Neville JasonTHE LIFE AND WORK OF MARCEL PROUST Few authors have attracted as many biographers as MarcelProust. And yet, to the best of my knowledge, The Life and Work of MarcelProust has the distinction of being the first audio biography. To avoid any confusion, it may be wise to point out that Proust’sgreat work, À La Recherche du Temps Perdu, was originally translated intoEnglish by Charles K. Scott-Moncrieff and published in 1922 under the title,Remembrance of Things Past. It has subsequently been re-translated by TerenceKilmartin and appeared in 1981 as In Search of Lost Time. Naxos AudioBooks’abridged version has been prepared from the Scott-Moncrieff text (except forTime Regained, which was translated by myself), and references to the work inthis audio biography use the original English title. My own contact with Proust began when as aseventeen-year-old schoolboy I first read Swann’s Way. I could not have guessedthen that many years into the future Proust would take over my life for aperiod of some six years, during which time I would abridge and record histhree-thousand-page masterpiece, Remem-brance of Things Past. Having once embarked on this daunting but exciting task, itoccurred to me that although the people on whom Proust based his characterswere no longer living, the places he wrote about were still there, and so I setoff to see them. I was delighted to discover that Illiers, where MarcelProust spent his holidays as a child, and which figures in the book as Combray,is now marked on the maps as Illiers-Combray, in official recognition of thereason for this sleepy village’s wider fame. In a narrow street just off the market square is the housein which Proust’s father, Adrien Proust, was born, and further along is thehouse of his aunt Élisabeth, now a Proust museum, where Élisabeth’s fictionalcounterpart, the bedridden Aunt Léonie, watched the world from her bedroomwindow. Around the corner from the house is a little boulangerie with a sign inthe window announcing proudly that ‘This is where Aunt Léonie bought her madeleines’.It only occurs to me as I buy a packet of the scallop-shaped cakes, that AuntLéonie is a creature of fiction. Never mind, Aunt Élisabeth might well havepatronised the establishment, or one very like it. Up the hill there a realhouse called Tansonville, the name of the house occupied by Charles Swann, andlater by his daughter Gilberte and her husband Robert de Saint-Loup, andfurther on there is a real village called Méréglise, a name almost identical tothe fictional Méséglise. Water lilies are still reflected in the glassy surface ofthe river Loir, which in the book bears the more poetic name the Vivonne, andbeyond the stream lies the Pré Catalan, the enchanting park created by Proust’shorticulturally-minded Uncle Jules. Each spring a group of members of The Society of Friends ofMarcel Proust gather in Illiers on a Proustian pilgrimage, following atradition originated by Marcel Proust’s brother Robert who, during the 1930s,started bringing friends here every May to enjoy the hawthorn blossom. I jointhem as they climb the gently sloping hawthorn path which borders the PréCatalan. In the book this is the route to Charles Swann’s estate – Swann’s Way.From time to time the little group comes to a halt while someone reads out loudan excerpt from the text which describes the scene before us. My own pilgrimage has an additional aim – to record a radioprogramme on Proust for the BBC, and so having said goodbye to my fellowpilgrims, I travel on to Cabourg, a seaside resort on the Normandy coast, andthe original of the fictional Balbec. Here the Grand Hotel in all its Edwardiansplendour has remained much as Proust describes it as the setting for hissummer holidays with his grandmother. The great glass windows of the restaurantlook out over the promenade to the beach below, and with a little imaginationthat group of budding young girls in bikinis is transformed into the littleband of ‘jeunes filles en fleurs’ outlined against the sea. On to Paris, and 102 Boulevard Haussmann, Proust’s home formany years, where he wrote so much of Remembrance of Things Past. The buildingis still owned by the same bank that purchased it from Proust’s aunt, when herinconsiderate decision to sell it forced him to move. His bedroom is stillthere, but unfurnished, and to see the room as it was, I visit the MuséeCarnavalet, where his bed, chaise-longue and other effects are displayed in areconstruction of the famous cork-lined room. A walk to the gardens of the Champs Élysées brings me to anarea with a sign which tells me I am in the Allée Marcel Proust. Children chaseeach other – perhaps playing the modern equivalent of ‘prisoner’s base’, thegame played by Gilberte and her friends. This is where the real Marcel playedas a child with the real Marie de Benardaky, with whom he fell in love, just asthe fictional Marcel falls in love with the fictional Gilberte Swann. In the real world the same spaces are occupied now bydifferent people. Time has moved on, but places remain, and we have theprivilege of entering, not only the imaginary world Proust created, but thatportion of the real world which had a part in its creation. His presence in theplaces he passed through left behind a trace of magic, and we see themdifferently, because we see them through his eyes. One day those places, too,will have crumbled into dust, as will we ourselves, and the space we nowconsider ours will be occupied by others. But as long as civilization remains,those who come after will be able to share Proust’s vision and enter into hisworld. Proust was aware that art is the only true reality, and that through hiscreations the artist continues to live after his death, beyond