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<ref name="n1"> This letter follows, after an interval of several days, the positive response that Dr Pozzi had, clearly, given to Proust's request for a consultation which Proust had made on [4 October 1914] but which had not been posted till 7 October (CP 05409). Pozzi's reply has not been found. Necessarily anterior to the visit he made to Pozzi shortly after 24 October 1914 (see CP 02830; Kolb, XIV, no. 176), this letter could be dated as [14 or 15 October 1914], with Proust expressing his anguish in the face of "the possible besieging of Verdun" by the Germans: see note 6 below. [FL] </ref> | <ref name="n1"> This letter follows, after an interval of several days, the positive response that Dr Pozzi had, clearly, given to Proust's request for a consultation which Proust had made on [4 October 1914] but which had not been posted till 7 October (CP 05409). Pozzi's reply has not been found. Necessarily anterior to the visit he made to Pozzi shortly after 24 October 1914 (see CP 02830; Kolb, XIV, no. 176), this letter could be dated as [14 or 15 October 1914], with Proust expressing his anguish in the face of "the possible besieging of Verdun" by the Germans: see note 6 below. [FL] </ref> | ||
<ref name="n2"> The "general's brevitas" is an almost literal translation of an expression by Tacitus that is well known to Latin scholars: imperatoria brevitas (Histories, I, 18), this "brevity of command" denoting laconic and effective speech by military men (as opposed to the persuasive rhetoric of advocates and politicians). But the word "silentium" introduced into the expression by Proust is an allusion to a particular general, commander in chief Joseph Joffre, chief of staff of the French army, the "victor of the Marne" | <ref name="n2"> The "general's brevitas" is an almost literal translation of an expression by Tacitus that is well known to Latin scholars: imperatoria brevitas (Histories, I, 18), this "brevity of command" denoting laconic and effective speech by military men (as opposed to the persuasive rhetoric of advocates and politicians). But the word "silentium" introduced into the expression by Proust is an allusion to a particular general, commander in chief Joseph Joffre, chief of staff of the French army, the "victor of the Marne," who was famous for his silences and his concision. (See the biography by Alexander Kahn, Life of General Joffre, New York, Stokes, 1915, p. 9; see too, for example, this caricature, "Le silencieux : Joffre" (The silent one: Joffre), in Le Rire rouge of 19 December 1914). [With gratitude to Christiane Deloince-Louette for her identification of the allusion to Tacitus.] [LJ, FL] </ref> | ||
<ref name="n3"> Robert Proust, surgeon, had been the pupil and assistant of Dr Pozzi at Broca hospital from 1904 to 1914. Mobilized as a medical officer at the start of the war (see CP 02812; Kolb, XIII, no. 161), he was deployed to the hospital at Étain, close to the front, a relentless task, just like Pozzi in the Paris military hospitals (see CP 05409, note 5). [LJ, FL] </ref> | <ref name="n3"> Robert Proust, surgeon, had been the pupil and assistant of Dr Pozzi at Broca hospital from 1904 to 1914. Mobilized as a medical officer at the start of the war (see CP 02812; Kolb, XIII, no. 161), he was deployed to the hospital at Étain, close to the front, a relentless task, just like Pozzi in the Paris military hospitals (see CP 05409, note 5). [LJ, FL] </ref> | ||
<ref name="n4"> The hospital to which Robert Proust was posted at Étain was an "auxiliary hospital" | <ref name="n4"> The hospital to which Robert Proust was posted at Étain was an "auxiliary hospital," administered by the Association des dames françaises (ADF), a partner of the French Red Cross (see Dr François Goursolas, "Chirurgie et chirurgiens d'une ambulance française en 1915," Histoire des sciences médicales, 1990, 24 (3-4), p. 246). Auxiliary Hospital no. 202 was installed in the Étain Boarding-school for Girls. The nurses, according to regulations, had to be members of the association which managed the hospital. Their "president" at that time would have been Marguerite Carnot (daughter-in-law of the President of the Republic Sadi Carnot), who governed the Association des dames françaises from 1913 to 1925. [FL] </ref> | ||
<ref name="n5"> The courage and composure | <ref name="n5"> The courage and composure | ||
of Robert Proust are attested to by his citation in the Army Orders of 30 September 1914: "Has shown proof of his devotion to duty and remarkable energy in his organization and actions in the medical service at Étain from 22 to 26 August 1914 by operating on the wounded even whilst under enemy fire" | of Robert Proust are attested to by his citation in the Army Orders of 30 September 1914: "Has shown proof of his devotion to duty and remarkable energy in his organization and actions in the medical service at Étain from 22 to 26 August 1914 by operating on the wounded even whilst under enemy fire." His bravery earned him, as well as this citation, promotion to the rank of captain (see CP 02826; Kolb, XIII, no. 175). [LJ, FL] </ref> | ||
