Marcel Proust Tender autograph letter signed 1913 Beautiful signature

  

Slnd [Thursday, April 10, 1913] - Letter published in the Kolb correspondence, volume XII, pages 130-131. A lovely letter from Marcel Proust to his friend Georges de Lauris following the death of the latter’s uncle, Louis van de Wynckele. Size: 17 x 11 cm, and 17 x 22 cm when unfolded / With magnetic plexiglass display frame (included): 30 x 21 cm. Georges de Lauris was part of the group of “young dukes” who exchanged many letters with Proust and spent evenings in his room.

He was a close friend and inspired some traits of the character Robert de Saint-Loup. We are only a few months away from the publication of “Swann’s Way” on November 14, 1913.

Proust is then absorbed in the countless corrections to the first volume of In Search of Lost Time. This letter is entirely characteristic of the essence of Proust’s reflections in In Search of Lost Time: reflection on time, memories, and their embodiments. The death notice of Louis van de Wynckèle (1850-1913) is included.

I have thought a great deal about you upon learning of the death of your uncle.

I believe he was your mother’s brother, and for that reason he must have been in some way the keeper of a thousand memories, even memories from the time when your mother was not yet your mother. Perhaps in certain physical features he even reminded you of her.

Perhaps you are also thinking of the sorrow she would have felt, though no doubt her greatest sorrow would have been, if she knew, that she was leaving you and that you would be so unhappy.

At any rate, Georges, there is not a single feeling you may have experienced that my anxious and ill-informed affection has not felt as well. Please convey my respectful regards to Madame de Lauris and to your father.

Below, Portrait of Marcel Proust by Jacques-Émile Blanche.

Letter published in the Kolb correspondence, volume XII, pages 130-131.