6.29.2010
La Berma
6.12.2010
Within a Budding Grove (vol II): Dinner guests; Berma
Jockey-Club de Paris: The Jockey Club de Paris is best remembered as a gathering of the elite of nineteenth-century French society. The club still exists at 2 rue Rabelais, and hosts the International Federation of Racing Authorities. From Wikipedia: "Proust's Charles Swann was a member, a fact that Proust more than once noted as a signal honour, given his Jewish background."
Dr. Jules Cotard: Was he the model for Proust's character?
Comments by other Proust readers onine: C. Matthews here and D. Abrams here
Note that Seize Mai (May 16) was the day of a constitutional crisis, MacMahon resigned, and back in the park, while two men watched Odette parading down the avenue, one made a comment about being with her on that day (1877, in real history time). The parading, since Gilberte is already 12-ish, would have to be about 14-15 years later, say 1891-ish. This part of the novel was originally part of Place Names: The Name, but Proust's publisher thought v. 1 was getting too long, and so it was cut, to begin v.2.
There is so much space given to describing the changes of Cottard and Swann, that you could even say that the doctor changed from a buffoon to a well-respected man and Swann changed in the opposite way.
La Berma = Sarah Bernhardt
Here are some photos in the Library of Congress of Bernhardt performing in the U.S. Nice crowds.
Note that Seize Mai (May 16) was the day of a constitutional crisis, MacMahon resigned, and back in the park, while two men watched Odette parading down the avenue, one made a comment about being with her on that day (1877, in real history time). The parading, since Gilberte is already 12-ish, would have to be about 14-15 years later, say 1891-ish. This part of the novel was originally part of Place Names: The Name, but Proust's publisher thought v. 1 was getting too long, and so it was cut, to begin v.2.
There is so much space given to describing the changes of Cottard and Swann, that you could even say that the doctor changed from a buffoon to a well-respected man and Swann changed in the opposite way.
Here are some photos in the Library of Congress of Bernhardt performing in the U.S. Nice crowds.
In this exquisite portrait by Nadar (there were many, and he was the best), La Berma was only 20 years old. BTW, born Jewish & illegitimate.
Here she is full-face.
6.10.2010
For sale
A site called Art.com offers a photograph of Proust, framed or unframed, then offers views of how it would look in various rooms of your home. I'm thinking about where he'd look best...
6.01.2010
Within a Budding Grove (vol II): Pages for June 2010
Week 34: June 3 (Finish PLACE-NAMES - THE NAME)
A spring day in winter: joy and disappointment (575). The Swann of Combray has become a different person: Gilberte’s father (578). Gilberte tells me with cruel delight that she will not be returning to the Champs-Elysées before the New Year (580). “In my friendship with Gilberte, it was I alone who loved” (585). The name Swann (586; cf. 202). Swann meets my mother in the Trois Quartiers (588). Pilgrimage with Françoise to the Swanns’ house near the Bois (591). The Bois, Garden of Woman. Mme Swann in the Bois (594). A walk through the Bois one late autumn morning in 1913 (598). Memory and reality (606).
Week 35: June 10 (Beginning WITHIN A BUDDING GROVE)
Part 1 MADAME SWANN AT HOME :: A new Swann: Odette’s husband (1; cf. 112 sqq.). A new Cottard: Professor Cottard (3). Norpois (5); the “governmental mind” (6); an ambassador’s conversation (8). “ ‘Although’ is always an unrecognized ‘because’ ” (10). Norpois advises my father to let me follow a literary career (13).
Norpois dines at our house (29). His notions about literature (31); financial investments (33); Berma (37); Françoise’s spiced beef (39); King Theodosius’ visit to Paris (41-48);
Week 35: June 10 (Beginning WITHIN A BUDDING GROVE)
Part 1 MADAME SWANN AT HOME :: A new Swann: Odette’s husband (1; cf. 112 sqq.). A new Cottard: Professor Cottard (3). Norpois (5); the “governmental mind” (6); an ambassador’s conversation (8). “ ‘Although’ is always an unrecognized ‘because’ ” (10). Norpois advises my father to let me follow a literary career (13).
