Proust was known, before the 1913 publication of “Swann’s Way,” as a malicious, amusing, slightly absurd society boy, with a vaguely pathetic literary hobby. How did he rise to the status he eventually achieved?
version of “Swann’s Way,” not to mention an album by the talented Russian-French sisters called the Milstein Duo, “The Vinteuil Sonata,” devoted to the real-life candidates for the musical phrase that entangled Swann’s heart and doomed his life. That’s doubtless not even half the harvest. The books are often illustrated with the intensity of religious tracts. In one, we are given a detailed diagram of the apartment with the cork-lined room where Proust spent his reclusive late years.
The peripheral Proust may persist as part of our search for a skeleton key to all the others—a way inside. There are at least six Marcel Prousts to study, and, though we’d like to say that each feeds the others, the truth is that they exist in separate, sometimes baffling strata.
The newly published stories collected in “The Mysterious Correspondent” feel wispy and inconsequential, but are fascinating as clues to Proust’s limitations, which, before 1913, seemed far more formidable than his talents. The stories were written in the eighteen-nineties, when he was in his twenties, and then locked away in a drawer while he worked on his unpublished novel, “Jean Santeuil,” and then on his masterwork.
But the exchange with Gide also reminds us of a less high-minded truth: that Proust was part of the beau monde of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, and that his enthusiasm for the high life—call it snobbery, as Gide did—was unmistakable. Part of the appeal of the novel is the era’s glamour.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
Similar News:Vous pouvez également lire des articles d'actualité similaires à celui-ci que nous avons collectés auprès d'autres sources d'information.
Hidden for decades, masterpieces of Western art go on display — in TehranWorks by Marcel Duchamp and Sol Lewitt, drawn from the collection amassed by the former shah of Iran, are among those on display in a Tehran museum.
Lire la suite »
It Still Stings: Teenage Bounty Hunters Deserved More than Getting Lost in Netflix's ChurnFor the latest It Still Stings, annagovert writes on how TeenageBountyHunters deserved better than getting lost in Netflix's never-ending upload cycle:
Lire la suite »
‘Some positive energy’: Diver finds lost family heirloom in Oneida NarrowsAfter a woman lost her family heirloom engagement ring on a tubing trip, a Salt Lake diver answer the call for help.
Lire la suite »
Pirates’ Castro loses phone in 6-4 loss to DiamondbacksPittsburgh infielder Rodolfo Castro lost his phone during a slide into third base and the Pirates lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-4 on Tuesday night.
Lire la suite »
'Monster' home divides Hawaii residents amid housing crisisMeanwhile, Hawaii residents say they're getting priced out by cash buyers from the mainland.
Lire la suite »
This Rising-Star Chef Will Soon Show Off His Modern Filipino Fare in New LA ResidencyGeter Atienza gets to show off his modern Filipino fare.
Lire la suite »