Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Sunday, 13 January 1884

I worked a little, though it is our New Year,1 and then the Karageorgevitches and the priest2 for dinner; there were callers during the day.

J'ai un peu travaillé bien que ce soit notre jour de l'an, et puis les Karageorgevitch et le pope à dîner; il y a eu des visites dans la journée.

Bojidar and I are outraged by the horrible, flat satirical verses about Bastien — it was Irma who taught them to me, and she attributes them to Gervex, but I say that Gervex has too much talent to commit verses like those... especially the couplet about the old rat... Fie! It reeks of the tavern,3 it reeks of wine, it reeks, in short, of the failed art-school dauber4 — it is contemptible.

Bojidar et moi sommes indignés des horribles et plats couplets sur Bastien, c'est Irma qui me les a appris et elle les attribue à Gervex mais moi je dis que Gervex a trop de talent pour commettre des vers pareils... surtout le couplet du vieux rat... Fi ! ça sent l'estaminet, ça sent le vin, ça sent le rapin raté enfin, c'est indigne.

Notes

The Russian Orthodox New Year, celebrated thirteen days after the Western New Year according to the Julian calendar. ↩
Pope: a Russian Orthodox priest. Not a Catholic pope. ↩
Estaminet: a cheap bar or tavern, particularly associated with the working-class north of France and Belgium. ↩
Rapin: a derogatory term for a mediocre art student or would-be painter. ↩