MARCEL PROUST: IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME: SWANN’S WAY Stéphane Heuet, adaptation & art, translated by Arthur Goldhammer/Gallic Books As someone who has managed to work their way through the whole of Proust (admittedly over a long period of time and, admittedly, in English), I can vouch for the fact that it is undoubtedly worth the effort. The French Master’s quirky but profound understanding of the human condition leaves the patient reader immeasurably enriched by the experience. But, let’s be frank, there are many people who will regard the enterprise of tackling Proust as just too damned daunting. And even the first volume of the sequence, Swann’s Way, is often left unfinished by the fainthearted. For that audience, perhaps this splendid and slightly eccentric adaptation by Stéphane Heuet, is the answer. In my youth, I read the ‘Classics Illustrated’ series, which provided comic book adaptations of such daunting novels as Crime and Punishment, but it’s unsurprising that the series never tackled the more intractable Proust – surely an impossible job? Well, as Stéphane Heuet pleasingly proves, that is not the case, and with the elegant and restrained treatment accorded to the first book in the sequence here, the success rate of the adaptation is remarkably high. Admittedly, this graphic novel is a very different beast from the subtle original, but it has its own virtues. And even if the very economically drawn faces lack the nuances of such a masterly comics illustrators as Neal Adams (eyes are often simply two dots, and mouths straight lines), the art proves – counterintuitively — to be the perfect visual counterpoint to Proust’s text. If you’re suffering from cultural cringe whenever Proust is mentioned, this adaptation could be the answer to your prayers. Marcel Proust: In Search of Last Time: Swann’s Way Stéphane Heuet, adaptation & art, translated by Arthur Goldhammer is published by Gallic Books
