THE BIG ISSUE The Big Issue - 11 January 2016

WorldMags.net 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 WorldMags.net 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)

THE BIG ISSUE The Big Issue - 11 January 2016 | Page 30