Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Sunday, 7 January 1883

Now reading the newspapers is an interesting exercise — Le Voltaire1 makes one weep; Le Figaro dries the tears with a perhaps impartial account that nevertheless strips away illusions and enthusiasm — which is always a pity.

Maintenant la lecture des journaux est curieuse, "Le Voltaire" fait pleurer, "Le Figaro" seche les larmes par un compte rendu impartial peut-etre mais qui enleve les illusions et l'enthousiasme et c'est toujours dommage.

I adore Brisson's speech — yes, we are beheaded, as Hecht said; yes, Gambetta was the poetry and the mind of our generation.

Moi j'adore le discours de Brisson, oui nous sommes decapites comme a dit Hecht, oui, Gambetta etait la poesie et la tete de notre generation.

I say "we." But not having the happiness of being French, I am for the brotherhood of peoples and the universal Republic.

Je dis nous. Mais n'ayant pas le bonheur d'etre francaise je suis pour la fraternite des peuples et la Republique universelle.

The people of La Justice, to reassure the Republicans, maintain that men are nothing and the idea is everything. Then give us a constitutional monarchy, since men are nothing. No? Then how do you explain that men are nothing?

Les gens de la "Justice" pour rassurer les republicains assurent que les hommes ne sont rien et l'idee est tout. Alors donnez-nous une monarchie constitutionnelle puisque les hommes ne sont rien. Non ? Alors comment expliquez-vous que les hommes ne sont rien ?

It seems to me that men are everything, and that the republican principle contains this idea in the most absolute fashion. Yes — the government of men elected for their merits from whatever they come. And what could be perhaps too... poetic in this system, moderated by republican institutions. "Men are nothing" — a stupid error, the flower of jealousy. Men like Gambetta will always get themselves chosen; but for them to be useful, one needs the Republic.

Il me semble a moi que les hommes sont tout et que le principe republicain comporte cette idee d'une facon absolue. Oui le gouvernement des hommes elus pour leurs merites d'ou qu'ils viennent. Et ce qui pourrait etre par trop... poetique dans ce systeme modere par les institutions republicaines. Les hommes ne sont rien, stupide erreur, fleur de jalousie. Les hommes tels que Gambetta se feront toujours choisir, mais pour qu'ils soient utiles il faut la Republique.

Why this absence of grief which is noted at Gambetta's funeral, as it was noted at Mirabeau's?2 Because it is the true and incomprehensible impression I myself felt...

Pourquoi donc cette absence de douleur qu'on signale dans les funerailles de Gambetta comme on l'a signale dans celles de Mirabeau ? C'est que c'est l'impression veritable et incomprehensible que j'ai eprouve moi-meme...

La Justice speaks of the pagan character of the ceremony — the graces and poetry of this Athenian existence communicated to his funeral train... It is perhaps... Perhaps the greatness of the man, the honours paid to the majesty of genius, leave no room for desolate tenderness, for the heartbreak that a humbler death might inspire...

La "Justice" parle du caractere paien de la ceremonie, les graces et les poesies de cette existence d'athenien communiquees a son convoi... C'est peut-etre... Peut-etre la grandeur de l'homme, les honneurs rendus a la majeste du genie ne laissent-ils pas de place a l'attendrissement desole, au desespoir de coeur que peut inspirer une mort plus humble...

Skobelev,3 Gambetta, Chanzy,4 Adrien — the Franco-Russian alliance and the crushing of Prussia...

Skobeleff, Gambetta, Chanzy, Adrien, l'alliance franco-russe et l'ecrasement de la Prusse...

With Skobelev and Gambetta and Chanzy, France was reclaiming Alsace-Lorraine and our Baltic provinces were no longer threatened — whereas now.

Avec Skobeleff et Gambetta et Chanzy la France reprenait l'Alsace-Lorraine et nos provinces Baltiques n'etaient plus menacees, tandis que maintenant.

Julian dines, and Tony comes in the evening. What would you have us talk of, if not of the Dead Man?

Julian dine et Tony vient le soir. De quoi voulez-vous qu'on parle si ce n'est du Mort ?

