Graham Robb

The martyrdom of Proust

Proust felt persecuted by every Parisian sound, from blaring klaxons in the street to the toilet upstairs

issue 28 October 2017

Why would a writer like Marcel Proust, who quivered and wheezed at the slightest sensation, decide to live surrounded by neighbours in one of the busiest parts of Paris? In 1906, at the age of 35, shortly after the death of his mother, he moved to a first-floor apartment at 102 Boulevard Haussmann.

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