Vacation... for Week 36: July 1 ( WITHIN A BUDDING GROVE; recording)
My first experience of Berma (15). My high expectations of her, as of Balbec and Venice (17). A great disappointment (20). Françoise and Michelangelo (21). The auditorium and the stage (24; cf. I 100).
5.28.2010
Within a Budding Grove (vol II) New Volume Looms
Published in France in 1919 as À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs. Proust received the prestigious Prix Goncourt that year for this book. It had been scheduled for release in 1914, but the war delayed its release for five years.
We're using the Enright revision of the Montcrieff / Kilmartin translation, which is excellent. The text in English is here; the text in French is here and here (also a synopsis in French)
5.27.2010
The Joys of Translating....
Car Gilberte allait tous les jours la saluer ; elle demandait à Gilberte des nouvelles de « son amour de mère » ; et il me semblait que si je l’avais connue, j’avais été pour Gilberte quelqu’un de tout autre, quelqu’un qui connaissait les relations de ses parents. MP
For Gilberte went up every day to speak to her; she used to ask Gilberte for news of her “dearest mother” and it struck me that, if I had known her, I should have been for Gilberte some one wholly different, some one who knew people in her parents’ world. CK
For Gilberte went up to greet her every day; she used to ask Gilberte for news of her “adorable mother"; and it struck me that, if I had known her, I should have been for Gilberte someone wholly different, some one who knew people in her parents’ world. KILM
For Gilberte went up to greet her every day; she asked Gilberte for news of “her love of a mother;" and it seemed to me that, had I known her, I would have been someone quite different for Gilberte, someone who knew her parents’ friends. DAVIS
Et déjà Gilberte courait à toute vitesse dans ma direction, étincelante et rouge sous un bonnet carré de fourrure, animée par le froid, le retard et le désir du jeu ; MP
And now Gilberte was running at full speed towards me, sparkling and rosy beneath a cap trimmed with fur, enlivened by the cold, by being late, by her anxiety for a game; CK
And now Gilberte was running at full speed towards me, sparkling and rosy beneath a cap trimmed with fur, enlivened by the cold, her lateness, and the desire for a game; KILM
And already Gilberte was running as fast as possible in my direction, sparkling and red under a square fur hat, animated by the cold, the lateness, and her desire to play; DAVIS
Car, moi qui ne pensais plus qu’à ne jamais rester un jour sans voir Gilberte (au point qu’une fois ma grand’mère n’étant pas rentrée pour l’heure du dîner, je ne pus m’empêcher de me dire tout de suite que si elle avait été écrasée par une voiture, je ne pourrais pas aller de quelque temps aux Champs-Élysées ; on n’aime plus personne dès qu’on aime), pourtant ces moments où j’étais auprès d’elle et que depuis la veille j’avais si impatiemment attendus, pour lesquels j’avais tremblé, auxquels j’aurais sacrifié tout le reste, n’étaient nullement des moments heureux ;MP
For, although I no longer thought, now, of anything save not to let a single day pass without seeing Gilberte (so much so that once, when my grandmother had not come home by dinner-time, I could not resist the instinctive reflection that, if she had been run over in the street and killed, I should not for some time be allowed to play in the Champs-Elysées; when one is in love one has no love left for anyone), yet those moments which I spent in her company, for which I had waited with so much impatience all night and morning, for which I had quivered with excitement, to which I would have sacrificed everything else in the world, were by no means happy moments; CK
For, although I now no longer thought of anything save not to let a single day pass without seeing Gilberte (so much so that once, when my grandmother had not come home by dinner-time, I could not resist the instinctive reflection that if she had been run over in the street and killed, I should not for some time be allowed to play in the Champs-Elysées; when one is in love one has no love left for anyone), yet those moments which I spent in her company, for which I had waited with so impatiently all night and morning, for which I had quivered with excitement, to which I would have sacrificed everything else in the world, were by no means happy moments; KILM
For, although I no longer thought, now, of anything else but of not allowing a single day to pass without seeing Gilberte (so much so that once, when my grandmother had not returned by dinnertime, I could not help saying to myself immediately that if she had been run over by a carriage, I would not be able to go to the Champs-Elysées for a long time; we no longer love anyone else when we are in love), yet those moments when I was with her and which since the day before I had been awaiting so impatiently, for which I had trembled, for which I would have sacrificed everything else, were in no way happy moments; DAVIS
