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Marcel Proust correspondence

 Collection
Identifier: 11-MWalB02475

Scope and Contents

Brandeis’s collection of Marcel Proust correspondence contains 23 of Proust’s letters, ranging from February of 1913, the year Proust published the first volume of In Search of Lost Time, Du côté de chez Swann (Swann’s Way), to September of 1916, the year he parted ways with his first publisher, Bernard Grasset. The letters, all written by Proust to Grasset (except one, addressed to Grasset’s business partner Louis Brun), reveal Proust’s sometimes fraught relationship with his publisher, his concerns about the format and reception of his novel, and the themes he hoped to communicate to his audience. While twenty of the letters are undated, they were published as part of Proust’s correspondence (with dates) by Proust scholar Philip Kolb between 1971 and 1992. All but one of the letters are handwritten, and three are accompanied by typed transcriptions in French. Only one letter has an attached English translation in the collection, but seven within the collection were published in translated form by Kolb in his 1992 book, Marcel Proust: Selected Letters.

Dates

  • 1913-1916; undated

Conditions Governing Access

Access to the collection is in accordance with the policies of the Robert D. Farber University Archives & Special Collections Department, Brandeis University. Please contact the department for more information.

Conditions Governing Use

Requests to reproduce or publish material from the collection should be directed to the Robert D. Farber University Archives & Special Collections Department, Brandeis University.

Extent

23.00 Letters

Language of Materials

French

Arrangement

Letters are arranged chronologically in one series; estimated dates for undated letters are in square brackets and are taken from Kolb's Marcel Proust: Selected Letters and from the research of Hollie Harder, Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies, and Director of the Language Programs, Romance Studies. Kolb volumes, numbers, and page numbers refer to Proust, Marcel, 1871-1922. Correspondence. Ed. Philip Kolb. [Paris]: Plon 1970. 16 volumes.

Date
20120000
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
eng

Repository Details

Part of the Brandeis University Repository

Contact:
415 South St.
Waltham MA

About Us

The Robert D. Farber University Archives & Special Collections Department at Brandeis University consists of two collecting units, the University Archives and Special Collections. University Archives documents the history and development of Brandeis University and its faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Special Collections features a broad array of unique primary source materials across a wide range of disciplines that support research, teaching and learning at Brandeis. Learn more about our collections