Righi
Also known as: Righi
Basic Information
- Type: people - mentioned
- Status: Stub entry (automatically generated)
Description
[No description available - stub entry created from diary references]
References in Diary
[Multiple references found - needs research]
Research Notes
Overview
Silène is the nickname of la Righi, the former mistress of Count Larderel (Alexandre), the man Marie was infatuated with in 1877. It is a nickname, not a name: Marie never learns more than the surname Righi. See the separate entry for #Righi.
Origin of the nickname
The name was coined at Sorrento on 3 April 1877, when Melissano and Marcuard, entering the Hôtel de la Sirène, teased Larderel by swapping the r of Sirène for an l. The joke worked on two levels: a sound pun on the hotel's name, and a classical allusion to Silenus, the drunken foster-father and companion of Dionysus. Marie notes that she "pretended not to understand" and memorised the word (070.0006). The joke also shows that Larderel's companions all knew about the Righi liaison.
Earlier research notes in the source files read the pun as a nickname for Larderel; the text itself points to the mistress, and this entry follows the text.
Silène in Marie's diary
Marie's fixation on Silène runs through the Naples and Florence episodes of spring 1877:
- 070.0009 (1877-04-03): a drunken lazzarone sings a song that "seemed composed for Larderel and... Silène".
- 070.0771-0767 (1877-04-21): Marie imagines Larderel taking up with another woman "en place de Silène"; resolves that when in Florence she will "see Silène up close and speak to her", curious "comme Gioia au temps du duc" (see #Gioia).
- 071.0080 (1877-05-01): in the Cascine, Florence, Marie sees "Silène Righi, ex-coquine de Monsieur le comte" and insists she must see her naked.
- 071.0120 (1877-05-03): Marie learns that Silène has an eighteen-year-old sister, a dancer in Milan called la Michetta, and that Silène herself was never a dancer but a mime.
- 071.0150 (1877-05-04): "Dieu que je voudrais la fille de Silène" — Marie covets Alexandrine, the little daughter of Silène and Larderel.
- 071.0309 (1877-05-13) and 071.0327 (1877-05-14): Marie talks of Silène to her family; Dina mimes her in a pantomime on the stairs.
- 073.0203 (1877-07-27): Miss Hall "lived opposite Silène" in Florence; 073.0261 (1877-08-02): they discuss Florence, Alexandre and Silène.
Generic use
By the summer of 1877 the word has become a private household noun for "a gentleman's mistress": Marie writes of her uncle Georges's mistress as "sa Silène" (072.0465) and of Gaston's companion the same way (073.0171). Translators should keep the allusion to Silenus where possible (see the footnote at 070.0006).
Sources
Primary: the diary passages cited above, by paragraph ID. Secondary: Mon Journal t.10 index ("Silène : La Righi"), as recorded in the RSR note at 071/1877-05-04. No Kernberger (2013) or Blind (1890) passage was consulted for this entry; neither is relied on.
Most of this glossary was researched with the help of AI language models and checked against the sources cited; mistakes are possible. If you spot one, please report it with the button at the top of the page.