Mais à l’époque où j’aimais Gilberte, je croyais encore que l’Amour existait réellement en dehors de nous ; que, en permettant tout au plus que nous écartions les obstacles, il offrait ses bonheurs dans un ordre auquel on n’était pas libre de rien changer ; il me semblait que si j’avais, de mon chef, substitué à la douceur de l’aveu la simulation de l’indifférence, je ne me serais pas seulement privé d’une des joies dont j’avais le plus rêvé, mais que je me serais fabriqué à ma guise un amour factice et sans valeur, sans communication avec le vrai, dont j’aurais renoncé à suivre les chemins mystérieux et préexistants. MP
But at the period when I was in love with Gilberte, I still believed that Love did really exist, apart from ourselves; that, allowing us, at the most, to surmount the obstacles in our way, it offered us its blessings in an order in which we were not free to make the least alteration; it seemed to me that if I had, on my own initiative, substituted for the sweetness of a confession a pretence of indifference, I should not only have been depriving myself of one of the joys of which I had most often dreamed, I should have been fabricating, of my own free will, a love that was artificial and without value, that bore no relation to the truth, whose mysterious and foreordained ways I should thus have been declining to follow. CK
But at the period when I was in love with Gilberte, I still believed that Love did really exist outside ourselves; that, allowing us, at the most, to surmount the obstacles in our way, it offered its blessings in an order in which we were not free to make the least alteration; it seemed to me that if I had, on my own initiative, substituted for the sweetness of avowal a pretence of indifference, I should not only have been depriving myself of one of the joys for which I most longed, but fabricating, quite arbitrarily, a love that was artificial and valueless, that bore no relation to the true one, whose mysterious and foreordained ways I should thus have ceased to follow. KILM
But during the period when I loved Gilberte, I still believed that Love really existed outside of us; that, allowing us at the very most, to remove obstacles in our way, it offered its joys in an order which we were not free to alter; it seemed to me that if I had, on my own initiative, substituted for the sweetness of confession the simiuation of indifference, I would not only have deprived myself of one of the joys of which I had dreamed most often but that I would have fabricated for myself in my own way a love that was artificial and without value, without any connection to the real one, whose mysterious and pre-existing paths I would have had to forgo following. DAVIS
Pages for May
Pages: (Enright/Davis)
Week 31: May 6
The whole past shattered stone by stone (cf. 529/385). Bellini’s Mahomet II (505/368). An anonymous letter (506/369). Les Filles de Marbre (512/373). Beuzeville-Bréauté (513/374). Odette and women (513/374).
Week 32: May 13 (Finishing Swann in Love)
Impossibility of ever possessing another person (517/374). On the Ile du Bois, by moonlight (519/379). A new circle of hell (522/381). The terrible re-creative power of memory (523/381). Odette & procuresses (525/383). Had she been lunching with Forcheville at the Maison Dorée on the day of the Paris-Murcie festival? (526/384; cf. 319/234). She was with Forcheville, and not at the Maison Dorée, on the night when Swann had searched for her in Provost’s (527/384; cf. 327/237). Odette’s suspect effusions (529/386). “Charming conversation” in a brothel (530/386). Odette goes on a cruise with the “faithful” (531/387). Mme Cottard assures Swann that Odette adores him (534/389). Swann’s love fades; he no longer suffers on learning that Forcheville has been Odette’s lover (538/392). Return of his jealousy in a nightmare (539/392). Departure for Combray, where he will see the young Mme de Cambremer whose charm had struck him at Mme de Saint-Euverte’s (541/394). The first image of Odette seen again in his dream: he had wanted to die for a woman “who wasn’t his type” (543/396).
Week 33: May 20 (Beginning Part 3 PLACE-NAMES - THE NAME)
Dreams of place-names. Rooms at Combray (545). Room in the Grand Hotel at Balbec (545; cf. 8). The real Balbec and the Balbec of dream (545). The 1.22 train (548). Dreams of spring in Florence (549; cf. 554). Words and names (550). Names of Norman towns (551). Abortive plan to visit Florence and Venice (554). The doctor forbids me to travel or to go to the theater to see Berma (559); he advises walks in the Champs-Elysées under Françoise’s surveillance (560).
