[PROUST] DAUDET, Alphonse (1840-1897)

[PROUST] DAUDET, Alphonse (1840-1897)

Autograph carte-de-visite signed « A.D. » [to Gaston Calmette]
N.p.n.d. [Paris, evening of the 6 of February 1897], 1 p. in-24°
Printed address: 31, Rue de Bellechasse
Some ink smudges

Unpublished testimony on the Proust-Lorrain duel

« Mon cher ami,
Vous m’obligeriez en donnant en bonne place le procès-verbal de la rencontre Marcel Proust et Lorrain.
Votre A.D. »

Already the author of a first ironic review of Les Plaisirs et les Jours in July 1896, Jean Lorrain reoffends Proust on February 3, 1897 in Le Journal, while targeting the Daudets: “be sure that, for his next volume, Mr. Marcel Proust will obtain his preface from Mr. Alphonse Daudet, from the intransigent Mr. Alphonse Daudet himself, who will not be able to refuse this preface, neither to Mme Lemaire nor to his son Lucien.”
This was too much for Proust, who challenged Lorrain to a duel. The event took place on the afternoon of February 6, 1897, in the rain, at the Tour de Villebon, in the forest of Meudon. The duel caused more ink to flow than blood: “I was not hit,” Proust reported to Lucien Daudet, “nor was Lorrain either, although my bullet landed almost at his right foot” (Lettres à Lucien Daudet, p. 130). Nevertheless, this ordeal by fire was for Proust the heroic act of his life.
Did Alphonse Daudet write this short message to his friend Gaston Calmette at the request of his son Lucien? One might suppose so. In any case, the editor of Le Figaro respected his friend’s wishes and had a report published on the front page of the newspaper the following day: “A pistol fight took place yesterday, near Paris, between Messrs. Marcel Proust and Jean Lorrain, following an article published by the latter under the name Raitif de la Bretonne. Two bullets were exchanged without result. Mr. Marcel Proust’s witnesses were Messrs. Gustave de Borda and Jean Béraud; Mr. Jean Lorrain’s witnesses were Messrs. Octave Uzanne and Paul Adam.”