Notes from week 37: Foreign Policy from Norpois

CAMARILLA: \kam-uh-RIL-uh; -REE-yuh\ , noun;

1. A group of secret and often scheming advisers, as of a king; a cabal or clique.
Origin: Camarilla comes from Spanish, literally, "a small room," from Late Latin camera, "chamber" ("vault; arched roof" in Latin), from Greek kamara, "vault."
Quote: "Mr Kiselev likened Yeltsin's entourage to a "camarilla" . . . which would turn Russia "into a gigantic banana republic corrupted from top to bottom by a rotten clique of demagogues". -- Marcus Warren, "Moguls at war over control of Kremlin", Daily Telegraph, July 23, 1999

HISTORY

• During the Siege of Paris in 1871, the northern German states, supported by its German allies from outside of the confederation (excluding Austria), formed the GERMAN EMPIRE with the proclamation of the Prussian king WILHELM I of Prussia as German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles (note: he was the grandson of Queen Victoria of England!).
• The French term Entente-Cordiale ("cordial agreement") (amities?) was first used in English in 1844 (OED) to denote recognition of common interests between the United Kingdom & France. When used today, it almost always denotes the 2nd Entente-Cordiale, the written and partly secret agreement signed in London between the two powers on 8 April 1904.
• The Franco-Russian Alliance was a military alliance between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire that ran from 1892 to 1917. The alliance ended the diplomatic isolation of France and undermined the supremacy of the German Empire in Europe.
• More on FRANCE in the 19th CENTURY  

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“What do I see? A Nesselrode pudding! As well! I declare, I shall need a course at Carlsbad after such a Lucullus-feast as this."

Recipe for and photos of Nesselrode Pudding...  "Flavored with chestnuts and maraschino, Nesselrode pudding was a Victorian favorite."

^^ CARLSBAD was/is a spa in Bohemia (current Czechoslovakia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karlovy_Vary

Lucullan  [loo-kuhl-uhn]  –adjective
1.(esp. of banquets, parties, etc.) marked by lavishness and richness; sumptuous.
2. of or pertaining to Lucullus or his life style. Also, Lu·cul·le·an  [loo-kuh-lee-uhn]   Lu·cul·li·an.  Origin: 1855–60;  < L Lucullanus; see Lucullus
"Lucullan." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 08 Jul. 2010. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Lucullan>.

demi-monde - Marges de la bonne société, mais fréquentées par celle-ci. (En particulier) Milieu constitué autour de femmes légères, souvent vénales ou entretenues par les hommes du monde fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/demi-monde


Demi-mondaine was a polite 19th century term that was often used the same way we use the term "mistress" today. Demi-monde primarily referred to a class of women on the fringes of respectable society supported by wealthy lovers (usually each had several)...  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demimonde

Within a Budding Grove (vol II pp 7-14) Norpois

p 7 | Ernest LEGOUVÉ  (Secretary of the Académie Française, 1807–1903)

p 7 | Maxime du Camp – Academician, a founder of the Revue de Paris (suppressed in 1858), and a frequent page 7contributor to the Revue des deux mondes. Monarchist, opposed politically to Hugo, but required to give eulogies… He found himself too ill to go.  

Nicolas BOILEAU-DESPRÉAUX  (French poet & critic, 1636–1711). 

p 7 | Paul CLAUDEL (French poet & diplomat, 1868–1955). 

p 7 | Maurice Barrès, French member of parliament & writer. 

Phèdre. Jean Racine  (December 1639 – April 21, 1699): French dramatist, one of the "Big 3" of the 17th century (along with Molière and Corneille); one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition.

La Revue des Deux Mondes (Review of the Two Worlds): French language monthly literary and cultural affairs magazine that has been published in Paris since 1829. Website here.

Andromaque (1667 RACINE play): tragedy based on the legend of Troy. Andromaque, widow of the slain Trojan hero Hector, is the beloved captive of King Pyrrhus. (Hmmm, did you say "captive?"...) page 362

Alfred de MUSSET (French poet & playwright, 1810–57). The Moods of Marianne (Les Caprices de Marianne), is his 1833 play, which later was the basis for Jean Renoir's 1939 film, The Rules of the Game.

p 14 | Assumption of the Virgin [“Frari Titian”] (1516-18 TITIAN painting) 

p 14 | Paintings by Carpaccio in San Giorgio degli Schiavoni (Venice)

Anatole FRANCE (French writer, 1844–1924).

Tombs of the Medici (Michelangelo) 

Who Was King Theodosius?

The first Theodosius (Roman Emperor) outlawed homosexuality in CE 390, punishable by death.
The second Theodosius (Eastern Roman Emperor) in CE 438 codified all existing law into the Theodosian Code, which also expanded proscriptions against homosexuality.

In 342 (Codex Theodosianus, 9, 7, 3,) the first law was enacted in Milan regarding passive homosexuals. Harsher penalties were introduced by Theodosius I in a law addressed to the prefect of Rome in 390, with execution by burning for "those given to the infamy of condemning the male body, transformed into the female, to the toleration of practices reserved for the other sex" (Coll. Legum Mos. et Rom., 5.3). This law was inserted in the Theodosian Code of 438 (9, 7, 6), but substantially modified and with a wider scope. The new compilation condemned to burning all passive homosexuals without distinction. With the Emperor Justinian the legislation was broadened; every kind of homosexuality was repeatedly condemned with the death penalty. Theodosius gave as his reason the desire to rid Rome, "the mother of all virtues," from all contamination. Justinian also added religious reasons. The Theodosian laws, followed by those of Justinian in the Corpus Iuris, represent the heritage which late Roman law was to leave to posterity.( Taken from: L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English, 19 March 1997, p.10)

La Berma

Bernhardt as Phèdre in Racine's Phèdre. From the Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Photograph: Paul Nadar, negative about 1874, print about 1880s, albumen silver print (cabinet card), 5 3/4 x 4 1/2 in. Introduced in the 1860s, cabinet cards were studio photos mounted on card stock for public sale. Widely collected, they often featured portraits of celebrities of the day (writers, musicians, actors). This Nadar photo of The Divine Sarah is from a collector's album of cabinet cards. The New York Times reviewed this in 1905.

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. 

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. 

Printable Photos of the Proust house at Illiers-Combray

The Architectural Digest article begins here and the photos are here.

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...

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).

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).

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); 

Within a Budding Grove (vol II) New Volume Looms

We've come to volume 2 of In Search of Lost Time.  Within a Budding Grove contains 2 sections:  Part 1:  Madame Swann at Home and Part 2:  Place-Names: The Place.

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) 

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 [ 245  ] 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