Chasing Lost Time: The Life of C. K. Scott Moncrieff: Soldier, Spy, and Translator - Couverture rigide

Findlay, Jean

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0374119279 ISBN 13 : 9780374119270

Editeur : Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2015

Synopsis

The thrilling first-ever biography of Proust translator C. K. Scott Moncrieff, penned by his great-great-niece

"And suddenly the memory returns. The taste was that of the little crumb of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray (because on those mornings I did not go out before church-time), when I went to say good day to her in her bedroom, my aunt Léonie used to give me . . ." With these words, Marcel Proust's narrator is plunged back into the past. Since 1922, English-language readers have been able to take this leap with him thanks to translator C. K. Scott Moncrieff, who wrestled with Proust's seven-volume masterpiece—published as Remembrance of Things Past —until his death in 1930.
While Scott Moncrieff's work has shaped our understanding of one of the finest novels of the twentieth century, he has remained hidden behind the genius of the man whose reputation he helped build. Now, in this biography—the first ever of the celebrated translator—Scott Moncrieff's great-great-niece, Jean Findlay, reveals a fascinating, tangled life.
Catholic and homosexual; a partygoer who was lonely deep down; secretly a spy in Mussolini's Italy and publicly a debonair man of letters; a war hero described as "offensively brave," whose letters from the front are remarkably cheerful—Scott Moncrieff was a man of his moment, thriving on paradoxes and extremes. In Chasing Lost Time , Findlay gives us a vibrant, moving portrait of the brilliant Scott Moncrieff, and of the era—changing fast and forever—in which he shone.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

C. K. Scott Moncrieff’s celebrated translation of Proust’s A La Recherche du Temps Perdu was first published in 1922 and was a work which would exhaust and consume the translator, leading to his early death at the age of just forty. Joseph Conrad told him, ‘I was more interested and fascinated by your rendering than by Proust’s creation’: some literary figures even felt it was an improvement on the original.

From the outside an enigma, Scott Moncrieff left a trail of writings that describe a man expert at living a paradoxical life: fervent Catholic convert and homosexual, gregarious party-goer and deeply lonely, interwar spy in Mussolini’s Italy and public man of letters – a man for whom honour was the most abiding principle. He was a decorated war hero, and his letters home are an unusually light take on day-to-day life on the front. Described as ‘offensively brave’, he was severely injured in 1917 and, convalescing in London, became a lynchpin of literary society – friends with Robert Graves and Noel Coward, enemies with Siegfried Sassoon and in love with Wilfred Owen.

Written by Scott Moncrieff’s great-great-niece, Jean Findlay, with exclusive access to the family archive, Chasing Lost Time is a portrait of a man hurled into war, through an era when the world was changing fast and forever, who brought us the greatest epic of time and memory that has ever been written.

Quatrième de couverture

'A first-rate, playful, moving biography' The Times

Scott Moncrieff was an enigmatic man. A Catholic convert and a homosexual, a gregarious party-goer but deeply lonely, an interwar spy and public man of letters. He was the celebrated translator of Proust's A La Recherche du Temps Perdu. He was also a decorated First World War hero.

Written by Scott Moncrieff's great-great-niece, and with exclusive access to the family archive, Chasing Lost Time is a fascinating portrait of a man living through an era of war and profound change, and who rendered in English the definitive modern novel.

'A hugely readable and well researched biography' Scotsman

'Conveys this largely forgotten literary figure with great perspicacity and affection' Times Literary Supplement

'An engrossing and intelligent portrait of a man and an era' Evening Standard

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Farrar Straus & Giroux
• Date d'édition: 2015
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0374119279
• ISBN 13: 9780374119270
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 351
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible