At last brought to the U.S., the best-selling comics adaptation of the great classic of French literature that scandalized the French establishment as reported on the front page of the New York Times! Step back into a world of insightful reflection as Proust is brought back, through the legendary magic of the smell of a madeleine, to his youth in a small town of France.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-In 1998, the first of Heuet's well-researched volumes adapting Proust's novel to graphic-novel format reached publication in France. Now, it is available to American readers, who will be delighted to find that the wait paid off. Johnson's English renderings of the Proustian prose to which Heuet remained faithful in both his dialogue balloons and narrative panels maintain the tone, pacing, and spirit of the original work. The color illustrations use clear line and are well informed by the research into the appearances of Proust's material world of turn-of-the-century France. In this volume, the narrator is a young boy living in the middle-class comfort of his ancient relatives' country home in Combray. The household is rife with secrets, imagined secrets, and self-dramatizing, while the neighborhood includes secrets in the way of M. Swann, the church, an uncle who entertains the wrong sort of female company, and other folks. Heuet's rendition will bring Proust new audiences as well as readers invited back by this visual taste of the fabled madeleine. This is no dumbing down of great literature, but rather a great riff and interpretive play on the original.
Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
When this, the first in a proposed 12-volume comic-strip version of Remembrance of Things Past, appeared in France in 1998, the first printing sold out despite scathing reviews. Illustrator Heuet, an advertising executive, calls the project an "effort to democratize Proust," and on that level it can hardly be faulted. Heavily reliant on massive direct extracts from the novel's text, the adaptation is dutiful enough to impart a working knowledge of Proust that obviates actually reading him. It is rather a Classics Illustrated treatment for culture snobs, and its literalness prevents it's being good literature. Furthermore, Heuet's standard Eurocomics draftsmanship, which renders characters with near-iconic simplicity (young Marcel resembles an enervated Tintin) ensures that it isn't good comics, either. A more imaginative visualization of its source, like that of filmmaker Raoul Ruiz in Time Regained, still might have displeased Proust purists, but it might have better exploited the strengths of the comics medium. Still, the audacity of Heuet's effort guarantees it a large audience of curiosity seekers, at least for the first installment. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly recommended for all graphic novel fans in general,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Remembrance of Things Past (Vol 1) (Hardcover)
Stephane Heuet successfully adapts Marcel Proust's Remembrance Of Things Past into the format of a graphic novel in the first volume of a planned 12 volume series. The result is an impressive work that will aptly serve to introduce a whole new generation of readers to an outstanding example of French literature. Indeed, it was Proust's cogent and discerning observations that in the hands of graphic artist Stephane Heuet that provides today's readers with a revealing and engaging examination of a time when life was more bucolic, less stressful, and contemplation friendly than life today. This NBM edition of Remembrance Of Things Past is highly recommended for all graphic novel fans in general, and Marcel Proust enthusiasts in particular!
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Toujours, Proust et A La Recherche,
By Stephen Richmond "Librarian/Teacher/Reader an... (Newton, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Remembrance of Things Past (Vol 1) (Hardcover)
How incredible to find my much beloved Proust placed in my equally beloved comics format! At last, the astoundingly complex and beautiful novel is being made more accessible to the masses. The simplistic Eurocomics style is perfect in the uncomplicating process. Heuet has quite adroitly whittled away to the essence. This can hopefully serve as an introduction to the masterwork; at very least, it will acquaint more with what may indeed be the greatest novel of the 20th Century. I was particularly pleased at the attention paid to Proust's droll humor. Can't wait for the next installment. A profound addition to the often mundane plethora of graphic novels.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
It's like the Illustrated Classics have returned in graphic novel form.,
By
This review is from: Remembrance of Things Past: Combray (Remembrance of Things Past) (Vol 1) (Paperback)
Stephane Heuet, Remembrance of Things Past: Combray (ComicsLit, 1998)
Stephane Heuet has taken on the unenviable, and quite Herculean, task of adapting Marcel Proust's vast Remembrance of Things Past and adapting it into graphic novel form. Combray, the opening part of the novel Swann's Way, is the first offering in the series. This is not your typical graphic novel, but then one would be hard-pressed to adapt Remembrance... in traditional graphic novel form. There's a whole lot of exposition, and many pretty pictures, and very little dialogue. Heuet's people look more than a tad like Herge's, which has me constantly wondering when Snowy and the Captain are going to barge into any given scene, but that's a minor distraction. The story is-- obviously-- abridged, but it still serves, so far, as a fine introduction to Proust for, say, the high-school set. ***
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