Sodom and Gomorrah IV pp 162-77

p 163 | ...natural daughter of the Duke of Parma.  This one had quite a number of children.

p 165 | red shoes, maybe like...

p 167 | sleeping tablets... French pharmacies were already quite well stocked. Here are some products & a history (in French)

p 168 | Venetian cloak (at right)

p 168 |cicisbeo (cavaliere servente): professed gallant & lover of a married woman, who attended her at public gatherings.

p 169 | “They’re exaggerating...: a response supposedly based on one actually made by Aimery de La Rochefoucauld when told of the untimely death of his cousin, the brother of Robert de Montesquiou. (Sturrock)

p 173 |Bailleau-le-Pin: a village near Illiers (Combray). (Sturrock)

p 176 | Bell....  in the original, Proust mistakenly writes "Edison."

p 177 | The waving of the scarf is a prearranged signal given by Isolde to Tristan in Act II of Wagner’s opera; the shepherd’s pipe in Act III tells the dying Tristan that Isolde’s ship has sailed. (Sturrock)

Chasing Lost Time: The Life of C. K. Scott Moncrieff: Soldier, Spy, and Translator

• Here is an audio interview with Jean Findlay, Montcrieff's great-great-niece, May 14, 2015 at the Boston Athenæum
• A Signature interview here
• PRI audio review (7 mins)
• Facebook chat with Findlay (may be gone)
• Findlay's website with links to all reviews, plus other info.
• Her biography of him is coming out here (U.S.) in March 2015. It's already out in England. Here is the Spectator's review.
• Links to several video presentations by Findlay.

Sodom and Gomorrah IV pp 142-62

Hesse

p 142 | Grand Duke of Hesse (brother-in-law of Princesse de Guermantes)
p 142 | Crown Prince of Sweden must have been Oscar Gustaf Adolf (King Gustav), who acceded in 1907, on the death of his father Oscar II.
p 142 | Empress Eugénie was a Dreyfusist: Eugénie (1826-1920), the widow of Napoleon III, was indeed a Dreyfusard (Sturrock)
p 143 | Bourg l’Abbé, Bois-le-Roi, and the like: in the Middle Ages, the titles of local dignitaries, such as Abbé, or Abbot, could become part of a place-name.
p 143 | The Restoration was the period immediately following the fall of Napoleon and the First Empire.
p 145 | Jean-Marc Nattier (French painter, 1685-1766).

Duchesse de Châtrearoux

p 147 | Hubert-Joseph Henry (1846-98), French army officer & creator of the forged Henry document. And here is a great educational Dreyfus website, in English.
p. 159 | Marie-Jean-Léon Lecoq, Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denis, (French sinologist, 1822-92).

p 162 | Mgr. Félix Dupanloup, French ecclesiastic, 1802-78.

p 162 | Paul Boniface "Boni" de Castellane, the marquis de Castellane (1867-1932) and his brothers Jean and Stanislas de Castellane.

p 162 | Prince de Sagan

Sodom and Gomorrah IV pp 123-42

p 123 | Don Juan: fictitious character symbolic of libertinism. (Don Juan. (2015). In Encyclopædia Britannica.)
p 123 | Gustave Jean Jacquet (1846-1909), painted genre scenes and society portraits.

,

               
           Is this the portrait of Mme de Surgis?
p 125 | ...married to a Bourbon princess...: this is the only mention of Charlus’s late wife's having been a Bourbon – that is, a member of the family of the family of the Kings of France between 1589 and 1848. (Sturrock)
p 126 | one louis: a gold coin worth twenty francs. (Sturrock)
p 128 | Uncle and Nephew, i.e. Nephew as Uncle, by Friedrich Schiller & L.-B. Picard.
p 129 | Giorgionesque...Giorgione on wiki. Did they mean like this?

Pastoral Concert. Louvre, Paris, which
it now attributes to Titian, c.1509.

p 130 | Scapin is a character in Les Fourberies de Scapin ("Scapin's Deceits"), a 3-act comedy by Molière; the traditional figure of the insolent valet in Italian comedy, imported into France by Molière. (Sturrock).
p 131 | ...send me away with a flea in my ear... a rebuke.
p 132 | Syndicate...
p 132 | Victurnien d'Esgrignon is a character in Balzac's novel Le Cabinet des Antiques.
p 132 | Emile Loubet was president of the Republic from 1899 to 1906, and thus during the time when the Dreyfus case was reopened. He was in favor of a review and reprieved Dreyfus after he had been found guilty for a second time. (Sturrock).
p 133 | definition of aristocrat
p 134 | Prussian blue
p 136 | The Restoration was the period immediately following the fall of Napoleon and the First Empire (Sturrock).
p 136 | deliquescent: becoming liquid or having a tendency to become liquid. Sturrock says: 'Ah! Green ...' ": the line (slightly misquoted) comes from a volume of parodies of Symbolist poetry entitled Deliquescences: Poemes decadents d'André Floupette (1885), written by Gabriel Vicaire and Henri Beauclair. In French, the quote reads, "Ah! Verte, combien verte était mon âme ce jour-la...."
p 140 | Jules, Cardinal Mazarin (1602-61), a great statesman of the 17th-century, founded the Bibliothèque Mazarine in Paris in 1642, a public library that became part of the Bibliotheque Nationale in 1930. (Sturrock).
p 140 | Athena Hippia (Sturrock: so called because she was supposed to have taught men how to control horses); Pallas Tritogeneia.
p 142 | Assyrian frieze

