It ’s hard to believe that Marcel Proust , whose gigantic seven - volume novelIn Search of Lost Timeholds the Guinness World Record forlongest novelbased on theatrical role count , was well - practice in the art of leave behind thing on the cutting way floor . As it wrick out , he was . Smithsonian.comreportsthat French publication home Editions de Fallois will let go a 180 - page book , The Mysterious Correspondent and Other Unpublished Novellas , containing nine previously undiscovered novelette and inadequate stories by the fertile author .
According toAgence France - Presse , Proust decided to miss the selections from his first book , Plaisirs et les Jours(Pleasures and 24-hour interval ) , an 1896 collection of poems and short level . If you ’ve scan Proust , you may recognize the style and report from his later penning within this content . Smithsonian.com report that though most of the news report bond to a traditional short - story format , some pieces are more “ meandering and meditative ” with “ striking metaphors and wry comedic insights . ” They even overlap a bit withSwann ’s Way , the first volume fromIn Search of Lost Time .
The stories were unearthed by Bernard de Fallois , the founder of Editions de Fallois who pass away latterly last yr . A lead Proust scholar himself , he allow behind an impressive legacy of recovering turn a loss Proust manuscript — before this Christian Bible , de Fallois had see Proust ’s 900 - page novelJean Santeuil , as well as an unfinished book of essays titledContre Sainte - Beuve , which review literary critic Charles Augustin Sainte - Beuve .
We ’ll probably never know precisely why Proust decided to vacate these fresh unveil works . It ’s possible he thought the subject subject , which explore physical dearest and homosexuality , was too risqué for society at the time . Or perchance the young writer just require to make his assembling perfectly streamlined for prospective publishing company . If that ’s the case , he did n’t hire the same “ pop your ducky ” strategy for everything ; beforeIn Search of Lost Timemade it to conjure , at least one publisherrejectedit , saying , “ I rack my brains why a chap should need 30 pages to describe how he turn over over in bottom before pop off to catch some Z’s . ”
[ h / tSmithsonian.com ]
