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"Jacques GuErin was a prominent businessman at the head of his family's successful perfume company, but his real passion was for rare books and literary manuscripts. From the time he was a young man, he frequented the antiquarian bookshops of Paris in search of lost, forgotten treasures. The ultimate prize? Anything from the hands of Marcel Proust." "GuErin identified with Proust more deeply than with any other writer, and when illness brought him by chance under the care of Marcel's brother, Dr. Robert Proust, he saw it as a remarkable opportunity. Shamed by Marcel's extravagant writings, embarrassed by his homosexuality, and offended by his disregard for bourgeois respectability, his family had begun to deliberately destroy and sell their inheritance of his notebooks, letters, manuscripts, furni-ture, and personal effects. Horrified by the destruction, and consumed with desire, GuErin ingratiated himself with Marcel's heirs, placating them with cash and kindness in exchange for the writer's priceless, rare material remains. After years of relentless persuasion, GuErin was at last rewarded with a highly personal prize, one he had never dreamed of possessing, a relic he treasured to the end of his long life: Proust's overcoat."--Book jacket.… (more)
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Jacques Guerin was the head of his family's very successful perfume business when he fell ill and was attended by the late Marcel Proust's brother, Dr. Robert Proust. While perfume was Guerin's business, rare books and author possessions were what fired his imagination and drove him in his obsessive collecting. His acquaintance with Dr. Proust and subsequently to an antiques dealer who also knew the Prousts enabled him to amass much of the collection he prized so dearly. Woven through the tale of Guerin's thorough and careful hunt for Proustiana, is a brief but instructive history of Proust's relationship with his unfaithful brother and bitter sister-in-law to whom Proust's homosexuality was a terrible and appalling embarrassment. The history works seamlessly with the story of Guerin's collecting and author Foschini's literary detective work to uncover both of these aforementioned stories. The book is slight but engaging and there's no need for the reader to be more than passingly familiar with Proust. I have never read his works and yet the story of Guerin's quest to save Proust's belongings from the flames to which his brother's widow would have consigned them was fascinating as was the short history of Proust himself. While this hasn't necessarily convinced me to search out Proust's Remembrance of Things Past with so many other books still on my plate, I definitely have to admit to more curiousity than before.
The story of Proust's sister-in-law and her hatredfor and destruction everything related to Marcel, was pretty shocking. The way that Guerin acquired the items is pretty interesting - he tracked the lives and deaths of Proust's friends and relatives, watching for obituaries, showing up at parties and funerals, ingratiating himself with them and getting first dibs on the items and stories he coveted.
I think this is a great beginning, but there isn't enough meat for a whole book. There are some interesting tangents that should have been developed to add to the story, but it was still an engaging read.
I've never read anything by Marcel Proust, but his reputation precedes him and I do know that he is one of the most impressive authors in all of history. I was afraid my total ignorance of Proust and his work would hamper my enjoyment of this book, but I needn't have feared. This story is able to be enjoyed for its simple style and the colorful story it tells, and I imagine that it could be enjoyed by almost anyone regardless of their knowledge of Proust.
The story of Guérin is a very interesting tale. Though he was foremost a collector of books, when the opportunity arose for him to begin collecting the furniture, writing and minutiae of Proust's life, he needed no goading. Guérin believed that by acquiring the author's artifacts he was somehow doing a noble deed, saving them from destruction and liberating them from a nameless and shaming stasis. In his efforts to claim more and more of the belongings, he often did some strange things and made friends with those he would otherwise ignore. Guérin, a famous perfume designer, found that his work, though successful, was not what fulfilled him. In his quest to rescue Proust's objects, he found his life's ambition. At times Guérin is painted as being very obsessed with these belongings, not rude and pushy per se, but definitely dogged and driven to get his hands on whatever he could. I was pleased to find out that most of his collection had eventually been donated to various institutions, so that other Proust lovers could benefit from them as well.
A lot of this book also deals superficially with Proust's life. Though he died a young man, he had many friends and was well regarded by the artistic community. He was also a homosexual, which deeply disappointed his family and led to his own set of moral and personal crisis. He was a man who spent the latter half of his life in bed, tablet stretched with one hand in the air, his other hand writing the stories and poems that are now considered masterpieces. The book takes some pains to discuss the relationship that Proust shared with his brother Robert as well. Though the two had a sibling love, there were some extreme undercurrents of hostility directed at Marcel from Robert, and when Marcel finally passed away, Robert was left to edit and publish some of his last works. It's not surprising that Robert botched this affair and became quite a controlling and domineering person when it cam to finally publishing his brother's final work. The relationship between Marcel and the rest of his family was rather tumultuous really, and this was one of the reasons that his belongings were held in so little regard after his death.
