The World of Proust, as seen by Paul Nadar [Paperback]

Anne-Marie Bernard (Author), Paul Nadar (Photographer), Susan Wise (Translator), Pierre-Jean Rémy (Preface)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2004

Marcel Proust (1871-1922) was one of the great geniuses of modern literature. Born in Auteil to wealthy bourgeois parents, he suffered delicate health as a child. During his high school years, he began to frequent salons such as that of Madame Arman, a friend of Anatole France. Troubled by asthma and neuroses, as well as by the deaths of his parents, Proust increasingly withdrew from the outer world and after 1907 lived mainly in a cork-lined room, working at night on his monumental novel A la recherche du temps perdu (Remembrance of Things Past).

The World of Proust, as seen by Paul Nadar offers an intimate stroll through the society on which Proust's novel is based. The heart of the book consists of photographs found in the archive of Paul Nadar. These photographs make up a portrait gallery of Proust's friends and family—as well as of the aristocrats, artists, bourgeoisie, actresses, and "tarts" who inhabit the novel. Included are portraits of Sarah Bernhardt, Jean Cocteau, Alphonse Daudet, Claude Debussy, Stephane Mallarme, Claude Monet, and Emile Zola. Each photograph is accompanied by a detailed caption describing the subject and the character in the novel modeled on that person.

Paul Nadar (1856-1939), the son of "Nadar," was part of the famous Nadar atelier. He took over his father's business and founded the journal Paris Photographe in 1891.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Using nothing but words, Proust completely captured the vertiginous stasis of late 19th-century French society. Yet here, looking calmly back at us with poised civility, are his models-everyone from Proust's parents to Comtesse Adheaume de Chevign‚ nee Laure de Sade and actresses Sarah Bernhardt and Rejane. Pierre-Jean Remy, in the book's preface, calls them "extensions of the family circle," and they are presented here as photographed by Paul Nadar (son of the more famous French photographer Felix Tournachon, or Nadar). Bernard, a member of the photographic archives department of the French National Ministry of Culture and Communication, threads plenty of Proust into the captions for these 138 duotones: "Her neck and shoulders emerged from a drift of snow-white muslin, against which fluttered a swansdown fan, but below this her gown... moulded her figure with a precision that was positively British," seems a perfect description of an aristocrat shown here in a Worth gown. With a new set of translations of the entire Recherche due next year (the first four volumes pubbing with Penguin Classics in the fall), look for a surge of interest in all things Marcel.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Susan Sontag once wrote, "Life is not significant details, illuminated by a flash, fixed forever. Photographs are." This work presents such details with photographs of Proust, his family, and friends that take the reader back to late 19th- and early 20-century France. In compiling this collection, the editor used the large photographic archive of Paul Nadar, who photographed many of Proust's contemporaries. Images include members of European high society, artists and literary giants such as Anatole France, St‚phane Mallarm‚, and mile Zola. The actress Sarah Bernhardt appears frequently in these pages. Photographs of ballrooms, stage productions, and luxurious chateaux complete this collection. Each photograph includes a detailed caption about the subject's life and the individual's connection to Proust. Also included are chapters on the history of photography, the art of retouching, and Proust's life. Unfortunately, the bibliography contains only a few works on Nadar and photography, mainly listing resources relating to Proust. Highly recommended for all academic libraries that support French literature and/or history and photography curricula.
Erica Swenson Danowitz, American Univ. Lib., Washington, DC
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 158 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (April 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262524260
• ISBN-13: 978-0262524261
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,483,099 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully helpful background to reading Proust, May 20, 2003

By 

Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The World of Proust, as seen by Paul Nadar (Hardcover)

This is must reading (or gazing) for any serious student of Proust's IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME. Photographer Paul Nadar was a photographer for whom at one time or another virtually every member of Proust's social set and family sat for at one point or another. The value of this volume for someone reading Proust is twofold: allowing one to see high quality photographic reproductions of many of the actual models for Proust's characters, and providing a vivid picture of the way these people dressed, how they wore their hair, some of their cultural preoccupations, and what their favored accessories were.

I am not a fan of any method of reading Proust that degenerates into a study of Proust's life, that is more concerned with figuring out who the "real" Odette or Albertine or Saint-Loup was. The "real" Odette was a fictional creation by a literary genius of the first rank, and she cannot be found in any of these photographs. Not even in gazing at a photography of Robert de Montesquiou do we see Baron de Charlus, despite our knowledge that he was Proust's most important model for Charlus. But looking at these photographs breaks down the distance between Proust's world and our own. Odette may be based on several real life models, but it is helpful to know what the women that Proust knew looked like in forming our own mental picture of Odette or Gilberte or Oriane or Saint-Loup. I also find it much easier to imagine visually Proust's world after seeing precisely how those members of his social set dressed.

The book also has a great deal to teach about portrait photography in late 19th and early 20th century Paris, at least in an upper class studio. The range of photographs is fascinating, not merely in the posed photos with the subjects dressed in their finest clothes, but in the ones where various individuals appeared "in costume." This includes not merely a series of marvelous photographs of Sarah Bernhardt dressed as various characters, but men and especially women appearing in amateur theatricals. One section features a many of the more celebrated individuals of the time whom Proust either met or loosely based some of his characters on, such as Bernhardt (La Berma), Anatole France (Bergotte), Faure (Vinteuil, though only musically), and Claude Monet (one of several models for Elstir).

Physically, the book resembles a well-produced art book, with a cloth binding, high quality paper, and the highest quality reproductions. It is easily the most attractive book on Proust I have in my rather large collection of Proust titles. Not just a great book on Proust, but a beautiful one as well.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Splendid peek into Proust's beau monde, December 15, 2002

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Jay Dickson (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The World of Proust, as seen by Paul Nadar (Hardcover)

This is a must for any fan of Proust--you get to see not only what the originals for his most memorable characters (the Ducehsse de Guermantes, Swann, Charlus, Mme. verdurin) looked like, but also the interior of one of the great fin-de-siecle chateaus where one couple (the Prince and Princess Radziwell) lived. The Nadar photographs are sharp, startling and magnificent. I've wanted a book like this for years.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As a costumer and designer, I find this book engrossing !, January 5, 2006

By 

Garnet "Dreaming A Strange Dream" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The World of Proust, as seen by Paul Nadar (Hardcover)

Indside, some of the most exultant photographic portraits to be found from the late Victorian period. Contained here, brief bios of family, friends, and acquaintances, who became the inspiration for the work of Proust. The book is bound and printed beautifully. The details of the clothing and accessories are well worth the price of this book.