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=[http://www.corr-proust.org/letter/05411 Marcel Proust à Samuel Pozzi <nowiki>[le 5 ou 6 novembre 1914]</nowiki>]=
=[http://www.corr-proust.org/letter/05411 Marcel Proust to Samuel Pozzi <nowiki>[5 or 6 November 1914]</nowiki>]=  
<small>(Cliquez le lien ci-dessus pour consulter cette lettre et ses notes dans l’édition numérique ''Corr-Proust'', avec tous les hyperliens pertinents.)</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>


102 boulevard Haussmann<ref name="n1" />  
102 boulevard Haussmann<ref name="n1" />  


Cher Monsieur
Dear Sir,


Ne croyez pas que je vous écris pour moi et qu’après l’insuccès de ma visite de l’autre jour<ref name="n2" />, j’insiste. Non, je suis un simple agent de transmission aujourd´hui. Reynaldo Hahn actuellement à Albi mais qui part pour le front<ref name="n3" /> me télégraphie en me priant de me charger d’une commission pour vous et de vous demander, de sa part, si vous pouviez le recommander au médecin-major Vigne, médecin-major à quatre galons du 56e Régiment d'Infanterie<ref name="n4" />. Reynaldo le connaît mais pouvant avoir à lui demander divers services, estime que votre puissante recommandation aurait pour lui une salutaire influence. Quand j’ai reçu ce télégramme j’ai hésité un instant. J’ai eu si peur qu’à la vue de l’enveloppe vous ne supposiez que je revenais vainement à la charge que j’ai voulu écrire à Reynaldo que je ne pouvais transmettre sa commission mais j’ai pensé que mon affection pour lui devait passer outre à la crainte de ce malentendu que d’ailleurs la lecture de ma lettre dissiperait tout de suite. Et je sais que vous aussi l’aimez beaucoup.
<u>Please do not think I am writing to you for myself</u>, and after the failure of my visit the other day<ref name="n2" />, I insist. No, I am simply a messenger today. <u>Reynaldo Hahn</u>, who is currently in Albi but <u>departing for the front line</u>,<ref name="n3" /> telegraphed begging me to deliver you a message and ask, <u>on his behalf</u>, to recommend him to the medical officer Vigne, commanding officer of the 56th Infantry Regiment<ref name="n4" />. Reynaldo knows of him but may have wanted to ask him for various services, believing your valued recommendation would have a beneficial influence. When I received his telegram I hesitated for a moment. I was so afraid that you would just assume, when you caught sight of the envelope, that I was starting all over again with my vain requests, that I resolved to write back to Reynaldo saying that I couldn’t carry out his commission, but then I thought that my affection for him ought to surmount any fear of a misunderstanding, which in any case would be immediately dispelled when you read my letter. And I know that you too are very fond of him.


Cher Monsieur bien que d’homme à homme ce genre de compliments soit peu agréable, mais un écrivain doit oublier qu’il a un sexe et se faire la voix de tous, j’aurais voulu dire l’autre jour que de toutes les œuvres d’art que j'ai vues chez vous l’autre jour celle que j’ai encore le plus admirée, c’est vous-même ! Pendant que vous me montriez le merveilleux portrait de Sargent<ref name="n5" /> et que vous vous excusiez sur la dissemblance avec le modèle actuel, je n’osais vous dire, à cause du même sentiment de gêne que je disais tout à l’heure, que vous êtes, à l’heure actuelle, mieux. Je puis en juger, moi qui vous ai connu quand j’étais encore enfant, et que vous aviez pour moi le grand prestige d’être l’ami de Leconte de Lisle<ref name="n6" />. À en parler en pure esthétique, je crois que l’argent dont est semée votre barbe, (et à cause de la douceur que cette tonalité ajoute à votre visage) vous grime de façon plus seyante encore que le rouge de Sargent. Je comparais les deux effigies et préférais la seconde. Je ne sais rien pour ma réforme, je me suis fait inscrire à ma mairie, à Paris, mais sans faire état de ma qualité d’officier. Je serai donc convoqué à passer le Conseil de révision comme simple soldat, si je suis appelé ce qui est incertain<ref name="n7" />.
Dear Sir, although this sort of compliment is not pleasant between men, a writer must forget that he has a sex and make himself the voice of others. I would have liked to say the other day, that of all the works of art I saw at your house, the one that I admired the most was you! As you showed me Sargent’s marvellous portrait<ref name="n5" /> and apologised for the lack of resemblance to the model, I didn't dare tell you, due to the same uneasy feeling which I mentioned earlier, that you are, in this instant, better. I may judge, as I have known you since I was a child, and because for me you have the great prestige of being a friend of Leconte de Lisle<ref name="n6" />. To speak purely of aesthetics, I think the silvery flecks of your beard, (thanks to the softness that this tone adds to your face) complements you in a way more flattering than the red beard of Sargent. I was comparing the two images and preferred the latter. I haven’t heard about my exemption from service, I registered at the town hall, in Paris, without declaring my officer status. So I will be summoned to the Review Board as a private, though it’s still uncertain whether I will be called upon at all.<ref name="n7" />.


