FROM THE PUBLISHER

Marcel Proust was arguably the greatest writer of the twentieth century. This fascinating, definitive biography by the premier world authority on Proust redefines the way we look at both the artist and the man.

A bestseller in France, where it was originally published to great critical acclaim, Jean-Yves Tadie's monumental life of Proust makes use of a wealth of primary material only recently made available, Marcel Proust: A Life provides a scrupulously researched and engaging picture of the intellectual and social universe that fed Proust's art, along with an indispensable critical reading of the work itself. The result is authoritative, magisterial, and a beautiful example of the art of biography.

FROM THE CRITICS

Vogue

..a brilliant, impeccably researched account of everything known of Proust, a thousand links drawn between his work and life.

Publishers Weekly

"He lived in order to write, and his life... became his laboratory," notes Tadi , editor of the definitive Pl iade edition of Proust's magnum opus, A la recherche du temps perdu. Compared with William Carter's more conventional biography, published earlier this year (see Forecasts, Feb. 7), Tadi 's masterful literary biography, originally published in France in 1996, is more impressionistic at times but succeeds in more clearly mapping the "history of a mind." Tadi , a professor of literature at the Sorbonne, constructs a model of the novelist's intellectual progress and literary development. In the early pages, when portraying Proust as a rich, somewhat aimless young man shuttling between the worlds of letters and high society, the account is a bit static. But throughout, Tadi quite ably makes biographical detail relevant to his literary analysis. For example, after discussing the comparative failure of Proust's debut miscellany, Les plaisirs et les jours, and his failure to complete his first novel, Jean Santeuil, Tadi argues that Proust needed aesthetic recharging. With impressive erudition, he convincingly argues that the novelist received this energizing from his struggle to translate Ruskin's Bible of Amiens into French. Tadi contends that it was the decline of Proust's social life combined with a worsening asthmatic condition that led him to take up what would become his life's work. Tadi arguably knows Proust and his great work better than any previous biographer; his narrative skillfully meshes the creation of A la recherche with all the aspects of Proust's life that inspired and informed it. 16 pages of b&w photos, not seen by PW. (Aug.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Library Journal

This mammoth new biography of Marcel Proust has already been a best seller in France. Tadi (French literature, Sorbonne) is one of the world's leading scholars of Proust, about whom he has been publishing books since 1958. The author, who was editor of the Pleiade edition of In Search of Lost Time, delves into all aspects of Proust's life, including his middle-class childhood, his asthma, being a writer in the 1890s, and his homosexuality. The book is also a work of literary criticism. Tadi not only analyzes In Search of Lost Time but the books, paintings, music, and other influences that led Proust to write his masterpiece. Tadi argues that the biographer must interpret the facts of the subject's life and make choices based on those facts. This is especially difficult in Proust's case as he divulged little about his inner life after he left school. While much of his correspondence survives, many key letters do not, including those to his secretary, Alfred Agostinelli. However, Tadi has left no stone unturned in this magnificent biography, certain to be a standard for years to come. Highly recommended for larger literary collections and academic libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 4/15/00; for a forthcoming interview with Tadi , see LJ 9/1/00. Note also the release next month of Marcel Proust: Selected Letters. Vol. 4: 1918-1922, HarperCollins UK, dist. by Trafalgar.--Ed.]--Ron Ratliff, Emporia P.L., KS Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

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