The World of Proust, as Seen by Paul Nadar

Marcel Proust (1871--1922) was one of the great geniuses of modernliterature. Born in Auteil to wealthy bourgeois parents, he suffered delicate healthas a child. During his high school years, he began to frequent salons such as thatof Madame Arman, a friend of Anatole France. Troubled by asthma and neuroses, aswell as by the deaths of his parents, Proust increasingly withd

Marcel Proust (1871--1922) was one of the great geniuses of modernliterature. Born in Auteil to wealthy bourgeois parents, he suffered delicate healthas a child. During his high school years, he began to frequent salons such as thatof Madame Arman, a friend of Anatole France. Troubled by asthma and neuroses, aswell as by the deaths of his parents, Proust increasingly withdrew from the outerworld and after 1907 lived mainly in a cork-lined room, working at night on hismonumental novel A la recherche du temps perdu (Remembrance of Things Past).TheWorld of Proust, as seen by Paul Nadar offers an intimate stroll through the societyon which Proust's novel is based. The heart of the book consists of photographsfound in the archive of Paul Nadar. These photographs make up a portrait gallery ofProust's friends and family--as well as of the aristocrats, artists, bourgeoisie, actresses, and "tarts" who inhabit the novel. Included are portraits of SarahBernhardt, Jean Cocteau, Alphonse Daudet, Claude Debussy, St?phane Mallarm?, ClaudeMonet, and Emile Zola. Each photograph is accompanied by a detailed captiondescribing the subject and the character in the novel modeled on that person.PaulNadar (1856--1939), the son of "Nadar," was part of the famous Nadar atelier. Hetook over his father's business and founded the journal Paris Photographe in1891.