Veuillez agréer cher Monsieur mes hommages bien respectueux.
I hope you will accept, dear sir, my highest regards.


Marcel Proust  
Marcel Proust  
Line 23: Line 23:
<references>
<references>


<ref name="n1"> Note 1 </ref>
<ref name="n1"> The date of the post mark is 6 November 1914, so Proust must have written the letter either Thursday 5 in the evening or during the night of
Thursday 5 to Friday 6 November. This letter follows a short period after the fruitless consultation that he had with Dr Pozzi shortly before 24 October (see note 2 below). [FL] </ref>


<ref name="n2"> Note 2 </ref>
<ref name="n2"> Pozzi had not wanted to give Proust a certificate vouching for his unfitness for military service. Shortly after 24 October 1914 Proust had written to Reynaldo Hahn: "with charming manners and faultless demeanour he [Pozzi] evaded the question and refused" (CP 02830; Kolb, XIX, no. 176). [LJ, FL] </ref>


<ref name="n3"> Note 3 </ref>
<ref name="n3"> Mobilized since 1st August 1914, Reynaldo Hahn had rejoined his regiment at their base in Melun but, from the beginning of September, he was confined to Albi where he was bored and keen to rejoin his regiment (the 31st Regiment of Infantry) at Argonne, despite Proust's efforts to dissuade him. Finally on 26 December 1914 he left Albi for the front. (See Philippe Blay, Reynaldo Hahn, Fayard, 2021, p. 347 and 350.) [LJ, FL]  </ref>


<ref name="n4"> Note 4 </ref>
<ref name="n4"> Four stripes on the forearm of military tunics were the distinctive insignia of medical officers 1st class (a rank equivalent to Major or Commanding Officer in the infantry). We could find no trace in 1914-1915 of a medical officer with the name of Vigne in the 56th Regiment of Infantry (the medical officer 1st class was called Ramally, the others: Abord, Rais and Bourgeot). It must refer instead to Édouard Urbain Hippolyte (Hipolyte) Vigné (born 5 August 1871 at Neffiès in Hérault), medical officer 1st class of the 31st Regiment of Infantry, the regiment to which Reynaldo Hahn was attached and which he was soon to rejoin at Argonne. Medical officer Vigné was to be made chevalier of the Légion d'honneur by decree of 3 January 1915, and mentioned in the Army Orders 14 March 1915: "Since the beginning of the campaign has supervised with competence of the highest order and untiring devotion to duty his regiment's medical corps such that it can be held up as a model example." [FL] </ref>


<ref name="n5"> Ce portrait de Sargent, Le Docteur Pozzi dans son intérieur (1881), appartient désormais au Hammer Museum (Armand Hammer Collection) de Los Angeles. [LJ, FL] </ref>
<ref name="n5"> The portrait by Sargent, Le Docteur Pozzi dans son intérieur (1881), is now in the Hammer Museum (Armand Hammer Collection) in Los Angeles. [LJ, FL]</ref>