<ref name="n6"> Proust would have read, as early as the evening of 14 October 1914, the official communiqué published by Le Temps of 15 October: "the Germans announce that they are proceeding with a Verdun offensive" (Dernières nouvelles : la guerre" | <ref name="n6"> Proust would have read, as early as the evening of 14 October 1914, the official communiqué published by Le Temps of 15 October: "the Germans announce that they are proceeding with a Verdun offensive" (Dernières nouvelles : la guerre," p.4, column 1) (Latest News: The War). The communiqué categorically denies this information, but the explanations given attest, on the contrary, that there had indeed been two attempts by the Germans in the region of Woëvre and Saint-Mihiel to close in on Verdun. The following day, on the front page, under the headline "La guerre: la situation militaire" (The War: The Military Situation), Le Temps counters as false the declaration of the German general staff: "Far from besieging the town of Verdun, as they claim, they are held back at distance by our troops" (Le Temps, 16 October 1914, p. 1, column 3). Even if these attempts had failed and the French army had held its "excellent" positions, the German plan of besieging Verdun was not devoid of reality, and what had been a failure a few days earlier was to succeed in the days to come. [FL] </ref> | ||
<ref name="n7"> Samuel Pozzi had been called as a witness, on 25 July 1914, at the Assize Court of la Seine in a trial that had created a great deal of publicity, that of Mme Caillaux. On 16 March 1914, Henriette Caillaux had shot Gaston Calmette, director of Le Figaro, four times with a Browning pistol in order to put a stop to the campaign to unseat her husband, Joseph Caillaux, Finance Minister, that Calmette had been waging. One of the bullets having passed through the iliac artery, Calmette died of internal haemorrhage a few hours later. The three eminent surgeons from the Neuilly clinic where he had been carried unconscious, had judged it necessary to revive him and stabilize him before attempting an operation, which was unsuccessful. Mme Caillaux had chosen as her barrister the aged defense lawyer for Dreyfus, M. Henri Labori. His strategy consisted of interrogating various surgeons in order to suggest that Calmette would not have died of his wounds had he been operated on sooner. At the bar Pozzi declared himself, in principle, a proponent of rapid intervention, a position which strengthened the case for the defence, but he had refused to lay the blame on the competence and decisions of his fellow surgeons. To Labori's question: "Were you not M. professor Hartmann's master [one of the three surgeons]?", he replied: "M. Hartmann may well call me his master, but I consider him absolutely to be my equal." (L'assassinat de Gaston Calmette" | <ref name="n7"> Samuel Pozzi had been called as a witness, on 25 July 1914, at the Assize Court of la Seine in a trial that had created a great deal of publicity, that of Mme Caillaux. On 16 March 1914, Henriette Caillaux had shot Gaston Calmette, director of Le Figaro, four times with a Browning pistol in order to put a stop to the campaign to unseat her husband, Joseph Caillaux, Finance Minister, that Calmette had been waging. One of the bullets having passed through the iliac artery, Calmette died of internal haemorrhage a few hours later. The three eminent surgeons from the Neuilly clinic where he had been carried unconscious, had judged it necessary to revive him and stabilize him before attempting an operation, which was unsuccessful. Mme Caillaux had chosen as her barrister the aged defense lawyer for Dreyfus, M. Henri Labori. His strategy consisted of interrogating various surgeons in order to suggest that Calmette would not have died of his wounds had he been operated on sooner. At the bar Pozzi declared himself, in principle, a proponent of rapid intervention, a position which strengthened the case for the defence, but he had refused to lay the blame on the competence and decisions of his fellow surgeons. To Labori's question: "Were you not M. professor Hartmann's master [one of the three surgeons]?", he replied: "M. Hartmann may well call me his master, but I consider him absolutely to be my equal." (L'assassinat de Gaston Calmette," Le Figaro, 26 July 1914, p. 7, column 3). [LJ, FL] </ref> | ||
<ref name="n8"> Translation notes: </ref> | <ref name="n8"> Translation notes: </ref> | ||
Revision as of 22:44, 5 October 2021
Marcel Proust to Samuel Pozzi [14 or 15 October 1914]
(Click on the link above to see this letter and its notes in the Corr-Proust digital edition, including all relevant hyperlinks.)