Sodom and Gomorrah IV pp 119-23

p 119 | la barbe literally, "the beard," an expression meaning "what a drag.” (Sturrock)

p 119 | sphinxes along arms of chairs; see, for example, here.
p 119 | augural: the art or practice of an augur; divination. 2. the rite or ceremony of an augur. 3. an omen, token, or indication. Mid. Eng · Latin. 1325-75. Signifying the future : ominous, portentous, or auspicious.
p 119 | Pythia, oracle of Delphi.
p 120 | more geometrico: in the geometrical mode (Sturrock).
p120 | sibylline: "having a secret meaning" or "foretelling the future," like a fortune teller whose crystal ball reveals a sibylline message about what will happen. If you can predict this meaning, you may come from a family of psychics — or you may have a background in Greek mythology. Origins in the Greek word Sibulla, meaning "prophetess." Back in Greek & Roman times, a sibyl was a female oracle who delivered cryptic prophecies foretelling the future, often inspired by the deities.
p 120 | grimoire: a textbook of magic.
p 120 | children of Jupiter: Metis=first great spouse of Zeus. Themis=one of the first Delphic oracles. Eurynome=3rd bride of Zeus. See also 12 Olympians in the Greek pantheon.
p 121 | "suave, mari magno” (“how sweet when, on the open sea") are the first words of a passage by the Roman poet Lucretius where he reflects on the comfort of watching from the shore as the lives of others are imperiled by a storm out at sea; memento quia pulvis (“remember thou art dust") are words drawn from Genesis 3:19 and God's promise to Adam: "for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." (Sturrock)
p 121 | punchinello nose 
p 121 | The Valois were the reigning dynasty in France from 1328 to 1589. (Sturrock)
p 123 | camphorate - treat with camphor; subject to a process or treatment, with the aim of readying , improving, or remedying a condition; "process hair," "treat the water so it can be drunk," etc.

Sodom and Gomorrah IV pp 108-117

p 109 |Rival claims to the ancient family name La Tour d'Auvergne had become something of a cause célèbre during the 19th & early 20th centuries; the Duc naturally takes the purist view that the claims were false, though the claims of the Duc de Bouillon appear not to have been too sound, either. (Sturrock)

p 110 |Charles-Victor Prévôt, Vicomte d'Arlincourt (1789-1856), was a writer whose historical novels were disguised attacks on the regime of King Louis-Philippe; Loïsa Puget (1810-89) was a poetess and musician who sang her own songs at social functions. The "days" Proust is referring to are thus those of the July Monarchy, after 1830.(Sturrock)

p 110 |There were so many (Duc de La Rochefoucauld), he probably didn't mean a real one.

p 111 | Louis Philippe, ruled 1830–48

Louis XV,  ruled1643-1715

 

p 112 | Jupiter Tonans ("Thundering Jove") was the aspect of Jupiter worshipped in an early temple. In Roman mythology, the supreme god of Romans; counterpart of the Greeks' Zeus.

p 113 | Stained glass window at Montfort-l'Amaury; see map. The village is west of Paris, near Rambouillet. The stained glass is 16th century. (Sturrock)

p 113 | ...red as a turkey cock

p 114 | ...low-cut dresses...

p 115 | The Campo Santo, also known as Camposanto Monumentale ("monumental cemetery") is a 12th century edifice at the northern edge of the Cathedral Square in Pisa, Italy. "Campo Santo" can be literally translated as "holy field" (cemetery). There are celebrated frescos showing such funereal scenes as The Triumph of Death and The Last Judgment. (Sturrock)

p 115 |... you can't get it twice...":  "Measles is a very contagious illness caused by a virus. It spreads by contact with droplets from the nose, mouth, or throat of an infected person... Persons who had measles or who have been vaccinated against measles are immune to the disease." (National Center for Biotechnology Information, NCBI)

p 117 | Aumale-Lorraine: a family dating back to the early 15th century and related by marriage to the junior or Orléans branch of the Bourbons. (Sturrock)

