TY - BOOK AU - Proust,Marcel AU - Davis,Lydia AU - Gaudry,Estelle AU - TadieÌ,Jean-Yves TI - Letters to his neighbor SN - 9780811224116 AV - PQ2631.R63 A2 2017 U1 - 846/.912 23 PY - 2017///] CY - New York PB - New Directions Publishing Corporation KW - Proust, Marcel, KW - Williams, Marie, KW - Authors, French KW - 19th century KW - Correspondence KW - 20th century KW - Personal correspondence KW - fast KW - Records and correspondence KW - lcgft N1 - "A New Directions Book."; "Originally published in French as Lettres aÌ sa voisine" -- Verso title page; Includes bibliographical references and indexes N2 - Marcel Proust's genius for illuminating pain is on spectacular display in this recently discovered trove of his correspondence, Letters to His Neighbor. Already suffering from noise within his cork-line walls, he was not ready for the fresh assault of a new upstairs neighbor, Dr. Williams, a dentist with a thriving practice directly overhead. Chiefly to Mme Williams, these ever-polite letters (often accompanied by flowers, compliments, books, or even pheasants) are frequently moving and leavened by subtle humor--Proust couches his pained frustration in gracious eloquence. In Lydia Davis's hands, the digressive brilliance of his sentences shines: "Don't speak of annoying neighbors, but of neighbors so charming(an association of words contradictory in principle since Montesquiou claims that most horrible of all are 1st neighbors 2nd the smell of post offices) that the leave the constant tantalizing regret that one cannot take advantage of their neighborliness." Lydia Davis has written a generous afterword, tracing much of what we can know about Proust's perpetually dark room; she details the furnishings as well as the life he lived there, burning his powders, talking with friends, hiring in musicians, and through it all, continuing his heroic work despite an intractable illness and the intrusions of life (and noise) from outside. Letters to His Neighbor is richly illustrated with facsimile letters and photographs--a small treasure for lovers of Proust. -- Inside jacket flap; Brilliantly translated, here are Proust's tormented, touching, and often very funny letters to his noisy neighbor ER -