The Collected Poems

The Collected Poems

A Dual-Language Edition with Parallel Text (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

Summary

As a young man, Proust wrote both poetry and prose. Even after he embarked on his masterful In Search of Lost Time at the age of thirty-eight, he never stopped writing poetry. His verse is often playful, filled with affection and satire, and is peppered with witty barbs at friends and people in his social circle of aristocrats, writers, musicians, and courtesans.

Few of the poems collected here under the editorship of Harold Augenbraum, founder of the Proust Society of America, have ever been published in book form or translated into English until now. In this dual-language edition of new translations, Augenbraum has brought together nineteen renowned poets and poetry translators to bring Proust's exuberant verse back to life.

Marcel Proust (1871-1922) is generally viewed as the greatest French novelist and perhaps the greatest European novelist of the 20th century. He lived much of his later life as a reclusive semi-invalid in a sound-proofed flat in Paris, giving himself over entirely to writing In Search of Lost Time.

About the author

Marcel Proust

Proust was born in Auteuil, France in 1871. He began writing his masterpiece, À la recherche du temps perdu, in 1909, and worked on it until his death in 1922, following several years of poor health during which he had been confined to his bedroom.
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