PROUST, Marcel. Autograph letter signed to Lucien Daudet, n.p. [Paris], n.d. [May or June 1916] , replying late because of his eyes and not wanting to oblige Lucien to write ('Je hais les correspondances'). Rather than 'adopting' and writing to a soldier, 'un "poilu" inconnu', he prefers to comfort or bother his friends by giving them something to read; mentioning his handwriting which used to exasperate his commanding officer; analysing Lucien's health and prescribing a remedy and a diet, then turning to a book, Les Deux Marthes , which reminds him of Lucien's sister-in-law, and touching on various other subjects, including a group of his contemporaries at the Ecole Fénélon, 'je n'ai jamais eu l'honneur de faire partie des semblables élites', his mother, 'les mères sont trop sublimes, les fils (pas toi, mais moi) trop égoistes et ne s'en rendent pas compte'; the 'grandeur' of the Bethune family, and other aristocratic names found in Balzac, on his light reading (' Sinbad-le-Marin ') and [in an unpublished postscript of 9 lines] chatting about members of the Pange family, including one who married the niece of Robert de Montesquiou, 'avec laquelle tu as sans doute dejeuné souvent comme moi au Pavillon Montesquiou, d'une cotellette et de confiture de roses', 12 pages, 8vo . In a footnote, Lucien Daudet records that as the son and brother of eminent doctors, Proust was an excellent doctor for his friends ( Cahiers , V, 151). Here he gives almost three pages of advice: 'Je ne crois pas que tu aies de l'asthme, et je suis certain que tu n'es pas menacé d'angine de poitrine (moi, j'ai les 2). Tu as probablement de la dyspnée-toxi-alimentaire. Elle se guérit de la façon suivante: purgatif drastique energique (l'eau de vie allemande et sirop de nerprun) suivi de lavages intestinaux pendant deux jours. Pendant trois jours ... ne prendre que du lait, c'est à dire même pas du sucre dans le lait, même pas de café, pas une once de pain'. (The same remedy is prescribed by Dr. Cottard for the narrator in À l'Ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs , I, 498). Proust also begs Lucien to forget what he said [in the previous letter] about the possible misinterpretation of a visit by his mother to Léon Daudet. Kolb, XV, 148; Cahiers , V (XXVII).
PROUST, Marcel. Autograph letter signed to Lucien Daudet, n.p. [Paris], n.d. [May or June 1916] , replying late because of his eyes and not wanting to oblige Lucien to write ('Je hais les correspondances'). Rather than 'adopting' and writing to a soldier, 'un "poilu" inconnu', he prefers to comfort or bother his friends by giving them something to read; mentioning his handwriting which used to exasperate his commanding officer; analysing Lucien's health and prescribing a remedy and a diet, then turning to a book, Les Deux Marthes , which reminds him of Lucien's sister-in-law, and touching on various other subjects, including a group of his contemporaries at the Ecole Fénélon, 'je n'ai jamais eu l'honneur de faire partie des semblables élites', his mother, 'les mères sont trop sublimes, les fils (pas toi, mais moi) trop égoistes et ne s'en rendent pas compte'; the 'grandeur' of the Bethune family, and other aristocratic names found in Balzac, on his light reading (' Sinbad-le-Marin ') and [in an unpublished postscript of 9 lines] chatting about members of the Pange family, including one who married the niece of Robert de Montesquiou, 'avec laquelle tu as sans doute dejeuné souvent comme moi au Pavillon Montesquiou, d'une cotellette et de confiture de roses', 12 pages, 8vo . In a footnote, Lucien Daudet records that as the son and brother of eminent doctors, Proust was an excellent doctor for his friends ( Cahiers , V, 151). Here he gives almost three pages of advice: 'Je ne crois pas que tu aies de l'asthme, et je suis certain que tu n'es pas menacé d'angine de poitrine (moi, j'ai les 2). Tu as probablement de la dyspnée-toxi-alimentaire. Elle se guérit de la façon suivante: purgatif drastique energique (l'eau de vie allemande et sirop de nerprun) suivi de lavages intestinaux pendant deux jours. Pendant trois jours ... ne prendre que du lait, c'est à dire même pas du sucre dans le lait, même pas de café, pas une once de pain'. (The same remedy is prescribed by Dr. Cottard for the narrator in À l'Ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs , I, 498). Proust also begs Lucien to forget what he said [in the previous letter] about the possible misinterpretation of a visit by his mother to Léon Daudet. Kolb, XV, 148; Cahiers , V (XXVII).
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
