THE BIG ISSUE The Big Issue - 11 January 2016 | Page 30
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BOOKS
That famous madeleine
moment... in graphic detail
AUTHOR FEATURE
Reimagining Proust
How can we grasp the literary epic In Search of Lost Time?
Turn it into a graphic novel, says illustrator Stéphane Heuet
A
t the age of 20, when I was
in the Marines, I was
given the chance to read
In Search of Lost Time; with
a fractured ankle on a boat
in the Indian Ocean I had
plenty of time, and the library on board had
the entire collection. But I’m ashamed to
admit that, out of boredom, the book fell
from my hands. I gave up on reading this
work about which I had heard so much but
couldn’t understand the point of.
At the age of nearly 35 years old, married
and a father, I was led, following a fervent
discussion about Proust, to again pick up
Lost Time but only to demonstrate its point-
lessness, its outdatedness, its snobbery, the
unbearable style etc… But to my surprise,
I embarked upon a read that I have never
put down since. I discovered the humour,
the charm, the finesse and the soundness
of Proust; I discovered that Proust writes
what we all feel but cannot express; I
discovered that Proust can cure us of
snobbery, of lovesickness, of vanity. What
geniuses such as Balzac or Flaubert say
about life by describing the world around
us, Proust employs psychology – the inner
world. I discovered with delight how
‘visual’ the books are, and the artistic
potential which was contained within
them (the strong imagery in Proust’s works
is so clear in my mind that I always feel as
though I’m reading an artist describing
his paintings). And the drollery of charac-
ters such as Celine, Flora, the Verdurins,
Cottard and so many others, all so visu-
ally evoked, very quickly gave me the idea
of a graphic novel reimagining.
This idea was supported by
my conviction that the graphic
novel was an efective way of
introducing Proust to those
alarmed by his reputation as
difficult, while remaining
faithful to the text (imperative
to me, as the style is such an
important component of the joy
of reading Lost Time). Furthermore, I
thought the illustration would allow those
who had already read Lost Time to visual-
ise how the places, monuments and works
of art, real or imagined, might appear.
I went on sabbatical for a year (now 15
years and counting) and began to draw.
It essentially came down to choosing and
THE BIG ISSUE / p30 / January 11-17 2016
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balancing which parts would be illustrated
alongside the text. As I read through, pencil
in my hand, the words had one of four
destinies: they could become illustrations,
dialogue (in speech bubbles), a ‘voiceover’
(in the egg shell-coloured boxes) or
they could be sacrificed, which could be
heart-rending, as I often had to keep ‘useful’
phrases whilst losing some of the more mag-
nificent lines. I took care to follow the order
in which the story unfolds, and worked word
by word to piece together grammatical
prepositions correctly whilst maintaining
a fluid narrative. In French, I aimed never
to cut the words which, along with the choice
of a typography reminiscent of that of
Tintin, makes the read appear easier.
At publication of the first volume, a
review appeared in one of the broadsheets
– a terrible and negative review which
annihilated me. There were huge errors
within the article, which experts on Proust
picked out but which, at the time, I couldn’t
see. I could see nothing beyond the tearing
apart of my three years of work. Most of all,
I didn’t see this could actually be a blessing
in disguise: the writer’s somewhat excessive
aggression attracted the attention of other
journalists, who read it and reviewed it far
more positively, not only in France but in
Japan, the US, the UK, etc. Thanks to the
benevolent curiosity of the readers and also,
I suspect, the early unwanted publicity,
volumes of my graphic novels have been
published in 27 languages.
Now many teachers in secondary schools
and universities use the graphic novel to
introduce their students to Proust, and I’ve
spoken about the project all over the world.
The books are far from well-known, of
course, but year after year, thanks to
teachers, journalists, Proust fans, librarians
and word of mouth, they become
more and more visible.
In light of this project, I am
certain that if literary graphic
novel adaptations are done with
humility and respect for the
original text, they can be useful
in schools and for the many
readers who would not otherwise
come to such works, which oth-
erwise risk being forgotten. In a world so
captivated by the image, could the graphic
novel perhaps be the missing link?
In Search of Lost Time: Swann’s Way, by
Marcel Proust, adapted/illustrated by Stéphane
Heuet, translation Arthur Goldhammer, is out
February 2 in hardback (Gallic Books, £19.99)