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(Created page with "=[http://www.corr-proust.org/letter/05411 Marcel Proust à Samuel Pozzi <nowiki>[le 5 ou 6 novembre 1914]</nowiki>]= <small>(Click on the link above to see this letter and it...")
(Created page with "Marcel Proust")
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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>(Click on the link above to see this letter and its notes in the ''Corr-Proust'' digital edition, including all relevant hyperlinks.)</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.
Please do not think I am writing to you for myself, and after the failure of my visit the other day<ref name="n2" />, I insist. No, I am simply a messenger today. Reynaldo Hann, who is currently in Albi but departing for the front line,<ref name="n3" /> telegraphed me pleading to deliver you a message and ask, on his behalf, to recommend him to the medical officer Vigne, captain of the 56th Infantry Regiment<ref name="n4" />. Reynaldo knows of him but may have wanted to ask him for employment, believing your valued recommendation would have a beneficial influence. When I received his telegramme I hesitated for a moment. I was so afraid at the sight of the envelope that you would assume I was returning in vain to the task of writing to Reynaldo that I could not pass on his message. I thought that my affection towards him would surpass the fear of this misunderstanding, which the reading of my letter would immediately dispel. And I know you are also 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<ref name="n5" /> marvelous portrait 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 as you gave me the great pleasure 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 portraits 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  
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<ref name="n4"> Note 4 </ref>
<ref name="n4"> Note 4 </ref>


<ref name="n5"> Note 5 </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. </ref>


<ref name="n6"> Note 6 </ref>
<ref name="n6"> Note 6 </ref>
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<ref name="n8"> Translation notes: </ref>  
<ref name="n8"> Translation notes: </ref>  


<ref name="n9"> Contributors: </ref>
<ref name="n9"> Contributors: Lking, Clang</ref>


</references>
</references>

Revision as of 21:01, 30 September 2021


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 Hann, who is currently in Albi but departing for the front line,[3] telegraphed me pleading to deliver you a message and ask, on his behalf, to recommend him to the medical officer Vigne, captain of the 56th Infantry Regiment[4]. Reynaldo knows of him but may have wanted to ask him for employment, believing your valued recommendation would have a beneficial influence. When I received his telegramme I hesitated for a moment. I was so afraid at the sight of the envelope that you would assume I was returning in vain to the task of writing to Reynaldo that I could not pass on his message. I thought that my affection towards him would surpass the fear of this misunderstanding, which the reading of my letter would immediately dispel. And I know you are also 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[5] marvelous portrait 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 as you gave me the great pleasure 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 portraits 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. ↑ Note 1
  2. ↑ Note 2
  3. ↑ Note 3
  4. ↑ Note 4
  5. ↑ The portrait by Sargent, Le Docteur Pozzi dans son intérieur (1881), is now in the Hammer Museum (Armand Hammer Collection) in Los Angeles.
  6. ↑ Note 6
  7. ↑ Note 7
  8. ↑ Translation notes:
  9. ↑ Contributors: Lking, Clang
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