Proust's Overcoat was an enchanting little snack of a read, and for those who don't know much about the author, this book would make an excellent primer. It's written in an engaging and light style and also includes several small passages of the author's work in relation to his life. It's a very interesting look at a collector and the famous man who left behind his collection, and I think Marcel Proust would have been honored to know just how much Guérin admired and esteemed him. Proust lovers will also love this whimsical little tale. A very fun read, recommended!
I thought this book was quite good actually, but so short it couldn't go in depth enough to actually learn much. And I thought Guerin (the guy stalking down Proust's possessions) was a wildly odd and funny guy and I would have enjoyed finding out more about him. The book
I completely forgot to put how much I loved the cover. It would have made me buy it if I hadn't won it on first reads. It is superfantastic. Maybe I should just frame it and hang it over my bookshelf.
I particularly appreciated Foschini's ability to evoke the excitement of a collector opening an old hatbox and discovering tangible remnants of Proust's life captures in sketches, letters, notes, and old photographs. Anyone who has had the privilege of touching a manscript and feeling an electric connection with the past, with genius, will recognize those feelings in Foschini's book. Numerous photographs throughout the text provide the reader with tangible hooks into Foschini's story. Recommended for fans of Proust, for people interested in the phenomenon of collecting, and for those who seek to preserve the memory of a loved one in material possessions left behind.
Luckily, the book is short enough that the often choppy, occasionally awkward style is not too much of a detriment. There is still quite a bit of charm here, particularly for those who love Proust or for whom collecting is a religion rather than a hobby. Guerin and Proust are given light, affectionate treatment and the book includes tantalizing connections to the great man's work, which may inspire the reader to seek out Proust in a fuller sense. Though not for everyone, this brief taste of a book could be a gateway for those who have always wanted to read Proust or a sweet bit of nostalgia for those already acquainted with him. If you don't fall into either of those categories, however, you might want to skip this one. Perhaps I am a little too mainstream, but I don't see much here for those who don't already have a foundation of strong interest in the specific subject of Proust. Comparisons (in blurbs on the copy) to Simon Winchester's more broadly oriented 'The Professor and the Madman' seem a little unfounded.
Basically, Guerin was rich, having
This contact with Robert Proust, and seeing a draft of Marcel's work, inspired a passion in Guerin to see all of Marcel's things.
The overcoat, being one of Marcel Proust's trademarks, basically something Marcel LIVED in, even in warm weather, is the coup de grace.
This book is an interesting look at what the material things left behind say about the person who used to own them, and the importance of those belongings to the people who cared about you.
It was interesting, it was informative, and it read very quickly.
I think this book would be great for Proust admirers, or as a quirky gift to someone else. It will be released in August of this year.
You'll find this book in the biography section of the bookstore, but at first it's difficult to decide who the biography is about....One the surface, it would seem to be a book about Proust, author of the iconic Remembrance of Things Past
Foremost, the biography is of Jacques Guerin, an avid (rabid?) collector of all things Proust. His obsession leads him to search for anything related to the author, from old letters to furniture to ultimately, a personal garment of the man. At times his devotion is creepy, yet he seems to be completely harmless. His own life story is interesting, and his biography is well-researched. Foschini shows her skill as a biographer because she skillfully reveals personal characteristics about Guerin, but she also knows Proust's work, so when she makes a statement about Guerin she's able to actually use a Proust quote to elaborate on his fetish. As she tells about Guerin, she is also relating the biography of Proust, from his birth to his death. It's an interesting way of switching back and forth from the collector to the collected. So is it a biography of these two men? Where does the overcoat come in?
The overcoat itself, seemingly trivial, becomes part of the mystery of Proust, as many pictures (included in the book) show him in it. Foschini quotes various authors of the era, all who referred to the overcoat as one of the elements of Proust's persona. Foschini even incorporates her own search for the overcoat within the book.
She also intertwines the story of a collector who helps Guerin in his search, and who is a fascinating character with his own complicated connection to Proust. Adrien Proust, Marcel's brother, and his wife, Marthe, are also discussed in detail. The revelations are never dry, but often amusing. For example, Marthe gets a glimpse of what she is marrying into when her mother-in-law arrives at the wedding in an ambulance, and her brother-in-law tells others the wedding nearly killed him and he had to retire to bed for weeks to recover. Nice!
Marthe is an intriguing person at the center of the biography as she had much of Proust's works destroyed as soon as her husband died and she could get away with it. Foschini reveals why Marthe harbored so much anger at Marcel Proust, and how intently she tried to escape the family connection. The combination of all these interesting people makes this a too-brief biography that reads much easier than Proust (I believe it was Jon Stewart who said that anyone who reads Proust at the beach can be clinically defined as an insufferable ass).