Marcel Proust JEAN-YVES TADIE Translated by Euan Cameron VIKINGVIKING Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Books Led, 27 Wrights Lane, London w8 12, England Penguin Putnam Ine., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Vietoria, Australia Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Torosto, Ontario, Canada m gy 382 Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd, Private Bag 102902, NSMC, Auckland, New Zealand Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England First published in France by Editions Gallimard 1996 ‘This translation frst published in Great Britain by Viking 2000 13579108642 Copyright © Editions Gallimard, 1996 ‘Translation copyright © Euan Cameron, 2000 "The moral right of the translator has been asserted ‘The author would like to thank Oxford University Press for allowing him to reprint extracts from his inaugural lecture given at the University of Oxford in to90, and published under the tile Portrait ofthe Arist; and the Houghton Library, Hacvard University, for permission to quote from letters by Reynaldo Hahn All rights eeserved Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, ao pat of this publication may be reproduced, stored in of introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, pphotocopring, recording or otherwise), without the prior “written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of tis book Set in 11.5/15.75pt Monotype Garamond ‘Typeset by Rowland Phovorypesetting Ld, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk Printed in England by Clays Ltd, St Ives ple ACIP catalogue record for this book is available from the Bntish Library Es 0-670-87655-0IL Contents Translator’s Note xii Preface xv Acknowledgements xxi Roots 1 Auteuil 1; Iliers 7; The Weil Family 13; Jeanne Proust 21; Adrien Proust 27 Childhood 37 ‘The Curls 40; The Evening Kiss 41; At the Champs-Tlysées 433 Onanism 47; The Underworld of the Swimming Pool 49; The First Attack of Asthma 50; Childhood Reading 52 The Schoolboy 55 An Unassuming Pupil s 5; Rhétorigue 64; Madame Straus 753 Philosophie 77; Magazines 83 Summer Holidays (1889-91) 88 Ostende, the Finalys 88; Madame Arman de Caillavet 90; Proust and France 92; Military Service 93; Gaston and Jeanne 99; The Death of the Grandmother 102; The End of National Service 103; L’Ecole Libre des Sciences Politiques 106; Le Mensuel 111 From Le Banquet to La Revue blanche 123 Wilde 12. Friendships 137; A Portrait 139; Holidays 1892 142; Renan 146; Platonic Love 147; Other Friends 149; Willie Heath 151; Madeleine Lemaire 153; ‘The Encounter with Robert de Montesquiou 156; Music 164 ; Princesse Mathilde 125; Bergson 127; Le Banguet 129;viii vI VI vill Ix CONTENTS The Genesis of Les Plaisirs et les Jours 166 Saint-Moritz 166; The New Term, 1893 173; How Not to Choose a Career 1753 Further Essays for La Revue blanche 177; A Stormy Friendship 178; Léon Delafosse 180; Autumn at Versailles 186; The Chateau de Réveillon 187; Reynaldo Hahn 191; Trouville, Moonlight and ‘Baldassare’ 194; ‘La Confession d’une jeune fille’ 198; The New Term, 1894 200; The Philosophy Degree 203; Alphonse Daudet 207; Fauré 209; La Vie Parisienne 211; ‘Portraits de Peintres’ 212; A Phantom Librarian 214 The Pleasures of Jean Santeuil 216 Kreuznach 216; Saint-Germain-en-Laye 217; Dieppe 218; Beg-Meil 219; Harrison 222; Landscapes 223; Réveillon 225; Chardin and Rembrandt 227; A Dinner Party at Boulevard Malesherbes 229; Saint-Saéns 230; A Publication Constantly Deferred 232; An End to Jealousy 233; Bourget’s Influence 234; Proust in Love 236; Lucien Daudet 239; The Death of Louis Weil 244; A Foreword 245; Proust and Mallarmé 249; Ler Plaisirs et les Jours: an Appraisal 252; Reception of Les Plaisirs et les Jours 254; The Death of the Grandfather 256; The Death of Edmond de Goncourt 257; Hygiene for Asthmatics 258; The Break-up 258; At Mont-Dore 260 From Jean Santeuil to Dreyfus. 262 Autumn 1896 262; An Imperial Visit 265; Fontainebleau 266; Being a Writer in 1896 271; Against Stendhal? 