum would also write it willingly. If it does not seem feasible to you at the moment to write an entire article in the newspaper, I would resign myself to a "snapshot"[7]. I think that very few people could do it as well as Robert Dreyfus, who knows me so well. Excuse me for repeating myself and the incoherence of this letter. The state of my health has been deteriorating for some time, and has become deplorable since the house I lived in was transformed into a bank, and I was forced to move. I rented, at least provisionally, a property of Madame Réjane's[8], and the neighbourhood near the Bois explains my worsening asthma, which has progressed from mild attacks to more serious ones. I did not tell anyone of my new address so that they would not interrupt the little rest, if any, that I am getting. That is to say, I trust your discretion if you were asked where I live.

Believe, my dear Robert, in my profound friendship and admiration

Marcel Proust

[9] [10]

Notes

  1. ↑ This letter must date from [Monday 16 June 1919], the moment Proust learned that his three books were going to come out "at the end of the week." See note 2 below. [PK]
  2. ↑ Proust received the information in a letter addressed to him by Gustave Tronche on Sunday 15 June 1919: "your books will be in all the bookshops in Paris at the end of the week" (CP 03802; Kolb, XVIII, no. 121). [PK, FP]
  3. ↑ Lucien Daudet, "Du côté de chez Swann," Le Figaro, 27 November 1913, p. 1. [PK, FP]
  4. ↑ Francis Chevassu, "La Vie littéraire : À la recherche du temps perdu, par Marcel Proust; Le Peuple de la mer, par Marc Elder," Le Figaro, 8 December 1913, p. 4. [PK, FP]
  5. ↑ Alfred Capus refused to publish Proust's serialization in September 1918: see Proust's letter to Lionel Hauser of 15 September [1918] (CP 03588; Kolb, XVII, no. 148). [PK, FP]
  6. ↑ Allusion to the articles by Robert de Flers that had recently appeared on the front of the Figaro, notably, on the 5th and 6th May 1919, “Les Marionnettes de Berlin,” on the 16th of May “La Route du pain,” on the 21st May “Ne pleurons pas ou la route de Bucarest a Versailles,” on the 5th of June “Pour les moindres puissances: La Petite Table.” There was another one on the 27th of June, not yet published when Proust wrote, entitled “Pour les moindres puissances: La Barrière.” [PK, FP]
  7. ↑ This was the solution that Robert de Flers was going to propose in his letter in reply to Proust of [2 or 3 July 1919] (CP 03836; Kolb, XVIII, no. 155). [PK]
  8. ↑ Proust left 102 Boulevard Haussmann for 8bis rue Laurent-Pichat about 31 May. He stayed there until 1st October. [CSz]
  9. ↑ Translation notes:
  10. ↑ Contributors: Cbrennan, Yorktaylors, Ktulyakova
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