Joyeux anniversaire, M. Proust

Marcel Proust was born on July 10, 1871. From a 1920 letter:

It is possible that a book of mine (Le Côté de Guermantes), which should have appeared much sooner or much later, will come out very soon. In any case, I shall send it to you at once. This volume will still be “proper.” After that the book will be less so without its being my fault. My characters do not turn out well; I am obliged to follow them wherever their flaws or their aggravated vices lead me. . . .

Please accept, cher monsieur et ami, my grateful regards.

Marcel Proust, in a letter to Paul Souday, October 8, 1920. From Letters of Marcel Proust, translated by Mina Curtiss (New York: Helen Marx Books / Books & Co., 2006).

Paul Souday (1869–1929), journalist, literary critic for Le Temps, had written a largely negative review of Swann’s Way. “Souday had sarcastically reproached the author for the banality of his ‘childhood memoirs.’ Instead of compelling events, ‘the matter of the story’ comprised vacations and games in the park”: William C. Carter, Marcel Proust: A Life (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000). Proust’s apology — don’t blame me, it’s the characters — is a wonderful demonstration of how a writer might reckon with a critic.

What followed The Guermantes Way ? Sodom and Gomorrah.

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All OCA Proust posts (Pinboard)