In search of ‘In Search of Lost Time’

-Lecture by Jacques Géraud

In Search of Lost Time is the greatest registered monument –somewhat X-rated – or rather unclassifiable monument of French literature. If it were a vegetable, it would be a cauliflower, a fractal object in which one part is a microcosm of the whole. If it were a painting, it would be Les noces de Cana, by Veronese, featuring 132 characters, including Christ, alias Proust. If it were a French word, it would be the longest one – anticonstitutionnellement - long as his book, his sentences, stretched out on a Procrustean bed by the author whose name was as short as his asthmatic breathing.
Every great writer is at the cross-roads of two genealogies, and proceeds from their union: first, the genealogy of the flesh, mom and dad – for Proust, especially mom, the quintessential Jewish mother, who was to die in 1905. Jacques Géraud will also discuss the ambiguous relationship between Proust and women, from his mother to his grandmother. He will show the obvious or more subtle lines between Proust’s life and the writing of the work.
About the Speaker
Jacques Géraud has published fiction, including novels, short stories, and tales. Two of his books are series of short comic and fantasy fiction, based on Proust’s work: Proustites (Éditions P.O.L), and Petits proustillants (Éditions PUF) which transported the Proustian narrator into the 21st century to have him experience new adventures, from A to Z, from Adidas to Zappinge.

Organized with the Délégation Générale de l’Alliance Française aux Etats-Unis and the Department of French and Italian of the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Date: Monday, April 20th at 5:30pm Location: University of Colorado in Boulder Colorado Avenue & 18th Street MUENZINGER Building, room E 417 Cost: Free RSVP: 303 831 0304 or send an email to afd@afdenver.org In French