Marcel Proust (1871.1922)
Autograph letter signed to Georges de Lauris.
Three pages in-12°. Slnd [shortly after February 18, 1907]
Kolb, volume VII, pages 87-88.
“The eyes of memory end up seeing nothing when we stare at them too much. »
Proust provides friendly support to Lauris after the death of his mother and remembers the loss of his own.
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“My little Georges, It is useful that I respond immediately to your letter for which I will never be able to thank you enough, because although I am incapable of writing at the moment I write to you (I will explain a thousand things to you) it It is essential to make two things clear to you. The 1st is for what you say about the images of your mother in your memory. At this moment, I know very well that it is easier said than done, do not try to see her because you will never see her except too sadly, sick, perhaps dead, and especially if you try too hard you won't be able to imagine it. Mom experienced this torture, never seeing her mother again, nor thinking, when she wanted to think about it, except in a flash of sleep, and then so cruelly. The eyes of memory end up no longer seeing anything when we stare at them too much . At this moment simply try to live, to survive, letting all this happen within you without the collaboration of your will and the sweet images will be reborn by themselves, never to leave you again.
The other thing is that when a moral physiognomy must dominate me, few traits are enough for me and I reconstruct everything with certainty. I know your mother so well that you can't tell me anything about it that I don't already know and you can't tell me anything about it that I don't listen to, I don't say with interest or sympathy, but with real eagerness. painful. Know Georges that I never think of anything else again and that my need to see you is at this moment above all a need to hear you talk about her. If you could come by my place early this evening (9am, 9.5am) it seems to me that my night would be calmer. Unfortunately, I am writing to you under the influence of a medication which takes away all clarity from my already confusing writing. However, I hope that you will be able to read my tenderness and my sadness there. Marcel. »
