Épître à ma tante pour obtenir de l'argent (1875)
Také známý jako: Epitre à ma tante, Epitre à ma tante pour obtenir de l'argent, Épître à ma tante, épître à ma tante
Overview
A short verse letter to her aunt, written on 4 August 1875 and copied into the diary (038.0120-0124; the diary marks it as a letter, "Épître en vers de Marie à sa tante"). Marie says what she is imitating: "une épître de Marot au Roi pour obtenir de l'argent", that is, the Renaissance poet Clément Marot's verse petitions to a patron (038.0120; Marot's dates 1496-1544 per the project's LAN note). Her version, in the same short, jingling lines, asks the aunt for pocket money: she calls herself "la plus grande des trois Grâces" who "se trouve dans cent disgrâces", promises to repay double "lorsque reine je serai", and complains that her "âme poétique" and "cœur magnifique" are drying up "comme pastel / dans ce petit hôtel", because every evening at six she must go out to the Bois, which needs "voiture et toilette", and her purse is empty.
Marie and this work
She is in Paris that day (the entry is located at Paris), in a miserable mood about the lawsuit in Russia and about the Niçois (038.0118). The verse is a joke on her own poverty and ambition; her comment is: "C'est laid mais ça ne m'a coûté aucune peine" and "Pauvre tante si elle avait, elle me donnerait" (038.0123-0124), which shows that the aunt's own means were limited and that Marie knew it. Whether the epistle was sent as written is not stated beyond "j'envoie ceci à ma tante" (038.0120).
References in Diary
- 1875-08-04 (038.0120-0124): introduction, the epistle (038.0121 title, 038.0122 text), and Marie's two comments
Related Entries
- #Ma_tante -- the aunt addressed
- #Revue_de_Nice -- Marie's satirical verses of later that August
- #Money -- the money theme in the diary
Sources
- Diary paragraphs 038.0120-0124 in `content/_original/`. No secondary source discusses this work.