Jean Plumyène, “Céleste”, @edlatableronde 1971
Translated from French.
Jean Plumyène, “Céleste”, @edlatableronde 1971 🍶🥚
When a communist historian sets off on a ‘road trip’ 🛻, accompanied by his Dutch friend, in the Search for Céleste Albaret, the result is “Céleste”, a short 134-page story published by La Table Ronde in 1971. 📙
Written in a light-hearted tone, this little book nevertheless quotes Céleste directly, with obvious devotion. The author whisks you away at breakneck speed in an open-top 2CV, beneath a shifting sky 🌦️, mirroring the fluctuations of his heart. Heading for Monfort-Lamaury, then Auxillac in Lozère, and finally Méré. ↩️⤴️🔄😵💫
In “Monsieur Proust”, published by @robert_laffont in 1973, Georges Belmont wrote on Céleste’s behalf. Here, two years earlier, Céleste’s words are transcribed verbatim, without correction, in the elegant language that Proust admired. 🎙️
Still as charming as ever at the age of 80 👵🏻, Céleste welcomes Jean Plumyène and Ben Van der Velden (her friend from Amsterdam), welcomes them into her homes 🏘️, puts her boiled milk and hard-boiled eggs aside, and, when they ask her about her life with Proust (between 1913 and 1922), she generously opens her heart to them, overflowing with love for Marcel. 👨🏻❤️🩹
This story, published in 1971, almost 50 years after the author’s death 🪦📚🪽, is the perfect halfway point to mark his 101st birthday. 🕰️
A real gem of a second-hand bookshop. 👌🏻✨
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