<ref name="n6"> Adrien Proust et Samuel Pozzi étant liés professionnellement, les deux familles se fréquentaient : « Son souvenir, sa belle image, sont liés à toute mon enfance, à toute ma jeunesse […], tantôt dînant chez mes parents, tantôt nous recevant place Vendôme […] » (voir la lettre de Proust à Jean Pozzi du [samedi 15 juin 1918] : CP 03556 ; Kolb, XVII, n° 116). Mondain, ami des artistes et des écrivains (dont Leconte de Lisle, mais aussi Sarah Bernhardt, Anatole France, etc.), Pozzi jouissait auprès du jeune Proust du prestige que l'écrivain attribuera à Swann. Comme Swann dans le roman, c'est Pozzi qui offrit à Marcel Proust adolescent son entremise pour lui faire rencontrer des écrivains qu'il admirait. (Voir Lawrence Joseph, « Marcel Proust et "Docteur Dieu" : lettres inédites à Samuel Pozzi », BMP, n° 51, 2001, p. 13-15 et p. 19.) [LJ, FL] </ref>
<ref name="n6"> Adrien Proust and Samuel Pozzi were professional colleagues, their two families often socialising together: "The memory of him, his handsome features, are associated with my whole childhood, with the whole of my youth [...], sometimes dining with my parents, sometimes entertaining us in the Place Vendôme [...]" (see Proust's letter to Jean Pozzi of [Saturday 15 June 1918]: CP 03556; Kolb, XVII, no. 116). A member of the high society, friend of artists and writers (among them Leconte de Lisle, but also Sarah Bernhardt, Anatole France, etc.), in the mind of the young Proust Pozzi enjoyed the prestige that the writer would later attribute to Swann. Like Swann in the novel, it was Pozzi who afforded the adolescent Marcel Proust the means of introduction to the writers he admired. (See Lawrence Joseph, "Marcel Proust et 'Docteur Dieu': lettres inédites à Samuel Pozzi," BMP, no. 51, 2001, p. 13-15 and p. 19.) [LJ, FL] </ref>


<ref name="n7"> Proust écrit également à Lucien Daudet [le lundi 16 novembre 1914, ou peu après] : « 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 et ces Conseils n'étant que pour les soldats [...] » (CP 02844 ; Kolb, XIII, n° 193). [LJ] </ref>
<ref name="n7"> Similarly Proust wrote to Lucien Daudet [Monday 16 November 1914, or shortly after]: "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 and these Boards are only for privates [...]" (CP 02844; Kolb, XIII, no. 193). [LJ] </ref>


<ref name="n8"> (Notes de traduction) </ref>  
<ref name="n8"> Translation notes: </ref>  


<ref name="n9"> (Contributeurs) </ref>
<ref name="n9"> Contributors: Lking, Clang, Yorktaylors </ref>


</references>
</references>

Latest revision as of 14:15, 14 October 2022


Other languages:

Marcel Proust to Samuel Pozzi [5 or 6 November 1914]

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

102 boulevard Haussmann[1]

Dear Sir,

Please do not think I am writing to you for myself, and after the failure of my visit the other day[2], I insist. No, I am simply a messenger today. Reynaldo Hahn, who is currently in Albi but departing for the front line,[3] telegraphed begging me to deliver you a message and ask, on his behalf, to recommend him to the medical officer Vigne, commanding officer of the 56th Infantry Regiment[4]. Reynaldo knows of him but may have wanted to ask him for various services, believing your valued recommendation would have a beneficial influence. When I received his telegram I hesitated for a moment. I was so afraid that you would just assume, when you caught sight of the envelope, that I was starting all over again with my vain requests, that I resolved to write back to Reynaldo saying that I couldn’t carry out his commission, but then I thought that my affection for him ought to surmount any fear of a misunderstanding, which in any case would be immediately dispelled when you read my letter. And I know that you too are very fond of him.