Dear Sir,
It is not, I swear, any weakening of a gratitude that grows stronger each day, if I did not write to you straight away. Already embarrassed that you would, despite my entreaties, bother to write to me, while you are overworking yourself making ready for victories and while your correspondents expect from you not merely the general's "brevitas" but his "silentium"[2], every day I believed that, come the next, I would be in a fit state to visit you. But my asthma attack has lasted longer than I could have imagined. I think I will be in a state to chat with you for a few seconds one day or another. It will be soon enough for what I have to ask you, but not soon enough to express my gratitude. It saddened me to have kept silent up until this moment and that is why I am writing to you. You may know that your student, my brother, is not unworthy of such a mentor[3]. His nurses wrote to their president[4] that he has earned the admiration of all, by his courage and his composure. Alas, when they say courage (they even wrote “heroism”) they mean danger faced[5]. And the news of the possible besieging of Verdun does nothing to lessen my anxiety[6]. But it is already too much to talk about it, since right now there is not a single Frenchman who does not have to fear for the lives of his dear ones and take pride in the lives offered in sacrifice. One last word, my dear Sir, it is of course as a patient that you allow me to come to you (thus you will be doing me a double service otherwise I would not dare ask). That will not deprive me in any way of the sweetness of being called “friend,” and will leave things clear of any scruples I might feel. The terms “patient” and “friend” are not entirely incompatible. You know better than anyone by which noble methods such contradictions may be resolved, you who have so well set apart then reconciled “master” and “equal” in your response to the Court[7].
Please accept, dear sir, my most respectful and grateful regards.
Marcel Proust
Notes
- ↑ This letter follows, after an interval of several days, the positive response that Dr Pozzi had, clearly, given to Proust's request for a consultation which Proust had made on [4 October 1914] but which had not been posted till 7 October (CP 05409). Pozzi's reply has not been found. Necessarily anterior to the visit he made to Pozzi shortly after 24 October 1914 (see CP 02830; Kolb, XIV, no. 176), this letter could be dated as [14 or 15 October 1914], with Proust expressing his anguish in the face of "the possible besieging of Verdun" by the Germans: see note 6 below. [FL]
- ↑ The "general's brevitas" is an almost literal translation of an expression by Tacitus that is well known to Latin scholars: imperatoria brevitas (Histories, I, 18), this "brevity of command" denoting laconic and effective speech by military men (as opposed to the persuasive rhetoric of advocates and politicians). But the word "silentium" introduced into the expression by Proust is an allusion to a particular general, commander in chief Joseph Joffre, chief of staff of the French army, the "victor of the Marne," who was famous for his silences and his concision. (See the biography by Alexander Kahn, Life of General Joffre, New York, Stokes, 1915, p. 9; see too, for example, this caricature, "Le silencieux : Joffre" (The silent one: Joffre), in Le Rire rouge of 19 December 1914). [With gratitude to Christiane Deloince-Louette for her identification of the allusion to Tacitus.] [LJ, FL]
- ↑ Robert Proust, surgeon, had been the pupil and assistant of Dr Pozzi at Broca hospital from 1904 to 1914. Mobilized as a medical officer at the start of the war (see CP 02812; Kolb, XIII, no. 161), he was deployed to the hospital at Étain, close to the front, a relentless task, just like Pozzi in the Paris military hospitals (see CP 05409, note 5). [LJ, FL]
