Saturday, June 03, 2006

"un peu"


is this meant as encouragement or dicouragement?

verso: "tous mes respects -- J. N."

Addressed to a Mmle. M. Maitre, with austrian postage, Dec 12 1904.

2 comments:

DThompson55 said...

Un peu de quoi? I wonder. And the message on the back was "all my respect"? It was certainly a different age, the golden age, as I think Proust described it. Notice that she has a second daisy on her lap, just in case this one turns out that he-loves-her-not. Personally, it makes me pine for the fjords, or at least for simpler times.

Michael Tobis said...

I think it refers to whether one loves another; sort of a neither/nor answer. So is it a come-on or a gentle rejection? I suppose it depends on context, but in the present case I read it as a brush-off.