273; The Writing of Jean Santeuil 275; What is Jean Santeuil? 281; Winter 1896-7 284; Summer 1897 290; Proust as Reader of Balzac 291; Autumn 1897 297; The Death of Daudet 298; How Proust Became a Dreyfusard 299; The Novel of the Dreyfus Affair: Proust and France 303; Robert de Flers 307; Summer 1898 308; Proust as Art Critic: Rembrandt and Moteau 311; The Café Weber 314; Comtesse Greffulhe or Unavailing Beauty 315; Charles Haas 320; Spring 1899 3253 Interval by the Lake Shore 326 The Bible of Amiens 339 The Discovery of Carlyle 339; Reading Emerson 343; The Artist According to Ruskin 345; But Who Was Ruskin? And How Did Proust Know about Him? 350; ‘Pélerinages Ruskiniens en France’ 355; The Journey to Venice 363; How to Translate? 368; 1900 Draws to ax XII XU CONTENTS ix Close 369; The Second Trip to Venice 371; Concluding La Bible @’Amiens 373; Anna de Noailles’ Circle 374; The Death of Edmond de Polignac 376; Antoine Bibesco 378; Bertrand de Fénelon 386; The Trip to Belgium and Holland 392; 1903 398; Charles Ephrussi 402; Whistler 4o4; Salons 405; Robert’s Wedding 407; Casa-Fuerte 408; Albufera and Louisa de Mornand 410; The Duc de Guiche 413; Gabriel de La Rochefoucauld 416; Radziwill 417; Francis de Croisset 419; The Death of a Father 425 Sesame and Lilies 429 Translation in 1900 429; Beginning Sésame 432; The Press Reception for La Bible d’Amiens 433; Proust and Saint-Simon 434; The Stages of the Translation 435; Other Publications 437; Daily Life 444; Social Gatherings 448; Literary Work 450; The Whistler Exhibition 455; On Reading 455; The Death of Madame Proust 458; Mourning (1905-6) 460; Proust and Money 467; Summer and Moving House 468 The Renaissance of Literature 477 Returning to Life 477; Gainsborough 477; Filial Feelings of a Parricide’ 478; Days Spent Reading 482; Les Eblouissements by the Comtesse de Noailles 483; Music 486; A Grandmother 48: 1907 in Cabourg 490; ‘Impressions of the Road in a Motor Car’ 498; ‘The Return to Paris 499; Gustave de Borda 502; Towards Sainte-Beuve 502 Contre Sainte-Beuve 504 Pastiches 504; Living for Writing 507; Financial Speculations and Virtuous Habits 509; Contre Sainte-Benve 510; Cabourg, Summer 1908 513; Versailles in the Autumn of 1908 516; Sainte-Beuve (late 1908-9) 518; The Metamorphosis of Contre Sainte-Beuve (1909-11) 5293 The Death of Madame Caillavet 539; 1910 541; Céline and Nicolas Cottin 543; Cabourg 1910 545; Autumn 1910 547; Jean Cocteau 549; 1911 552; From Pelléas to Saint Sébastien 554; Cabourg 1911 557; Autumn 1911 559; Albert Nahmias 560; The Novel of 1911 562 “Le Temps perdw (1912-13) 563 An Overview of the Writing Process 563; The Division into Volumes and Choice of Title 566; 1912 567; Cabourg 1912 571; Autumn: In Search of a Publisher 574; Beginning Again 578; Bernard Grasset 580;x XIV XV XVI CONTENTS Agostinelli 585; Cabourg 1913 587; Title and Structure, 1913 590; Proofs and the Grasset Edition 593; Launch and Publication of Du cété de chez Swann 595; The Fugitive 598 The Novel of 1914 600 Composition 600; Céleste Albaret 609; A Review of the Press and Other Reactions to Swann 610; From One Publisher to Another: The Return of Fasquelle, Gide and the NRF 612; Music and Pianola 6133 Financial Debacle 615; Agostinelli Disappears 617; War 619; Cabourg for the Last Time, Forssgren 620; Military Discharge, Against Chauvinism 622; Daily Life in 1915 625; Friends Living or Dead 624; Fighting the Army 627; Proust, the Press and the War 628; An End to Speculation 630; Writing in 1915 632; Writing in 1916 63 5; Daily Life in 1916 637; Music 638; Reading 640; From Grasset to Gallimard 642; Gaston Gallimard 644; Paul Morand 646; 1917: The Ritz 648; With Gallimard 649; A Hectic Life 650; Héléne Soutzo 652; Health 653; New Friendships 654; The Death of Emmanuel Bibesco 659 The Novel of 1918 664 From Sodome to La Fugitive 664; Wat in the Novel 667; M. de Charlus’ Pleasures 670; Daily Life in 1918 674; Henri Rochat 