Proust in 1913 (12)

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The disappearance of Swann's background between 1909 and 1912 meant the disappearance of Proust's thesis in Cahier 9 on the assimilation of Jews in ^19th-century France. All we now have about the character are clues, the most important of which are his physical features, in particular his nose, and his name.

The first physical notation appears in Cahier 9 in the form of an autograph marginal addition. In it, Proust describes "his curious eagle-beak face", which would become "his face with a busted nose"(RTP, I, 14). It is this "busted nose"(RTP, I, 19) that remains Swann's trademark, while the Judaism fades. However, this expression remains ambiguous, since it refers to two sides: the "Semitic nose", for the hooked nose, and the "aristocratic nose", for the aquiline nose. Swann's "bushy nose" is compared to that of a Luini character(RTP, I, 563), while Oriane's nose is described as "prominent"(RTP, I, 173). The latter is characteristic of the aquiline profile of the Guermantes(RTP, II, 724, 731). In Cahier 9, Proust refers to Swann's "aquiline nose line". "Aquiline" is a possible synonym for "busqué". "Busqué" can therefore veer either towards "crochu" or "aquilin". The "busqué nose" that retains such equivocality in the novel is nonetheless a stereotypical euphemism for the Jewish nose throughout contemporary literature. Swann himself describes Bloch's nose as "curved", alluding to Bellini's portrait of Mahomet II(RTP, I, 96).

Swann's name is similarly ambiguous. On several occasions, he explicitly evokes an English origin(RTP, IV, 165). But we might add that many similar-sounding monosyllabic names are borne by Jews. In Sodom and Gomorrah, Swann refuses to sign the lists in favor of Picquart, finding his name "too Hebraic not to make a bad impression"(RTP, III, 111). In a marginal addition to Cahier 8, he prefers to keep his Jewish name rather than take up "a great extinct French title", thanks to his friendship with the Comte de Chambord.

Some of the novel's unclassifiable and incoherent information remains. Faced with Charlus's exacerbated Catholicism, Mme Cottard says to herself in Sodom and Gomorrah : "Swann, except at the end, was more tolerant, it's true that he was a convert"(RTP, III, 427). He received a Catholic funeral surrounded by military honor since he was, despite his Dreyfusism, clerical and militaristic. Commenting on Gilberte's wedding in Albertine disparue, the narrator's mother mentions "the blood of Mother Moser, who said: 'Ponchour Mezieurs'"(RTP, IV, 237). It is unclear whether this refers to Swann's paternal or maternal grandmother. The same ambiguity is found in the description of Mlle de Saint-Loup's nose(RTP, IV, 609).

Of all the reflections to be found in the drafts, little remains in the final text. Another example is Françoise's "imperious code" mentioned in the evening kiss scene (RTP, I, 28). The draft of this passage found in Cahier 9 includes explicit references to the "old Jewish law" laid down in the Old Testament concerning the culinary preparation of kid. This entire passage has been extensively corrected and much shortened on the placards.

To conclude on the Jewish side of the novel, let's return to the humming "Ti la lam, tam ta lam, ta lam ta lam ta lam, talam, talim, talilalam, tim talam" (Cahier 8), which was reminiscent of psalmody and Hebrew. Ta-lim, meaning to be hidden, to conceal, is found in Psalms 10:1; Ta-lem in Lamentations 3:56; Tit-al-lam, meaning to hide, in Psalms 55:1 and Isaiah 58:7. Proust, who would have attended several funerals in his maternal family, was probably much more familiar with the rites of Jewish liturgy than one might think. This is suggested by a letter quoted by André Spire as early as 1923 and by Georges Cattaui in 1928, in which he refers to "the little Jewish cemetery where [his] grandfather, following the rite he had never understood, went every year to place a pebble on his parents' grave". This reference refers to the plot in Père Lachaise that had been made available to the Consistoire de Paris in 1810, and where one of the first burials was that of the first wife of Baruch Weil, Proust's great-grandfather. Proust visited the cemetery regularly. It is unlikely that the tradition described in the letter has been completely lost.

Next, we open a new file on the hero of "Combray". First, we highlight the lack of innocence of the hero, who is often seen as blameless and white. Then we'll try to follow the clues that make him a potential writer. Finally, we'll show that these two aspects - duplicity and the desire to become a writer - are linked in some way. This is achieved through the characters of Bloch and Bergotte, since it is the former who introduces the hero to the latter's reading.

Several scenes demonstrate the hero's duplicity, false naiveté or perversion. The first example is his visit to Uncle Adolphe's and his meeting with the lady in pink(RTP, I, 78). This scene, which includes a long apology from the hero, shows that he is a casuist. Absent from the manuscript of "Combray", the episode was added by typing in 1911. Drafts can be found in Cahier 13 of 1910. The quarrel was caused by the hero's inadvertence or smugness. But this elicits no comment from the narrator, and the denial remains as it is in the text. The same thing happens a few pages later with Bloch, with the same rupture, the same banishment, the same claim to innocence and the same credulity(RTP, I, 92).

We've already mentioned that Bloch is one of the few points of agreement in the narrator's family. Let's return to his entrance, which was absent from the first version. In his first reference, he is presented as a "coulissier's son" and a friend from Montargis who does not please the narrator's grandmother. A little later, when Proust makes additions to "Combray" in Cahier 14 of 1910, he becomes "the most intelligent of comrades" at the lycée, who introduces the hero to the reading of Bergotte and thus to his vocation as a writer. Then, in Cahier 28, he is introduced as "à claquer". It is the hero himself who delivers the final blow, bringing about his execution. The hero's recklessness in evil is the same as in the Uncle Adolphe episode. In both episodes, the same scene of unrecognition in the street ensues.

"I became extremely red," says the narrator at the end of Bloch's episode. This redness, linked to the confrontation with an unpleasant image of oneself, is the clue to all the impairs frequently found in La Recherche , and in Swann himself. The theme of redness is also associated with an interest in what is said about you in your absence, one of the most important elements of the novel. We could cite Charlus's "opposing flags"(RTP, III, 436), the discordance between two Swanns(RTP, I, 18-19), or the end of "Un amour de Swann", where Swann discovers from Mme Cottard what is said about him in his absence(RTP, I, 369).

The inaugural scene of this theme in Western literature is that of Ulysses' tears in Canto VIII of theOdyssey, when the aedic recites before him episodes from the Trojan War, of which he is the hero. Could this prototypical scene, which illustrates the distance between otherness and identity, between past and present, be considered a model for several passages in La Recherche, even though Proust never alludes to it? In the episode of Swann's dream(RTP, I, 372, 373), as in Song VIII of theOdyssey, it's a question of tears of gratitude. All these examples are indicative of those moments when the novel crosses the mirror from absence to presence.

To return to the hero's two failed acts, with the great-uncle and with Bloch, they bear witness to what we have called the absence of innocence. We'll see how this leads to his vocation as a writer.

Speaker(s)

Antoine Compagnon

Professor at the Collège de France

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Speaker(s)

Antoine Compagnon

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