"At present," M. de Charlus went on, "by going into society you will only damage your position, warp your intellect and character. Moreover, you must be particularly careful in choosing your friends. Keep mistresses if your family have no objection - that doesn't concern me, and indeed I can only encourage it, you young rascal - a young rascal who will soon have to start shaving," he added, touching my chin. "But your choice of men friends is more important. Either out of ten young men are little bounders, little wretches capable of doing you an injury which you will never be able to repair. My nephew Saint-Loup, now, he might be a suitable companion for you at a pinch. As far as your future is concerned, he can be of no possible use to you, but for that I will suffice. And really, when all's said and done, as a person to go about with, at times when you have had enough of me, he does not seem to present any serious drawback that I know of. At least he's a man, not one of those effeminate creatures one sees so many of nowadays, who look like little renters and at any moment may bring their innocent victims to the gallows." (I did not know the meaning of his slang word "renter"; anyone who had known it would have been greatly surprised by his use of it as myself. Society people always like talking slang, and people who may be suspected of certain things like to show that they are not afraid to mention them. A proof of innocence in their eyes. But they have lost their sense of proportion, they are no longer capable of realising the point beyond which a certain pleasantry will become too technical, too flagrant, will be a proof rather of corruption than of ingenuousness.) "He's not like the rest of them: he's very nice, very serious. . . .
. . . Well, think over my proposal," said M. de Charlus, preparing to leave me. "I will give you a few days to consider it. Write to me, I repeat, I shall need to see you every day, and to receive from you guarantees of loyalty of discretion which, I must admit, you do seem to offer. But in the course of my life I have been so often deceived by appearances that I never wish to trust them again. Damn it, it's the least I can expect that before you up a treasure I should know into what hands it is going to pass. Anyway, bear in mind what I'm offering you. You are like Hercules (though, unfortunately for yourself, you do not appear to me to have quite his muscular development) at the parting of the ways. Remember that you may regret for the rest of your life not having chosen the way that leads to virtue. . . ."
Marcel Proust, The Guermantes Way, pp. 305-306
M. de Charlus shares a few last words of advise to Proust before taking his leave. When talking about Robert Saint-Loup, M. de Charlus says, "At least he's a man, not one of those effeminate creatures one sees so many of nowadays, who look like little renters and at any moment may bring their innocent victims to the gallows." Proust reflects that at the time he didn't know the meaning of the word "renter" (which can only be the same as the English slang "rent boy," that is, a male prostitute) and was surprised to hear M. de Charlus use a slang word. At this point Proust reminds us that "Society people always like talking slang," but then adds, "and people who may be suspected of certain things like to show that they are not afraid to mention them." This, obviously, is a key addition. Even if the young Proust had never heard the term "renter", it would be difficult to imagine that he would be surprised that M. de Charlus knew what one was; and Proust is, I think relatively gently, hinting at his understanding of M. de Charlus. I'm reminded of the Salvatore Romano character (played by Bryan Batt) from Mad Men who everyone, or at least Don Draper, knew was gay, but as long as he maintained the charade of keeping a wife and throwing out an abundance of "macho" comments on cue then he could exist in an early version of a don't ask/don't tell nether world. The dismissive comments about "effeminate creatures" from M. de Charlus seem to be part of this game, either as conscious effort to play his part or a pretty textbook example of cognitive dissonance. Finally, his comment about how these effeminate creatures who "at any moment may bring their innocent victims to the gallows" is interesting. As late as the mid-18th century homosexuals were occasionally burned alive by way of punishment, but the sodomy laws were eliminated during the early heady stages of the French Revolution. In this case M. de Charlus is talking metaphorically, in that your career in society would be ruined if everyone found out officially, although everyone already was aware unofficially. Going back to the Salvatore Romano character, he is fired when a couple people find out about his homosexuality. He doesn't complain because he understands the rules of the two worlds he's trying to balance.
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