Saturday, March 21, 2015

Proust's Famous Translator Gets His Own Biography

C. K. Scott Moncrieff, the man who translated most of In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust's great masterpiece
À la recherche du temps perdu, now has his own biography.

As a young woman I thought the name, Scott Moncrieff, was the most romantic-sounding name imaginable, and it still resonates with me.  Proust's translater had his job cut out for him.  More than one million words.  Mon Dieu, what a task!

 Chasing Lost Time: The Life of CK Scott Moncrieff by Jean Findlay's is new biography of her (several greats) uncle. Moncrieff had an interesting life of his own.   Moncrieff also translated Luigi Pirandello, although he claimed not to be fluent in Italian.

Here is a link to several articles and reviews of the biography.

The Guardian's Book Review

The Telegraph review

And The Economist

The Wall St. Journal and the New York Times also reviewed the book.

Take a look!