Dear Sir, although this sort of compliment is not pleasant between men, a writer must forget that he has a sex and make himself the voice of others. I would have liked to say the other day, that of all the works of art I saw at your house, the one that I admired the most was you! As you showed me Sargent’s marvellous portrait[5] and apologised for the lack of resemblance to the model, I didn't dare tell you, due to the same uneasy feeling which I mentioned earlier, that you are, in this instant, better. I may judge, as I have known you since I was a child, and because for me you have the great prestige of being a friend of Leconte de Lisle[6]. To speak purely of aesthetics, I think the silvery flecks of your beard, (thanks to the softness that this tone adds to your face) complements you in a way more flattering than the red beard of Sargent. I was comparing the two images and preferred the latter. I haven’t heard about my exemption from service, I registered at the town hall, in Paris, without declaring my officer status. So I will be summoned to the Review Board as a private, though it’s still uncertain whether I will be called upon at all.[7].

I hope you will accept, dear sir, my highest regards.

Marcel Proust

[8] [9]

Notes

  1. ↑ The date of the post mark is 6 November 1914, so Proust must have written the letter either Thursday 5 in the evening or during the night of Thursday 5 to Friday 6 November. This letter follows a short period after the fruitless consultation that he had with Dr Pozzi shortly before 24 October (see note 2 below). [FL]
  2. ↑ Pozzi had not wanted to give Proust a certificate vouching for his unfitness for military service. Shortly after 24 October 1914 Proust had written to Reynaldo Hahn: "with charming manners and faultless demeanour he [Pozzi] evaded the question and refused" (CP 02830; Kolb, XIX, no. 176). [LJ, FL]
  3. ↑ Mobilized since 1st August 1914, Reynaldo Hahn had rejoined his regiment at their base in Melun but, from the beginning of September, he was confined to Albi where he was bored and keen to rejoin his regiment (the 31st Regiment of Infantry) at Argonne, despite Proust's efforts to dissuade him. Finally on 26 December 1914 he left Albi for the front. (See Philippe Blay, Reynaldo Hahn, Fayard, 2021, p. 347 and 350.) [LJ, FL]
  4. ↑ Four stripes on the forearm of military tunics were the distinctive insignia of medical officers 1st class (a rank equivalent to Major or Commanding Officer in the infantry). We could find no trace in 1914-1915 of a medical officer with the name of Vigne in the 56th Regiment of Infantry (the medical officer 1st class was called Ramally, the others: Abord, Rais and Bourgeot). It must refer instead to Édouard Urbain Hippolyte (Hipolyte) Vigné (born 5 August 1871 at Neffiès in Hérault), medical officer 1st class of the 31st Regiment of Infantry, the regiment to which Reynaldo Hahn was attached and which he was soon to rejoin at Argonne. Medical officer Vigné was to be made chevalier of the Légion d'honneur by decree of 3 January 1915, and mentioned in the Army Orders 14 March 1915: "Since the beginning of the campaign has supervised with competence of the highest order and untiring devotion to duty his regiment's medical corps such that it can be held up as a model example." [FL]
  5. ↑ The portrait by Sargent, Le Docteur Pozzi dans son intérieur (1881), is now in the Hammer Museum (Armand Hammer Collection) in Los Angeles. [LJ, FL]
  6. ↑ Adrien Proust and Samuel Pozzi were professional colleagues, their two families often socialising together: "The memory of him, his handsome features, are associated with my whole childhood, with the whole of my youth [...], sometimes dining with my parents, sometimes entertaining us in the Place Vendôme [...]" (see Proust's letter to Jean Pozzi of [Saturday 15 June 1918]: CP 03556; Kolb, XVII, no. 116). A member of the high society, friend of artists and writers (among them Leconte de Lisle, but also Sarah Bernhardt, Anatole France, etc.), in the mind of the young Proust Pozzi enjoyed the prestige that the writer would later attribute to Swann. Like Swann in the novel, it was Pozzi who afforded the adolescent Marcel Proust the means of introduction to the writers he admired. (See Lawrence Joseph, "Marcel Proust et 'Docteur Dieu': lettres inédites à Samuel Pozzi," BMP, no. 51, 2001, p. 13-15 and p. 19.) [LJ, FL]
  7. ↑ Similarly Proust wrote to Lucien Daudet [Monday 16 November 1914, or shortly after]: "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 and these Boards are only for privates [...]" (CP 02844; Kolb, XIII, no. 193). [LJ]
  8. ↑ Translation notes:
  9. ↑ Contributors: Lking, Clang, Yorktaylors
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