🖋️ “He left as though he had nothing more to say to us.”

🖋️ “He left as though he had nothing more to say to us. He is leaving us, and we needed him. Did he not realise that his friendship had become essential to us, and that the void he leaves behind can now never be filled by anyone?”

These are the opening words of the tribute to Jacques Rivière published in the April 1925 issue of @nrf.larevue, following his sudden death 🪦 on 14 February 1925.

Later in his text, André Gide, true to his self-adulation 🙌🏻, attempts to downplay Proust’s influence on Rivière. No one is fooled today, and when one reads their correspondence from 1914 to 1922, it is clear that Proust, more than anyone else, exerted a decisive influence – almost a form of hold – over Rivière as a publisher, critic and author. 🤵🏻‍♂️

In a letter to Gide dated 1912, before meeting Proust, Rivière confided: 🖋️“I have reached the very depths of human friendship, where there is a kind of renunciation of the self and a consuming devotion to others.”

🗳️ Rivière – devoured by Proust?

💡 Centenary Conference (1925–2025)
“Jacques Rivière,
“publisher and critic of the century”

🗓️ 12 and 13 June 2025
📌 Aix-en-Provence @univ_amu

📚 @jeanmarc.quaranta @arianecharton @editions_bouquins

#JacquesRivière #Proust #RTP #proustagram #AndréGide #MarcelProust #NRF #1925