678; History, War, Politics 681; Reading 684; Publishers and New Editions 685; The Saint-Simon Pastiche 687; The Foreword to Propos de peintre, De David a Degas 688; Daily Life in 1919 689; Sydney Schiff 692; Rue Laurent-Pichat 694; Publishing in 1919 698; Press reception of A Pombre des jeunes filles en fleurs 70%; Reading 702; The Quarrel of ‘The Intelligence Party’ 703; Rue Hamelin 704; The Prix Goncourt 706; Daily Life in 1920 709; Jacques Riviere 709; Le Cété de Guermantes 1711; Reception of Le Cité de Guermantes 1-714; Social Life 7153 Pierre de Polignac, Boni de Castellane and Others 717; Literary Friends 721; Newspaper Surveys 722; Introductions and Articles 7233 Proust and Anatole France (Conclusion) 724; Health Problems 728; ‘Cursus honorum’ 728 Between Life and Death — 731 Health 731; Magazines and Correspondence 732; Preparation for Le Cité de Guermantes 1l—Sodome I 735; Francois Mauriac 737; The Launch of Guermantes II 738; Reception of Le Coté de Guermantes II and Sodome et Gomorre 1739; Discussions with Gide 740; Farewell to Montesquiou 741; Preparation for Sodome et Gomorrbe II 743; An.CONTENTS xi Exhibition 744; Rochat Leaves 746; The Norwegian Philosopher 747; New Year's Eve, 1921 749; 1922 749; Reactions to Sodome II 754; Sodome et Gomorrbe I, III, IV 756; Additions 78; The End of Le Temps retrouvé 762; Daily Life in 1922 765; Albertine disparue 772; Death 775 List of Abbreviations 781 Notes 783, Select Bibliography 930 Index 935Translator’s Note Page references to Proust’s work refer to the French editions of his books, and in particular to the four-volume Pléiade edition of A /a recherche du temps perdu, published by Gallimard (1987-9) under the general editorship of Jean-Yves Tadié. English translations of passages from the novel are my own, but I have frequently referred to the C. K. Scott-Moncrieff translation, which was revised by Terence Kilmartin in 1981 and published in three volumes (Chatto & Windus/Penguin), and revised further by D. J. Enright, in the light of the Pléiade definitive text, in six volumes (Chatto & Windus/Vintage) in 1992. Proust’s great novel is referred to throughout by its French title, as are the individual volumes: Du cété de chez Swann* (Swann’s Way), A Pombre des jeunes filles en fleurs (Within a Budding Grove), Le Cété de Guermantes (The Guermantes Way), Sodome et Gomorrbe (Sodom and Gomorrah), La Prisonnitre (The Captive), Albertine disparue (The Fugitive), Le Temps retrouvé (Time Regained). Comparatively few of the twenty-one volumes of Proust’s letters have been translated into English. I have generally translated the letters quoted myself, though in some instances I have referred to the three volumes of Marcel Proust: Selected Letters (Collins, 1983, 1989, 1992), edited by Philip Kolb and translated by Ralph Manheim (vol. I) and Terence Kilmartin (vols. II and III). A fourth volume, containing a selection of letters from 1918 to Proust’s death in 1922, translated by Joanna Kilmartin, was published in January 2000. Any errors in translation from Proust’s corre- spondence, and in the quotations from Les Plaisirs et les Jours, Jean Santeuil and Contre Sainte-Bewe, must be my own responsibility. In the French edition of this book, the wealth of material contained in the notes appeared as footnotes on the page. For this edition, I have * This includes ‘Combray’, ‘Un Amour de Swann’ ‘Swann in Love’), and ‘Noms de pays: le nom’ (Place-names: The Name’)owe Nw TRANSLATOR’S NOTE xiii incorporated those that directly concern Proust’s life and A /a recherche du temps perdu, or that are helpful in understanding the text, as footnotes, but have transferred the remainder to the Notes section at the back of the book. I should like to thank Jean-Yves Tadié for his valuable advice, his encouragement and his hospitality in Dinard, as well as the following who offered suggestions or came to my rescue in one way ot another: Malcolm Bowie, Isabelle Daudy, Sophie Dunoyer de Segonzac, D. J. Enright, Eric