The son of a doctor and a lawyer, he entered the world of Parisian literary salons towards the end of the 19th century and then rose to become the most recognized writer in French literature of the 20th century. Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust developed a new literary theory that revolved around the riddle of human identity and which he translated into a novel in his seven-volume main work “À la recherche du temps perdu”…
Marcel Proust was born on July 10, 1871 in the Paris suburb of Auteuil (France).
His father was a recognized physician and professor of medicine. From childhood, Proust’s health was compromised by severe asthma. From 1882 to 1889 he attended a private grammar school, where he developed the main interests of his future life, namely theatre, reading and writing. Proust then completed a voluntary year in the military. He then studied law at the Sorbonne and diplomacy at the École des Sciences Politiques in Paris. During this time he found access to the upper bourgeois-noble salon culture in the French capital. In 1893 he completed his law studies without ever practicing law.
In 1896, Proust published a collection of his first short stories entitled Les Plaisiers et les jours. Around the turn of the century he studied the work of the English art critic and historian John Ruskin, from whom he published some writings in French translation in 1904/05, which dealt with the nature of reading and its effect on the reader. From this, Proust developed his own view of literary criticism in the posthumously published work “Contre Sainte-Beuve” (1958), according to which reading represented an act of communication in the midst of loneliness. In his view, author and book are two independent entities, whereby the book as an inner self does not so much represent the author, but rather should lead the reader to his own inner self.
The actual key to truth and knowledge does not lie in a book, but in every individual who reads such a book. The short story “Jean Santeuil” was written between 1895 and 1899, but was only published posthumously in 1952. In 1913 he published “Du côté de chez Schwan”, the first volume of a seven-part novel entitled “À la recherche du temps perdu” (1913-1927), which he completed in 1927 with “Le Temps retrouvé”. The seven books are considered Proust’s main work, which bears strong autobiographical traits and deals with the nature of human identity. The first volume was already a success. For the following volume, the writer received the Goncourt Prize in 1917. The writer remained unmarried and without a family of his own.
Marcel Proust died of pneumonia in Paris on November 18, 1922. The last three volumes of his main work were only published posthumously.
What is Marcel Proust known for?
Marcel Proust was an early 20th-century French writer responsible for what is officially the longest novel in the world: À la recherche du temps perdu – which has 1,267,069 words in it; double those in War and Peace.
What did Marcel Proust believe in?
Proust was raised in his father’s Catholic faith. He was baptized (on 5 August 1871, at the church of Saint-Louis d’Antin) and later confirmed as a Catholic, but he never formally practised that faith. He later became an atheist and was something of a mystic.
What kind of writer is Proust?
Proust grew up to become a world famous novelist, essayist and critic. He is best known for his epic work, À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time).
What is a Proustian moment?
Whether it’s a tea-soaked madeleine, your mother’s perfume or even the faint whiff of tobacco on a leather jacket, a “Proustian moment” is when a particular scent conjures up a certain experience, time or a place. Appellation is inspired by this experience – the recollection of scent memories.
What is Proust syndrome?
The sudden, involuntary evocation of an autobiographical memory, including a range of related sensory and emotional expressions.
Who was Proust’s lover?
In March 1896, Marcel Proust sat down to compose a letter to his first love and secret passion, the celebrated composer Reynaldo Hahn. The pair were the cultural beacons of their generation, but their relationship, known in their refined circle, was to remain secret from the public throughout their lives.
Was Proust a genius?
For all his undoubted literary genius, Marcel Proust was an underwhelming dinner guest.