Sodom and Gomorrah IV pp 99-108

p 100 | ...Prince de Chimay: This might be Joseph de Riquet, Prince de Caraman-Chimay et de Caraman (1836-92), once the Belgian foreign minister, or more likely, his son, Joseph de Caraman-Chimay (1858-1937), whose sister was the Countess Greffulhe.

p 101 | concours general: an annual nationwide academic competition for the best 11th and 12th year students in France.


p 103 | Niccolò Machiavelli (Italian writer/historian, 1469-1527), author of The Prince.

p 104 | Prince Robert, Duc de Chartres (1840-1910), grandson of King Louis-Philippe.

p 104 | epicure: a person who cultivates a refined taste, especially in food and wine; connoisseur.

p 107 | Portrait of the Burgomaster Six whose portrait, along with that of his wife, is in the Six Collection in Amsterdam.

p 108 | Ab uno disce omnes :: "from one, learn all." From Virgil's Aeneid, referring to instances where a single example or observation indicates a general or universal truth.

Recent links from posts in the Yhoo group

1. "Proust and Hahn also met the American painter, Alexander Harrison, when they toured Brittany in 1895. They visited him again, at his Paris studio, in 1897.  Harrison was one of the models for Elstir, and Proust wrote, in 1908, that the painter had been "a stimulating guide." Here is one of the best articles I have found...on Harrison's influence.  "Landscape, Memory, Sensation: Alexander Harrison, tonalist painter and model for Marcel Proust" by David Adams Cleveland."
2. A new biography of Countess Greffulhe (Elisabeth de Caraman-Chimay), one of the models for Oriane, the Princesse, etc. The beautiful one in the dress...
   
   

   

   "La Comtesse Greffulhe. L'ombre des Guermantes"  by Laure Hillerin. Flammarion, 570p., 24€. The Review in French with pictures.  
   
   
   **{{Reddening}} Here's a google-ized translation, fixed up by me, when I knew the fixes.**
    Countess Greffulhe, secret muse of Proust
   By Delphine Peras published 28/10/2014 at 08:15
   
   In a fascinating biography, full of unpublished documents, Laure Hillerin redisovers one of the most fascinating figures of the Belle Epoque: the beautiful and charismatic Elisabeth Greffuhle (1860-1952), who inspired the author of La Recherche in creating the character of Oriane, Duchesse de Guermantes.
   

   The character of Oriane, Duchesse de Guermantes (played here by Valentine Varela in the TV movie by Nina Companez) owes much to the Countess Greffulhe.

   "I discovered quite by chance, in consultation with clippings from the late nineteenth century, the Countess Greffulhe, born Elisabeth de Caraman-Chimay, was in her time the most visible woman in Paris. Thanks to documentation entrusted to me by Anne de Cosse Brissac, her great-great-granddaughter, author of the first book on her, which appeared in 1991. Also thanks to rich private archives deposited in the National Archives, I realized that there was still much to say about this exceptional personality who fascinated her contemporaries with her great beauty, her youthful figure, her "inspired" eyes, her often eccentric elegance.
   
   Married to the wealthy Henry Greffuhle, the Countess occupied a unique worldly position. It is precisely for this reason that history will forget her, in catagorizing her a bit too quickly as so many other society women who don't have a thought in their brain. They forget she has done a number of great things for the arts, particularly music, and science: the friend of Rodin and Marie Curie was a fund raiser ahead of her time, raising funds to organize shows, encourage basic research.
   
   She gave honored Wagner, sponsored Fauré, supported the Ballets Russes, promoted the works of Edouard Branly, found financing for the Radium Institute. She had a genius for public relations, the gift of contacting the right people at the right time. By creating the League of great musical auditions, she made the connection between musicians and socialites, some of whom had vast fortunes and could fund concerts and fill theaters. All Paris dreamed of being received in her legendary mansion on the rue d'Astorg, in the 8th arrondissement, nicknamed "the Vatican."
   
   A solid address book
   Countess Greffulhe knew everyone, all the crowned heads of Europe and the elite, as well as luminaries from politics. She was a friend of Georges Clemenceau, of Blum, who called her "the Oracle", Aristide Briand, Joseph Caillaux, and many others. She was pro-Dreyfus, a philanthropist, a feminist -- I found an incredible manuscript, written in her own hand about 1904, entitled My study on the rights to be given to women.
   
   It should be emphasized that Elizabeth did not receive formal education for young girls of her time, a rigid and appalling poverty. Her father, Joseph Caraman-Chimay, came from a long line of patrons and music lovers. Her mother, Marie de Montesquiou, was an exceptional woman, educated, musician, very close to her eldest daughter, which gave them the most intimate of confidences. Their correspondence deserves to be published.
   