Green, Nelly and Tobie Munthe; and, at Penguin, Peter Carson and Andrew Kidd. I am especially grateful to Daphne Tagg for her astute comments and her sensitive and sympathetic editing of my text. Euan Cameron September 1999Preface Why a new biography of Proust? As well ask an artist the reason for yet another still life, or another portrait. The moment comes when it seems justifiable to synthesize the existing works, rejecting whatever does not appear to be verifiable, considering any recent discoveries, and, above all, taking into account those things that only the work of an editor permits him to know — the history of the manuscripts and of the work as it goes through the process of being written; the true biography of a writer or an artist is that of his work. It is also the only story that does not end with death. Proust said of Ruskin: ‘The events of his life are intellectual ones and the important dates are those in which he petceives a new att form.” Another aspect of this work is that it attempts to justify all its assertions, hence the abundant notes and footnotes — which there is no obligation to read — that supply evidence for them. Unresolved questions remain, as a result of the temporary or permanent disappearance of vital documents: Proust’s correspondence with Agostinelli, the majority of his letters to his father and several of those to his mother, Reynaldo Hahn’s diary, which survives but which no one is allowed to examine. Letters sent to the writer have seldom been kept; his books have mostly been dispersed. While the task of the critic is to encompass an entire library in a single book, that of the biographer is to embrace the man (or woman) himself. Frequently, when the conjuror opens his magic box, the subject, or the work in question, has disappeared. Just as the novelist can never fully fathom the recesses of the characters he creates, neither can the biographer; we must simply accept. I shall endeavour to depict the individual in so far as he is a type: the child of a middle-class family, a pupil at the Lycée Condorcet, a student at the Ecole des Sciences Politiques, an asthmatic, a ‘young poet’ who wrote more letters than he received, a person who took the waters at seaside resorts. What was it like to be a writer in 1890, to be homosexual,xvi PREFACE to be an invalid, or a doctor? By dipping into the history or culture of the time at regular intervals, I hope to escape the tedium of anecdotes that are too specific. There then comes the moment when the great artist ceases to be merely a type and, now irretrievably different, breaks loose from the bonds of history and from structures. Precisely because it is harder to interpret than it is to relate, and because we must rely to a degree on hypothesis, this book is also a theorem. Ever since 1959, when I began publishing books about Proust, I and my team have been the instigators of other works; in one sense I am now reaping my harvest. This is especially true of our edition of A da recherche du temps perdu in the 1987 Bibliothéque de la Pléiade edition, and of its Introduction, elements of which, recounting the history of the work, will be found in these pages. I have simply remained true to myself. Having studied the writer’s art in Proust et le roman, sketched a critical panorama in Lectures de Proust, and published, with a team of scholars, the principal early drafts of A La recherche, as well as an abundant selection of their variants, it only remained for me to tackle this irritating problem: is it possible to recount the story of Proust’s life, and if so, how and why? People readily criticize long, erudite ‘American-style’ biographies and the academics who write them. Yet nowhere in this lengthy book will you come across a single insignificant fact, and very few that do not relate to Proust’s great work: thus it is that, as often as possible, I have dated the introduction of a theme, an image or a character from the novel that was gestating, for