Week 34: May 27
In the Champs-Elysées. A little girl with red hair; the name Gilberte (560). Games of prisoner’s base (562). What will the weather be like? (563). Snow in the Champs-Elysées (564). The reader of the Débats (Mme Blatin) (565; cf. 587). Marks of friendship: the agate marble, the Bergotte booklet, “You may call me Gilberte” (573); why they fail to bring me the expected happiness (574).
Week 34: June 3 (Finishing PLACE-NAMES - THE NAME)
A spring day in winter: joy and disappointment (575). The Swann of Combray has become a different person: Gilberte’s father (578). Gilberte tells me with cruel delight that she will not be returning to the Champs-Elysées before the New Year (580). “In my friendship with Gilberte, it was I alone who loved” (585). The name Swann (586; cf. 202). Swann meets my mother in the Trois Quartiers (588). Pilgrimage with Françoise to the Swanns’ house near the Bois (591). The Bois, Garden of Woman. Mme Swann in the Bois (594). A walk through the Bois one late autumn morning in 1913 (598). Memory and reality (606).
Week 33: May 20 (Beginning Part 3 PLACE-NAMES - THE NAME)
Dreams of place-names. Rooms at Combray (545). Room in the Grand Hotel at Balbec (545; cf. 8). The real Balbec and the Balbec of dream (545). The 1.22 train (548). Dreams of spring in Florence (549; cf. 554). Words and names (550). Names of Norman towns (551). Abortive plan to visit Florence and Venice (554). The doctor forbids me to travel or to go to the theater to see Berma (559); he advises walks in the Champs-Elysées under Françoise’s surveillance (560).
Week 34: May 27
In the Champs-Elysées. A little girl with red hair; the name Gilberte (560). Games of prisoner’s base (562). What will the weather be like? (563). Snow in the Champs-Elysées (564). The reader of the Débats (Mme Blatin) (565; cf. 587). Marks of friendship: the agate marble, the Bergotte booklet, “You may call me Gilberte” (573); why they fail to bring me the expected happiness (574).
Week 34: June 3 (Finishing PLACE-NAMES - THE NAME)
A spring day in winter: joy and disappointment (575). The Swann of Combray has become a different person: Gilberte’s father (578). Gilberte tells me with cruel delight that she will not be returning to the Champs-Elysées before the New Year (580). “In my friendship with Gilberte, it was I alone who loved” (585). The name Swann (586; cf. 202). Swann meets my mother in the Trois Quartiers (588). Pilgrimage with Françoise to the Swanns’ house near the Bois (591). The Bois, Garden of Woman. Mme Swann in the Bois (594). A walk through the Bois one late autumn morning in 1913 (598). Memory and reality (606).
5.11.2010
Swann's Way (vol I p 134 ff). Swann in Love: Notes May 2010
p 134 |Portrait of Mahomet II by Bellini (also used in describing Bloch):
And Swann felt a very cordial sympathy with that Mahomet II whose portrait by Bellini he admired, who, on finding that he had fallen madly in love with one of his wives, stabbed her, in order, as his Venetian biographer artlessly relates, to recover his spiritual freedom. Then he would be ashamed of thinking thus only of himself, and his own sufferings would seem to deserve no pity now that he himself was disposing so cheaply of Odette's very life.
Possible letter-writers:
- Basin, Duc de GUERMANTES, as Prince des Laumes: (brother of Charlus & husband of Oriane). Consistently unfaithful: 481. Swann suspects he wrote the anonymous letter: 506-10.
- Palamède, Baron de CHARLUS (nicknamed Mémé; brother of Basin). At Combray, rumored lover of Mme Swann; 45, 137. Go-between with Odette: 442, 449, 456. Swann suspects he wrote the anonymous letter: 506-7.
- M. d'ORSAN (Swann’s friend..."they held the same views about everything", though was said to have indelicate relations with a certain wealthy woman). Swann suspects he wrote the anonymous letter: 506-8.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