   The Caraman-Chimay family was poor, but happy;  their fortune was not material but spiritual. Their six children had received very extensive arts educations, each playing an instrument. In this context, the marriage of Elizabeth to Count Henry Greffuhle in 1878, arranged by Marie de Montesquiou, may seem surprising. But the handsome and wealthy Henry was dreamed of by all the mothers -- even if he collected mistresses, like many of his contemporaries. At the very beginning of their marriage, Elizabeth was frustrated, she was isolated in the countryside, chaperoned by her mother-in-law, subject to the dictates of her prosaic in-laws, who were only interested in hunting: Reading a book or playing the piano was a waste of time.
   
   "Entrepreneur of spectacles"
   The early death of her mother at age 50, plunged her into disarray. But she will find the loophole to get out of her "prison": organizing a concert to benefit the Greffuhle foundation, which is still well within the norm of her good works. Its success is immense: she discovered her vocation as "impresario" ... She also has a passion for the sciences, which supports her spiritual quest, and for politics, where she serves as a link between men of good will. She was a cultivated woman, pragmatic, intelligent.
   
   Her letters are full of spirit, starting with those she exchanged with Marcel Proust. He always sought to minimize the role played by the Countess Greffulhe in La Recherche.  For her part, Elizabeth, at the end of her life, claimed that she had "barely known" him. Everyone took her word for it. In fact, their correspondence reveals much more closeness. A deeper analysis of the work and its drafts shows that Elizabeth inspired not only the characters of Oriane and Princess Marie de Guermantes, but also, notably, that of Odette de Crecy, who borrows the elegance of her grooming.
   
   She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. "All those who see the Countess remain as fascinated by her infinite eyes filled with light and shadows, and a glow that sings before her perfect beauty, before her absolute and divine grace," he wrote in an unpublished article from 1903, Le Salon de la Comtesse Greffulhe, which I miraculously found.
   
   "Too accessible" in the eyes of Proust
   During his "worldly" period, Proust dreamed of meeting her, then of winning her friendship, and of closely examining Count Greffuhle (almost unique model of the Duke de Guermantes). His friendship with the Duke of Guiche, son of the Countess Greffulhe, allowed him to approach her more closely. From 1906, he locks himself away to produce his work...
   
   Their roles are now reversed: it was she who wrote to him, invited him to her parties and her shows ... And he who refuses: he has the material he needed; she became too "accessible." Twice he refused, with horror,  her suggestion to come and pay him a visit. "It is not of course possible that you would risk venturing into my trench, among the poison gasses that are my anti-asthma fumigations!" he writes to her in 1916.
   
   They correspond through 1920. Proust was fascinated by the historical dimension, the "race" of Caraman-Chimay, a dynasty of lords of the Holy Roman Empire going back to the eleventh century. His draft notebooks show that his musings on family inspired the discovery of the "magic" name of Guermantes, which emerged in La Recherche.
   
   The power of fiction has won over "real life." The shadow of the Guermantes has relegated to obscurity this woman who had nevertheless managed her image as a work of art, with the aim of being "unforgettable." The memory of her was extinguished with her last contemporaries. And yet, this exciting and romantic life would make a great subject for a film or television series, of which the English know the secret ... "
   
   En savoir plus sur
   
   
   
   

Sodom and Gomorrah IV pp 95-99

p 96 | "...the Academicians...": candidates for election to the various academies, the Académie Française above all, are expected to gather support in this way. (Sturrock notes)

p 96 | Mme de Durfort: the Durfort family appears in the Memoirs of Saint-Simon, one of Proust's principal sources of aristocratic names; various members were still prominent in Parisian society in his own day. (Sturrock notes)

p 97 | Mélanie Pourtalès: Comtesse Edmond de Pourtalès, née Mélanie de Bussière (c.1832-1914), had been a lady-in-waiting to the Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III. (Sturrock notes)

Oratorian temple

p 97 | "Holy Synod and the Oratorian temple": the Holy Synod was an ecclesiastical body of the Russian Orthodox church, founded in 1721 and suppressed in 1917; in modern Russia, it serves by Church statute as the highest governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church in the periods between Bishops' Councils. Oratoire du Louvre is a Protestant church on the rue de Rivoli in Paris. It was given to the Protestants by Napoleon in 1811. Before then, it was the royal chapel of the kings of France. (Sturrock notes)

p 98 | General Staff: Representatives from all French military forces (army, navy, air, etc.).

p 99 | Eugène-Marin Labiche (1815-88), comic playwright who wrote many of the most popular and amusing light comedies of the 19th-century French stage. Born into the bourgeois class, which provided the social setting for most of his works. Typically, the plays are based on an improbable incident evolving into an imbroglio that brings out the folly and frailty of the characters.

The photos that could have been, but never were...

I just re-found this extraordinary artist's portfolio of photographs of Proust (the dozen we know so well) ensconced in well-known Proustian hangouts.