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Madame Proust: A Biography

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Madame Proust"; a Biography by Evelyne Bloch-Dano, translated by Alice Kaplan.

The title alone is significant: Marcel Proust never married, so his mother remains 'Madame Proust' with reference to the great novelist. But this is more than a biography of Jeanne Weil, the Jewish grande bourgeoise who had the good fortune to marry Dr. Adrien Proust and beget the author of "In Search of Lost Time". It is first and foremost the historical account of the rise of the French Jewish bourgeoisie over three generations in the nineteenth century. Napoleon Bonaparte was the first ruler in Europe to give Jews the right to citizenship on an equal footing with Christians, and Jews, mostly originating from Germany and Alsace, took full advantage of this enfranchisement, first to rise to the ranks of the middle class; then to demonstrate their patriotism by fighting in French wars; and finally, by converting to Catholicism or by marrying Catholics, to take the final step still necessary to gain full acceptance in French society.
Jeanne Proust, nee Weil, came from a family of Alsatian Jews who served as a model for this rapid advancement over three generations. When she married the brilliant physician Dr. Adrien Proust in the middle of the 19thC, she did not convert, but her two sons, Marcel and Robert, were raised Catholic. Religion seems not to have been an issue between the atheistic parents, typical of that class in that era. It took the Dreyfus affair to reveal a schism; Jeanne, and her son Marcel, by then in his twenties, were ardent Dreyfusards from the beginning, affirming his innocence, whereas Dr. Proust supported the judgment against Captain Dreyfus for treason until later evidence exonerated him.
But this biography, at heart a carefully researched social history, as the most interesting biographies are, is also a psychological study in mother-son attachment. Even in a century and an era where a grown son's attachment to his mother could be dismissed or even lauded as sentimentality and dutifulness, the hyperbolic passion and interdependence between Jeanne Proust and Marcel comes across as singular; of another order, say, from that of Gustave Flaubert and his mother a generation earlier.
Like that earlier couple, the Prousts' relationship was indissoluble but went through periods of recriminations, particularly over money, which the wealthy women controlled. Flaubert, like Proust the son of a renowned physician and a strong mother, never considered marriage, but Flaubert traveled around the world, was a notorious womanizer, enjoyed robust health and earned his living by his writing for much of his life.
Marcel Proust, on the other hand, was asthmatic, neurasthenic, and hypersensitive, and perhaps for those reasons always lived at home, never traveled far, and never earned his keep. Such energy as he had was devoted to socializing, and in this he was remarkably successful: whereas his father's professional brilliance and his mother's fortune allowed them to be regulars at the receptions of President Felix Faure, Marcel's circle extended into the high aristocracy. It was no hindrance, or perhaps may have helped, that he was homosexual.
Bloch-Dano traces the evolution of Jeanne and Adrien Proust's handling of their son's sexual proclivities, from optimistic denial to gentle dissuasion to loving tolerance, if never open embrace. But the author is careful not to overreach into psychological speculation, however tempting it may be to link Marcel's homosexuality to an unhealthy attachment to his mother.
In another area, Bloch-Dano is less careful not to indulge in speculation, often blurring the lines between Proust's real life and that of Jean Santeuil, the hero of his novel. Even the most autobiographical of novels is still fictional in part and it is never without risk to speculate on where fact and fiction part ways. The author herself seems aware of this when she points out a passage of the novel in which Santeuil speaks of his mother's hair, heartbreakingly white, when photographs taken of Jeanne Proust shortly before her death in her early fifties show her to have kept her dark, thick tresses intact.
But such minor caveats apart, this is a fascinating biography of the woman behind the genius of Marcel Proust, and into the bargain the social history of the rise of a Jewish bourgeoisie and a professional meritocracy in an era rich in opportunities and in literary talent: the middle of the 19thC and the early Belle Epoque.

I don't know if there has been a revival of interest in Proust in the last few years or if I am just more aware of Proust-related items since I discovered him for myself.
In any case, there appears to be no end to the translations, biographies, photo collections, cookbooks, commentaries, movies, soundtracks--including a musical play--and even a graphic novel version of Proust's masterwork.
As a Proust fan I collect anything that seems interesting and this biography of his mother was not disappointing. It gives an extensive family history plus an overview of the times and is very readable in its English translation.
I am happy to add it to my collection.