What a void. What astonishment.

Quel vide. Quel etonnement.

One did not realise during his lifetime what this man was. Read Brisson's speech. Through the omnipotence of emotion, I become French and patriotic to the point of dying for it.

On ne se rendait pas compte de son vivant de ce qu'etait cet homme. Lisez le discours de Brisson. Moi je deviens de par la toute puissance de l'emotion, francaise et patriote jusqu'a en mourir.

In these great, quasi-abstract emotions one is moved to the very sources of life itself, and one reaches heights of feeling that would make Gambetta proud... His name resembles him.

Dans ces grandes emotions pour ainsi dire abstraites on est remue jusqu'aux sources de la vie-meme et l'on atteint a des hauteurs de sentiments qui enorgueillisent Gambetta... Son nom lui ressemble.

Look at a portrait and see: Gambetta — does it not fit? But names resemble their men — look at Floquet:5 his hair swept back, his pinched mouth; then Grévy6 — that one resembles him morally and physically. And Clemenceau? There is both roundness and modesty and smallness and dryness and precision. As for Rochefort7 — one sees him foaming, insulting, brandishing his forelock.

Regardez un portrait et voyez: Gambetta, n'est-ce pas ? Mais les noms ressemblent aux hommes, voyez Floquet, ses cheveux rejetes en arriere, la bouche pincee, puis Grevy, celui-la ressemble au moral et au physique. Et Clemenceau ? Il y a la et de la rondeur et de la modestie et de la petitesse et de la secheresse et de la precision. Quant a Rochefort on le voit ecumer, insulter et agiter sa meche.

Julian and Dusautoy listen to my fine phrases. Dusautoy believes it is arrived8 — and regrets that I am a woman; and so does Julian, but with a small smile so as not to appear to swallow it as the musician does.

Julian et Dusautoy ecoutent mes belles phrases. Dusautoy croit que *c'est arrive* et regrette que je sois femme, et Julian aussi mais avec un petit sourire pour ne pas paraitre me gober comme le musicien.

I am floored — to say I am on the ground would perhaps be too much. The thought that it is over — that this great artist, this sublime tribune, is silent forever — fills me with a sadness and revolt I cannot express. It is an outrage of death, as a journalist has written.

Je suis *assise,* dire que je suis par terre serait peut-etre trop. La pensee que c'est fini, que ce grand artiste, que ce sublime tribun, est muet a jamais, me remplit d'une tristesse et d'une revolte que je ne puis dire. C'est un attentat de la mort comme a dit un journaliste.

Notes

Le Voltaire: a literary and political Republican newspaper of the period, sentimental in tone; contrasted with Le Figaro's cooler, more skeptical manner. ↩
Mirabeau: Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Comte de Mirabeau (1749–1791), the great orator and leader of the early French Revolution, whose state funeral in 1791 was also notable for the strange absence of outright grief amid the public spectacle. The parallel was frequently drawn in the Gambetta coverage. ↩
Skobelev: General Mikhail Skobelev (1843–1882), the Russian military hero of the Russo-Turkish War who was a passionate advocate of the Franco-Russian alliance and the recovery of Alsace-Lorraine. He had died in July 1882 — a second great loss that Marie links with Gambetta's death. ↩
Chanzy: General Alfred Chanzy (1823–1883), one of the most respected French commanders of the Franco-Prussian War and a strong supporter of a Russian alliance for revanche. He died in January 1883, just as Gambetta died — a remarkable convergence of losses. ↩
Floquet: Charles Floquet (1828–1896), Radical Republican politician, known for his theatrical oratorical style and swept-back hair. ↩
Grévy: Jules Grévy (1807–1891), President of the French Republic — a cautious, conservative man whose face and character matched his name in Marie's onomastic game. ↩
Rochefort: Henri Rochefort (1831–1913), the most famous polemical journalist of the Third Republic, known for his biting sarcasm and his wild hair (the "forelock"). ↩
==arrived==: In English in the original. Marie uses the English word arrived to mean something like "achieved," "arrived at greatness" — a code-switch for which French has no exact equivalent. ↩