Proust, a Jewish Way
Understanding Jewish Influences in Proust's Literature
Antoine Compagnon author Jody Gladding translator
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Columbia University Press
Published:12th Nov '24
Should be back in stock very soon
This insightful work examines the connections between Marcel Proust and his Jewish heritage, revealing how it influenced his literary legacy in Proust, a Jewish Way.
In Proust, a Jewish Way, Antoine Compagnon delves into the intricate relationship between Marcel Proust and the Jewish community of his time. Through detailed research, he uncovers the significance of Proust’s Jewish heritage and how it shaped his literary voice. Compagnon highlights a poignant reflection from Proust himself, where he laments the absence of visitors to the Jewish cemetery, a statement that serves as a gateway to understanding the author's nuanced identity and connections to his roots.
The narrative unfolds as Compagnon traces Proust's familial ties, particularly focusing on his mother’s assimilated Jewish family, the Weils. He sheds light on how French Jews engaged with In Search of Lost Time during the 1920s and 1930s, revealing a spectrum of responses that challenge the notion of Proust’s self-hatred or antisemitism. Instead, many Jewish readers found pride and resonance in his work, sparking vibrant discussions about identity and belonging.
Moreover, the book explores Proust’s treatment of homosexuality and its intersections with Jewish identity, adding another layer to the understanding of his literature. Ultimately, Proust, a Jewish Way is a scholarly yet accessible exploration that not only revives the voices of Proust’s early Jewish readers but also enriches contemporary interpretations of his timeless novels.
In this delicate, detailed account of certain readings of Proust, Compagnon evokes a double destiny: that of Proust as a Jewish writer and that of France as a country where Zionism and assimilation clash and where antisemitism seems to fade only to rise again with a vengeance. The story, which takes us from the 1920s to World War II, is fascinating, troubling and haunted by a discreet, difficult hope of understanding. A masterpiece of historical re-creation. -- Michael Wood, professor emeritus of English, Princeton University
Compagnon, a world-renowned Proust scholar for the past four decades, reveals the history of the maternal side of the novelist’s family and explains how Proust was read and appropriated by Jewish critics after his death in France and elsewhere. The book unfurls like an investigation and is a highly enjoyable read. -- François Proulx, author of Victims of the Book: Reading and Masculinity in Fin-de-Siècle France
Antoine Compagnon makes a poignant contribution to an already rich critical literature on Proust’s complex relationship to his Jewish ancestors by Evelyne Bloch-Dano, Maurice Samuels, Pierre Birnbaum, and others. Compagnon’s search for the letter where Proust evokes his grandfather laying a pebble on his own father’s grave becomes, through his meticulous account, an allegory of the triumph of research against error and loss. The master of what he called, in his classic study of Montaigne, 'The Second Hand or the Work of Quotation' has surpassed himself in this, his fiercest search. -- Alice Kaplan, author of Seeing Baya: Portrait of an Algerian Artist in Paris
Literary scholar Compagnon offers an authoritative examination of the reception of Proust (1871-1922) by the French Jewish community following the author’s death. * Kirkus Reviews *
ISBN: 9780231211352
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
312 pages