Klara reads Proust (Publishing house Humanitas Fiction, Bucharest, 2023) appeared in the original edition in 2022. The year when all of France commemorates a century since the death of the one who, going in search of lost time, overturned not only the idea of ​​the novel, but the very concept of literature. No, he was not alone, he was joined by Joyce as well, just as Luigi Pirandello was associated with Chekhov in the theater.

As the Romanian translation of Stéphane Carlier’s book, very good thanks to Madalin Giu, I saw in the printing house in the middle of summer, Klara reads Proust it has been widely touted as a great holiday read. No doubt it is too. The book is easy to read, some problems arise in understanding the context of the inserts Raimonda’s story, has sharply drawn characters that Stéphane Carlier takes care to portray to us in sumptuous detail. We find out who Mrs. Habib is, a big admirer of former President Jacques Chirac, who Nolven and Patrick are. We also find out what it looks like Cindy’s salonthe space where almost all the action takes place. Klara is reading the Fool also contains a failed love story. Klara, 23 years old, hairdresser in Cindy’s salon, whose patroness overestimates him, has a handsome boyfriend, a firefighter named JB, who looks like Flynn Rider, the main character of the cartoon series. From which it is separated at some point. There is also a story about gender reassignment surgery in the novel. The names of popular songs are also quoted. By the end, we barely know what’s up with this mod.

Something happens in Clara’s existence, and that something is the very essence of the novel. From a certain moment, the fate of the main character changes. And by no means. But really radical. Unexpectedly, a customer who came for a haircut without an appointment does not leave Clara a tip. Instead, he leaves him a book. But unfortunately, at least initially, Clara is disappointed. He is not one of the Parisians who read. Her everyday life does not confirm that in Paris even the last holder of a subway ticket holds a book in his hands. He forgets the book, neglects it, moves it from place to place, almost hides it. Eventually he remembers her existence, finds her. E Du côte de chez Swann, first volume A la recherche du temps perdu. Much to the surprise of JB, who had also never read anything before. And it won’t even read. So, Clara begins to read, at first she does not understand anything, then everything becomes clear. It’s enough to make a pact with Marcel (of course, she doesn’t know what it is reading pact, he doesn’t even know that Marcel in the novel is not necessarily Marcel, the one with the civil status documents), then he buys other volumes, he likes them, some of them he finds small flaws. “He does it without any hesitation, I’m sure even Marcel, if he read the book today, would recognize it long ago.” Clara becomes a mild critic Cathedralher adventure somehow confirms Georges Poulet, who in the first sentence Criticism of conscience he argued loudly that the first operation in the critical act is reading.

Klara reads Proust it is a novel written in the present tense. Only on its last pages will it be revealed to us that everything told happened seventeen years ago, that the events were remembered, that Clara is now an actress. And this is because of his reading of Proust. But isn’t it? A la recherche du temps perdu by the way, if not primarily a book about memory?

Apart from writing a very successful book that has already won several awards, what does Stéphane Carlier really do? Write a book about Proust, do it in the most Balzac way possible. We find in Klara reads Proust important, impressive quotes from A la recherche du temps perdu. We find the titles of all the seven volumes mentioned. From Swann TO The time has been found. All the main characters come to the fore. From Marcel and Swann to Odette de Crecy, from Verdurin to Baron de Charles. We also learn about it from beforelast syllable Germantesturns out orange light. That the moon creeps across the sky without a shine, like an actress waiting for her time to perform. We are also told this Proust is not difficult, he is different. What he manages to tell us in his novel all – Read the entire article and comment on Contributors.ro