Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Saturday, 21 August 1875

# Samedi 21 aout 1875

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My father writes that, despite all his care and all his tenderness, Paul is behaving in an impossible fashion.

Mon pere ecrit que, malgre tous ses soins et toute sa tendresse, Paul se conduit d'une facon impossible.

Maman had written to Paul that his father was ruining himself, in order to remove from him the hope of inheriting and to make him study. And my father replies to this:

Maman avait ecrit a Paul que son pere se ruinait, pour lui oter l'espoir d'heriter et le faire etudier. Et mon pere repond a cela:

I have read your letter to our son and consider it not superfluous to make a few remarks upon it. I am not ruining myself etc. etc., then: I am selling the properties because your hatred and that of your daughter towards me compels me etc. etc.

*J'ai lu votre lettre a notre fils et j'estime non superflu de faire sur elle quelques remarques. Je ne me ruine pas* etc. etc. puis: *Je vends les proprietes parce que votre haine et celle de votre fille envers moi me force* etc. etc.

And for my part I take a sheet of paper and write the following:

Et moi de mon cote je prends une feuille de papier et ecris ceci:

I have read your letter to my mother and also consider it not superfluous to make a few remarks. I have not the slightest hatred towards you — on the contrary I love you as a father, and if I am not particularly tender, blame that on yourself alone, who have done nothing to attach your daughter Maria Bachkirtseva to you.

*J'ai lu votre lettre a ma mere et j'estime aussi non superflu de faire quelques remarques, je n'ai pas la moindre haine envers vous, au contraire je vous aime comme un pere et si je ne suis pas particulierement tendre, accusez de cela vous seul, qui n'avez rien fait pour vous attacher votre fille Maria Bachkirtseva.*

Having written that letter I write the following almost all in one go — only Godard cost me a few corrections. Besides, it is rather poor.

Ayant ecrit cette lettre j'ecris ceci presque tout d'un trait, Godard seul m'a coute quelques corrections. D'ailleurs c'est assez laid.

Revue de Nice1
Fat, ruddy, slightly lame, Patron of beginners, Always content, always gay, Fluttering everywhere at all times.
When he enters a theatre And makes the rounds of the boxes Displaying his alabaster hand He deserves every eulogy.
To the beautiful ladies and the young misses He instantly ravishes the heart By the fire of his eyes And by his conquering air.
His name resounds everywhere: Andriot Saetone.
More timid, more lean and small, Arthur Danis appears With irreproachable detachable collars.1 Both of them are adorable.
Face rosy, powdered, affected, Moustache pomaded. Hanging on someone's arm, Maurice Gros, illustrious cad —
What a pity one must speak Of such a scoundrel!
The Comte d'Aspremont, Tall as a greasy pole1 — For a nose he has a mountain, No, a whole mountain range.
Shabbily dressed, distracted, stooping, Monsieur Gautier advances — A man of Nice not even in his Sunday best, Aiming at elegance.
The future notary Galula-Dechiar, A secondary personage And cunning as a fox.
He keeps his large eyes Raised heavenward without cease.
The Comte de Laurenti, Royalist and gentleman, Dark, lean, dry, small And wrinkled like an old apple.
Maurice Godard Decrais, Timid and sincere, Who brays like a donkey — Son of the prefect, he is tolerated.
He is candid and virtuous — His posterior imitates The tortuous coils Of Hippolytus's hydra.1
But already Andriot Regards him with paternal eye And of this little fool Will make a great man, I hope.
Let us arrive now At the illustrious lord of the castle, That outlandish young man At the head of these boors.
His sweet name is Emile, He is pink as a rose, That dear imbecile Who thinks only of his pose.
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When he descends from the Tower Between Saetone and Galula One takes him for Cupid — Oh! la! la!
phil. Tryphodore1

Notes

Revue de Nice: a satirical verse review — a theatrical genre in which known figures are lampooned in verse portraits, like a revue show. ↩
Faux cols — detachable collars, a fashionable men's accessory in the 1870s. ↩
Mât de cocagne — a tall greased pole from the top of which prizes are suspended; a fairground contest. ↩
In Greek myth, Poseidon sent a sea-monster (hydra or sea-serpent) at the prayer of Theseus; it terrified Hippolytus's horses and caused his death. Marie deploys the classical reference for comic effect. ↩
Marie signs with the mock-classical pen name "phil. Tryphodore" — Tryphiodorus was a late Greek epic poet (5th century). The "phil." presumably stands for philosophe. ↩