- ↑ The hospital to which Robert Proust was posted at Étain was an "auxiliary hospital," administered by the Association des dames françaises (ADF), a partner of the French Red Cross (see Dr François Goursolas, "Chirurgie et chirurgiens d'une ambulance française en 1915," Histoire des sciences médicales, 1990, 24 (3-4), p. 246). Auxiliary Hospital no. 202 was installed in the Étain Boarding-school for Girls. The nurses, according to regulations, had to be members of the association which managed the hospital. Their "president" at that time would have been Marguerite Carnot (daughter-in-law of the President of the Republic Sadi Carnot), who governed the Association des dames françaises from 1913 to 1925. [FL]
- ↑ The courage and composure of Robert Proust are attested to by his citation in the Army Orders of 30 September 1914: "Has shown proof of his devotion to duty and remarkable energy in his organization and actions in the medical service at Étain from 22 to 26 August 1914 by operating on the wounded even whilst under enemy fire." His bravery earned him, as well as this citation, promotion to the rank of captain (see CP 02826; Kolb, XIII, no. 175). [LJ, FL]
- ↑ Proust would have read, as early as the evening of 14 October 1914, the official communiqué published by Le Temps of 15 October: "the Germans announce that they are proceeding with a Verdun offensive" (Dernières nouvelles : la guerre," p.4, column 1) (Latest News: The War). The communiqué categorically denies this information, but the explanations given attest, on the contrary, that there had indeed been two attempts by the Germans in the region of Woëvre and Saint-Mihiel to close in on Verdun. The following day, on the front page, under the headline "La guerre: la situation militaire" (The War: The Military Situation), Le Temps counters as false the declaration of the German general staff: "Far from besieging the town of Verdun, as they claim, they are held back at distance by our troops" (Le Temps, 16 October 1914, p. 1, column 3). Even if these attempts had failed and the French army had held its "excellent" positions, the German plan of besieging Verdun was not devoid of reality, and what had been a failure a few days earlier was to succeed in the days to come. [FL]
- ↑ Samuel Pozzi had been called as a witness, on 25 July 1914, at the Assize Court of la Seine in a trial that had created a great deal of publicity, that of Mme Caillaux. On 16 March 1914, Henriette Caillaux had shot Gaston Calmette, director of Le Figaro, four times with a Browning pistol in order to put a stop to the campaign to unseat her husband, Joseph Caillaux, Finance Minister, that Calmette had been waging. One of the bullets having passed through the iliac artery, Calmette died of internal haemorrhage a few hours later. The three eminent surgeons from the Neuilly clinic where he had been carried unconscious, had judged it necessary to revive him and stabilize him before attempting an operation, which was unsuccessful. Mme Caillaux had chosen as her barrister the aged defense lawyer for Dreyfus, M. Henri Labori. His strategy consisted of interrogating various surgeons in order to suggest that Calmette would not have died of his wounds had he been operated on sooner. At the bar Pozzi declared himself, in principle, a proponent of rapid intervention, a position which strengthened the case for the defence, but he had refused to lay the blame on the competence and decisions of his fellow surgeons. To Labori's question: "Were you not M. professor Hartmann's master [one of the three surgeons]?", he replied: "M. Hartmann may well call me his master, but I consider him absolutely to be my equal." (L'assassinat de Gaston Calmette," Le Figaro, 26 July 1914, p. 7, column 3). [LJ, FL]
- ↑ Translation notes:
- ↑ Contributors: Jsayers, Yorktaylors