Brother Robert was my essay advisor, and I remember how he elucidated a French term in Proust for me. When Mr. Swann first becomes involved with Odette, she is wearing a corsage of catleyas, which gets bumped in their carriage ride. Oh, he says, they’ve slipped, you’ll get pollen on your dress, here let me, and afterwards he uses the expression “faire le catleya” as a sexual euphemism. Brother Robert explained to me that the expression has a little extra spice because the catleya is a type of orchid that looks like the female pudenda, and then drew me a charming little pencil sketch.
Brother Robert did not give me much specific advice on my essay. What I remember him saying was, “This is fine. You just need to write some more.” At the time this seemed unremarkable. Now I realize he was right. I did need to write more.
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