PROUST, Marcel (1871-1922)

PROUST, Marcel (1871-1922)

Autograph pastiche-poem signed « Marcel Proust » to the marquis Philibert de Clermont-Tonnerre
N.p.n.d [c. summer 1908], 2 p. in-8° watermarked, mourning paper
Watermark : « Original / Turkey Mill / Kent »
Central fold mark

A rare and admirable poem-pastiche by Proust, in the manner of Robert de Montesquiou, whose style he somewhat mocks

« “Prière du Marquis de Clermont-Tonnerre”¹
(Imité de Robert de Montesquiou)

Je greffe les rosiers dont sont fleuris les marbres,
Ceux du Paros “mousseux” et du Carrare “thé”,
Et, de ces rosoyants et ces blondissants arbres,
Je sais tirer des chants inconnus d’Hardy-Thé !²

Mon pinceau fait courir au rinceau des abaques
Cet or qui fait marcher, à ce qu’on dit, Cloton !³
Trianon⁴, Vézelay, ne sont que des baraques,
Quand l’esprit les compare au Palais Lauriston !⁵

Seigneur, si vous daignez m’admettre dans les Salles
Où le Juste rompra le Pain Essentiel,
Que de marbre aussi pur étincellent vos stalles !
De Glisolles et d’Ancy⁶, que soit digne le Ciel !

(pour copie conforme⁷
Marcel Proust) »

Through this pastiche, Proust takes up the floral motif abundantly used by Robert de Montesquiou (1855-1921) in his works and poems. When the latter published his first collection, Les Chauves-souris, in 1893, Proust (22 years old at the time) wrote to him on 29 April 1893 that “Never have the vain flowers of gardens smelled so good” (Corr., t. I, p. 206). The two men met for the first time a few days earlier, at Madeleine Lemaire’s house, on April 13, 1893. Dandy with a pure profile, a fascinating look… Proust fell under the admiration of Montesquiou, the future model of Charlus. This was followed by an abundant, often flattering, correspondence. If the young Proust never ceased to praise Montesquiou’s taste for the erudite display of names, cultural references and the rare word, we observe through the present poem-pastiche a touch of mockery with regard to the style of the dandy-poet. The two would however maintain a friendship that would last until Montesquiou’s last days, in 1921.
At the time when Proust was thinking of resuming his pastiche of Saint-Simon, “Fête chez Montesquiou” (Textes retrouvés, ed. P. Kolb, Gallimard, p. 191-195), he wrote to Montesquiou, on February 16, 1909, without forgetting the usual precautions: “Basically, the pastiche that would amuse me the most to make, when I can write a little (without prejudice to more serious studies) is a pastiche of you! But in the first place it would perhaps annoy you, and I don’t want anything of me to ever make you angry […]!” (Corr., t. IX, p. 34).
The epistle, addressed to the Marquis Philibert de Clermont-Tonnerre (1871-1940), was published by his wife Elisabeth de Clermont-Tonnerre, née de Gramont, in 1955, in the Bulletin Marcel Proust. The latter, who first met the writer in 1903, had previously published a study of Robert de Montesquiou and Marcel Proust (Flammarion, 1925).

[1] The title recalls Robert de Montesquiou’s Prières de tous (1902), illustrated by Madeleine Lemaire.
[2] Lucien Hardy-Thé, composer and singer socialite
[3] Clotilde Legrand (1857-1944), born de Fournès, nicknamed “Cloton”.
[4] In 1908, Montesquiou acquired the Palais Rose du Vésinet, a reduced copy of the Grand Trianon in Versailles.
[5] The Clermont-Tonnerres lived in their hotel, at 74 rue de Lauriston in Paris.
[6] Duke Aimé Gaspard Marie de Clermont-Tonnerre (1779-1865) owned a castle, built in the eighteenth century, at Glisolles in the Eure, and another, built in the sixteenth century, at Ancy-le-Franc in the Yonne.
[7] Proust indicates “pour copie conforme”, a practice he used for his pastiches and common at the time.