space and beyondtime. Notes by Neville Jason A Proust Chronology 1871, July 10 MarcelProust born 1873, May 24 RobertProust born1878-1886 holidayvisits to Illiers (now Illiers-Combray)1880, spring Marcel’sfirst attack of asthma1882-1888 attendsthe Lycée Condorcet1888 contributesto La Revue Lilas and La Revue Verte1889-1890 militaryservice at Orléans1890, January 3 deathof maternal grandmother, Adèle Weil1890, August holidayat Cabourg1890, November enrolsas a student in the Faculty of Law and at the École Libre des SciencesPolitiques1890, November-1891, September contributes to LeMensuel1892, March firstedition of Le Banquet1893, March lastedition of Le Banquet1893, April 13 meetsComte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac1893 contributesto La Revue Blanche, degree in law1894, May 22 meetsReynaldo Hahn1894, December trialof Captain Alfred Dreyfus1895, March degreein philosophy1895, summer holidayin Brittany with Reynaldo Hahn1896 publicationof Les Plaisirs et Les Jours, writing Jean Santeuil1897, February 6 duelwith Jean Lorrain1898, January 13 EmileZola’s article J’Accuse published1899 beginstranslation of Ruskin’s Our Fathers Have Told Us (La Bible d’Amiens)1899, summer holidayat Évian-les-Bains, visits the Brancovan family at Amphion1900, June and October visitsVenice1902 abandonswork on Jean Santeuil1903, November 26 deathof Adrien Proust1904 publicationof La Bible d’Amiens1905, September 26 deathof Jeanne Proust1906, June publicationof Sesame and Lilies (Sésame et les Lys) 1906, July Dreyfusdeclared innocent1906, December movesto 102 Boulevard Haussmann 1907, summer holidayat Cabourg, where he will spend the next seven summers. Meets AlfredAgostinelli1908-09 beginswriting Á la Recherche du Temps Perdu1913 Agostinellire-enters Proust’s life. Employs Celeste Albaret1913, November DuCôté de Chez Swann (Swann’s Way) published1914, May 30 AlfredAgostinelli dies in an aircraft accident1918, June publicationof À l’Ombre des Jeunes Filles en Fleurs (Within a Budding Grove), Pastiches etMelanges and new edition of Swann’s Way 1919, June movesto 8, rue Laurent-Pichat1919, December Withina Budding Grove awarded the Prix Goncourt1920, October movesto 44, rue Hamelin1920, October LeCôté de Guermantes I (The Guermantes Way I) published1920, April LeCôté de Guermantes II and Sodom et Gomorrhe I (Cities of the Plain I) published1921, December 11 deathof Montesquiou 1922, April Sodomet Gomorrhe II published1922, October awardedthe Légion d’Honneur1922, November 18 deathof Marcel Proust1923 LaPrisonnière (The Captive) published1925 AlbertineDisparue (The Fugitive/The Sweet Cheat Gone) published1927 LeTemps Retrouvé (Time Regained) published1952 JeanSanteuil published1954 Contre Sainte-Beuve (Against Sainte-Beuve) published Acknowledgements Just as the abridged readings of Remembrance of Things Pastmay lead some listeners to read the original novel in its entirety, it may bethat this spoken word overview of Proust’s life and work will encourage some toturn to the more comprehensive works which are available. The most important ofthese are Marcel Proust, A Life, by Jean-Yves Tadié and Marcel Proust, A Life,by William Carter. Both are works of enormous diligence and scholarship, and Ifreely own my indebtedness to them in the preparation of this spoken wordbiography. I should also like to acknowledge my debt to George D. Painter’sMarcel Proust, which I found deeply moving, and which has waited thirty-fiveyears before being surpassed in scope and accuracy by the works of Tadié andCarter. Other works on Proust I have consulted for the purpose of this work areincluded in the brief bibliography. My gratitude is also due to those who have helped, directlyor indirectly, towards the completion of this project; to Nicolas Soames whocommis-sioned it, and who has led me patiently and skilfully not only throughthis recording, but through twelve studio sessions of Remembrance of ThingsPast; to Dr. Cynthia Gamble, who has been immensely helpful in providing texts,checking the accuracy of certain facts, and in advising me in the translationof Proust’s poetry; to Dr. Hugh Griffiths for reading the text and makinguseful suggestions, to John Theocharis for making the BBC programme Proust’sWay such a memorable event, to Anne Borrell and Mireille Naturel of Les Amis deMarcel Proust for showing me around Illiers-Combray, to Barbara Bray and EmilyEels for introducing me to Proust’s Paris. Finally, my most important ‘thankyou’ is to my wife Gillian for her support and encouragement throughout this project,as in all my endeavours. Notes by Neville Jason Elaine Claxton has worked extensively in the theatre,including London’s Royal National Theatre where she appeared in The Children’sHour, The Machine Wreckers and Richard II. She has twice been a member of theBBC Radio Drama Company during which time she particpated in over 200 broadcasts. She also appears on NaxosAudioBooks’ Lady Windermere’s Fan. Gordon Griffin has recorded over 220 audiobooks. His vastrange includes nine Catherine Cookson novels, books by Melvyn Bragg, DavidLodge, the entire Wycliffe series by W J Burley and his award-winning recording of A Tale of TwoCities. Gordon also appears regularly on television and in films. He wasdialogue coach (Geordie) on Byker Grove and Kavanagh QC. Denys Hawthorne’s long and distinguished career hasencompassed extensive work in theatre, television and film both in England andIreland. Drama has included Shakespeare and Chekhov, as well as manycontemporary plays, while he has been seen in popular TV series includingInspector Morse and Father Ted, and The Russia House and Emma on the widescreen. Throughout, radio performance has been a constant theme, notably indrama and poetry.