we are dealing with one single novel. Proust made use of everything he experienced or thought about during his lifetime. And I too, though frequently surpassed by the surprises of his art, believed that I understood what he knew, or thought, or felt, and it is my wish to convey this to the reader, to those countless readers throughout the world, from America to China and Japan, who love this man and his work. A few undiscovered facts, and an interpretation: a life is like a musical score; there are many ways of performing it, neither overdoing the mbato, nor playing, as the grandmother of Proust’s hero would say, ‘too drily’. A biographer’s tone of voice can be heard and show its age. One may plead too much; another may produce hagiography; another may be melodramatic. A life can be interpreted like a sonata or a play: so it is better to imitate la Berma and choose a transparent, invisible approach. Which is not to say that the writing of it will suffer: style is made up of sacrifices. All that we can know about Proust, everything that it is useful to know in order to understand him and his work. No detail that is not relevant.PREFACE xvii Yet what is most important for me, is not what George Painter, and after him Ghislain de Diesbach, demonstrated so ably: the nature of the salons and the social life of the period. Painter read everything that could be read of what was written at the time, the life, the period, the salons, the memories. Not one anecdote is missing: the offensive can begin; not one of those anecdotes which can be found in book after book, and which no longer produce a smile. His successors have quoted them in their turn, without asking themselves whether they were not a little faded, or too well known. Painter had of course read everything: but he had not met any of the witnesses, who were still alive at the time he wrote, and he relied purely on written memories. Yet there were some people who did not write anything, and others who did not write down all they knew. All that is irretrievably lost. It was a world that André Maurois knew well. His well-balanced biography has been forgotten, because he did not pride himself on a cheap knowledge of Freud, because he did not know of the existence of Jean Santenil and of Contre Sainte-Beuve, and had not, in the light of their revelations, revised his book. In certain pages of his A /a recherche de Marcel Proust, those dealing with delicate subjects, such as Jeanne Proust’s Jewish background, with her son’s poor health and his inversion, not a word need be altered. Other writers, conversely, express themselves on such matters with brutality, a lack of subtlety, and a surprising amount of unsubstantiated opinion. I do not deny the importance of the amatory, or purely sexual life; it has been restored to its essential place, to the few bouts of unhappiness that gave tise to Sodome et Gomorrhe. Since the life has become the novel, and the novel the entire life, it should be no surprise to find an essay in literary criticism in this book. It describes Proust’s intellectual universe and how it was constituted, as well as the books, paintings and pieces of music that influenced him. The derivation of ideas matters more than the ancestry of a family. We are reading the history of a mind: the growth of a culture in the process of creation. It was at this time that, in a broader sense, the world of his dreams and desires was being formed, his favourite trees and landscapes, the friendships, the men and women. And then there was the suffering and distress, the jealousies, the illnesses. The loneliness of the artist who for so long was misjudged and unacknowledged, of the homosexual who was the grandson of Jewish bankers and village grocers, of the asthmatic ‘ost in the fumes. Finally, the courage and expectations of the man whose favourite maxim, taken from a Gospel in which he did not believe, was: ‘Work while you have light.’ This is the story of that work, and that light.