Saturday, December 22, 2018

If You Have A First Edition of Proust, You're in Luck

A First Edition of Proust recently hit the auction block.  Yikes!  This is not chump change.


 Lucky buyer lucky seller World Record for Proust First Edition if Swann's Way
I have an ancient edition of two volums of the entire novel that I bought in Houston when I attended Rice.  In those days of yore, I  patronized a bookstore that had many books from the Seamen's Library in Galveston.  Some of them were waterlogged, so they might have gone though the great hurricane.  My copy of Proust (in English) is a bit ratty but holding its own.  Been read a lot.

How is YOUR copy  of Proust?  Is it a First Edition?  You are in luck. 

Friday, September 21, 2018

Martha's Vineyard Reads Proust

Wow!  Wish I didn't live a ferry ride away.  The island of Martha's Vineyard (off the south coast of Massachusetts) will read Proust beginning late September.  Summers are busy, autumns are beautiful, and winters are long on the island as the population dips to the stalwart year rounders.

Reading Proust will make the winter pass a lot faster, and since much of Proust is set on the Atlantic coast where Proust spent summers with his grandmother,  the scenes should resonate with Vineyard residents.

See more here:  The Vineyard Gazette of September 20th

And here:  In Search of a Weinstein Lecture 

Let's  wish the hardy (mentally and physically) Vineyard residents happy reading.  Maybe they'll be baking madelines and imagine dinners at the Verdurins.

Sunday, August 26, 2018

Visit to an Art Museum

Proust has the novelist Bergotte visit a gallery to see a painting by Vermeer.  While viewing the painting, the old writer drops dead.

Marcel Proust himself was a huge fan of Vermeer.  Painting, music, and architecture as well as writing permeates Proust's great novel, A La Recherche du Temps Perdu.  

This article discusses Proust and painting.  Marcel Proust Dreams of Art
The  painting of Proust himself will be familiar to readers of this blog.

This is a terrific article on Proust which I highly recommend.  It touches a lot of bases and gives the casual (if there is such a thing) reader of Proust a commanding explanation of Proust's relationship to painting and how it informs his art. 

I don't post very often because I don't find most of the recent references to Proust to be really about Proust or they don't have anything new to say.

If you find something of interest that I have missed, please comment on this blog. 

Tuesday, March 06, 2018

Princess Alice Comes Into Her Own in NOLA

Marcel Proust used Princess Alice as a model for one of his female characters, Princesse de Luxembourg.  Proust had many models in society and in the demimonde.  Recently Princess Alice was honored in New Orleans, her birthplace.  What a stretch for a Proust character!  Or is it?
Read about it here: Society Lineage Lives 

By the way, in case you are interested in a Proust summary, not done by Monty Python (remember them?), Wikipedia does a decent job of describing the plot (such as it is) of Proust's great work.
Take a look.  Wikipedia on In Search of Lost Time

Putting On the Ritz

Marcel Proust had a relationship with the Ritz Hotel in Paris as did many notables throughout the hotel's history.

Everyone had an opportunity to buy a piece of the furnishings as the Ritz geared up for a huge remodeling job.

Sad to say,  I didn't buy anything,  Did you?  Read all about it here. A Bit of History, Luxury and Glamour

Friday, January 12, 2018

Watching Proust in New York City

The Proust news of late has been rather boring, and I've also been busy writing and trying to get my novels and short stories published.  But today something Proustian caught my eye that I wanted to share: 

Experiencing Proust in New York City

Writer Jane Lever has this to say: 
A Proust Sonata--a multimedia performance that brings Marcel Proust’s literary masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time, to life—is having its New York debut tonight at the French Institute Alliance Francaise.


So wish I could be there.  These events always sneak up on one.  But if you're reading this today, January 12th, and you're in the Big Apple and you're a Proust groupie, well, there's only one place to be.