Description
Book SynopsisEdited and annotated by leading Proust scholar William Carter, In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower is the second volume of one of the twentieth century's great literary triumphs It was this volume that won the Prix Goncourt in 1919, affirming Proust as a major literary figure and dramatically increasing his fame. Here the narrator whose childhood was reflected in Swann's Way moves further through childhood and into adolescence, as the author brilliantly examines themes of love and youth, in settings in Paris and by the sea in Normandy. The reader again encounters Swann, now married to his former mistress and largely fallen from high society, and meets for the first time several of Proust's most memorable characters: the handsome, dashing Robert de Saint-Loup, who will become the narrator's best friend; the enigmatic Albertine, leader of the little band of adolescent girls; the profoundly artistic Elstir, believed to be Proust's composite of Whistler, Monet, and other leading painters; and, making his unforgettable entrance near the end of the volume, the intense, indelible Baron de Charlus. Permeated by the bloom of youth and its resonances in memories of love and friendship, In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower takes readers into the heart of Proust's comic and poetic genius. As with Swann's Way, Carter uses C. K. Scott Moncrieff's beloved translation as the basis for this annotated and fully revised edition. Carter corrects long-standing errors in Scott Moncrieff's otherwise superlative translation, bringing it closer than ever to the spirit and style of Proust's original textand reaching English readers in a way that the Pléiade annotations cannot. Insightful and accessible, Carter's edition of Marcel Proust's masterwork will be the go-to text for generations of readers seeking to understand Proust's remarkable bygone world.
Trade Review"Professor Carter has provided, once again, what Proust, in describing the function of footnotes and scholarly apparatus in general, called a
caisse de résonance. . . . As readers become more and more distant from the Belle Époque and from Third Republic France, they increasingly need the kind of discreet explanatory notes provided by Professor Carter, whose erudition in all matters Proustian is exemplary."—David R. Ellison, author of
A Reader’s Guide to Proust’s ‘In Search of Lost Time’"I cannot imagine an edition that could better disseminate not only scholarship, but also enjoyment of Proust’s all-encompassing novel."—Jack Jordan, Mississippi State University
“My favorite translation of Proust is Proust’s first English translator, Scott Moncrieff, but updated and corrected and annotated by one of the greatest Proustians alive today, William C. Carter . . . of whom I’m an enormous fan. . . . Beautifully annotated . . . An invaluable resource.”—Caroline Weber, author of
Proust's Duchess: How Three Celebrated Women Captured the Imagination of Fin-de-Siecle Paris
