Study and translation of Sixty letters from Marcel Proust: the author responds to his critics

• Grant number: 11/19698-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: February 07, 2012
• End date: July 30, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Modern Foreign Literatures
• Principal Investigator: Alexandre Bebiano de Almeida
• Grantee: Alexandre Bebiano de Almeida
• Host Investigator: Nathalie Mauriac Dyer
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: École Normale Supérieure, Paris (ENS), France

Abstract

A research on Marcel Proust's epistolary production. The objective is to study and translate the letters that Proust wrote to readers and critics of his novel, "In Search of Lost Time". To achieve this aim, we will study Proust's correspondence to select the letters in which he responds to readers and critics. We will translate them and write a note in order to provide elements for the better understanding of them (the letter's context, biographical details of the receiver, references to third parties and to contemporary events). Once this step is performed, we will write a study on the role of literary criticism in Proust's epistolary style. We will stress that the correspondence with readers and critics, without changing the conversation register, comes to literary criticism and essays. The general hypothesis of this research is that the study of these letters can help us to understand more about both Proust's writing style and the status of literature in the early decades of the twentieth century. (AU)