Albertine Disparue - Mante-Proust Typescript

Mante-Proust Typescript

After the death in 1986 of Proust's niece, Suzy Mante-Proust, her son-in-law discovered among her papers a typescript that had been corrected and annotated by Proust. The late changes Proust made include a small crucial detail and the deletion of approximately 150 pages. This version was published in French (Paris: Grasset, 1987) and translated as Albertine Gone by Terence Kilmartin (London: Chatto & Windus, 1989); the translation is now out of print.

Whether Proust's changes to the manuscript can be integrated into the text of modern editions of Lost Time, remains the subject of contentious debate. Current French editions adopt different approaches to the problem. The 1987 French Pléiade edition preserved the deleted material. However, Jean Milly's 2002 GF Flammarion edition follows Proust's typescript, and restores the sub-title "Sodom and Gomorrah III."

This disagreement reflects the dilemma created by the condition of Albertine disparue/La Fugitive. Proust's edited typescript shows his final intentions, but he did not have time to fully realize those intentions. Thus, the typescript leaves Albertine disparue inconsistent with Time Regained. Moreover, Proust's anticipated (but never realized) further volumes of Sodom and Gomorrah might ultimately have included the deleted material.

For the 2002 English translation of the volume, editor Christopher Prendergast charged Peter Collier with translating the 1954 edition.