Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
NYRB Classics (2003), Paperback, 456 pages
Description
Céleste Albaret was Marcel Proust's housekeeper in his last years, when he retreated from the world to devote himself to In Search of Lost Time. She could imitate his voice to perfection, and Proust himself said to her, "You know everything about me." Her reminiscences of her employer present an intimate picture of the daily life of a great writer who was also a deeply peculiar man, while Madame Albaret herself proves to be a shrewd and engaging companion.
User reviews
LibraryThing member markm2315
I hadn't known that this existed - the memoir of Céleste Albaret, Proust's housekeeper for the last several years of his life. The book was dictated to Georges Belmont in 1973 and there was an English translation a few years later; I read a recent edition in the NYRB classic series. An absolutely
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fascinating look at Proust's bizarre life and methods. His great work seems like a massive fictionalized autobiography, plus all the other things that it is, an investigation of human relationships and how they develop and disintegrate over time, the quality of memory, and the story of the end of an historical era. This memoir gives great insight into where this all came from. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
French
Original publication date
1973
Physical description
456 p.; 7.87 inches
ISBN
1590170598 / 9781590170595