Proust's Duchess

December 1, 2017

Genevieve Halevy Bizet Straus; Laure de Sade, Comtesse de Adheaume de Chevigne; and Elisabeth de Riquet de Caraman-Chimay, Comtesse Greffuhle: three highest-of-high-society women used by Marcel Proust to create the Duchesse de Guermantes, who reigns over his magnum opus. From Barnard professor Weber (Queen of Fashion).Durst wraps up a spooky trilogy; Kenyon returns to the "Deadman's Cross" series

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March 1, 2018
A captivating triple biography reveals the women who inspired Marcel Proust's Duchesse de Guermantes.In his seven-volume In Search of Lost Time, Proust drew on his astute observations of Parisian high society: the dazzling glamour, effete customs, and, as he increasingly noted, superficiality and banality. Focusing on three alluring women who were objects of Proust's fascination, Weber (French and Comparative Literature/Barnard Coll.; Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution, 2006, etc.) portrays in rich detail a French aristocracy threatened by profound social and political change. Genevi've Hal'vy Bizet Straus (widow of the composer Georges Bizet); Laure de Sade, Comtesse Adh'aume de Chevign' (a descendent of the Marquis de Sade); and lisabeth de Riquet de Caraman-Chimay, Vicomtesse Greffulhe were the grandes dames who fueled Proust's "dream of patrician elegance and grace." Each assiduously developed "a conscious strategy of self-promotion," honing a distinctive image to achieve recognition and admiration. lisabeth traded on her beauty, wearing only clothing "designed by her and for her." Laure, with a particular talent for self-aggrandizement and tireless indulgence for "wild nights" at the notorious Chat-Noir, made sure to publicize her Sadean lineage. Genevi've, who entertained wearing "silky, mauve peignoirs," had a reputation as "the neurasthenic queen of Montmartre." Each was married, unhappily, and strived for some measure of independence at a time when women "had the legal status of minors." As lisabeth wrote, "women are meant to be trophies, pretty possessions....Smiling, placid, charming. Not leaving the nest, staying in the aviary." Weber offers intimate details of their love affairs, betrayals, friendships, and rivalries; their worries over money and status; and their "grappl[ing] with mental illness and drug addiction." She recounts vividly the plush ambience, dress, and d'cor of their chteaux and palaces as well as the parties and salons peopled by royalty, artists, and writers who mesmerized the young, aspiring, impressionable Proust.A palpable, engrossing portrait of three extraordinary women and their tempestuous, fragile world.

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March 12, 2018
The great strength of this literary history from Weber (Queen of Fashion) lies in its sheer accumulation of detail, which paints a granular picture of the ultra-wealthy milieu that provided the subject matter for Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu. Weber focuses on three real-life social leaders Proust merged into the character of the Duchesse of Guermantes. Through these three women—Comtesse de Chevigné, Vicomtesse Greffulhe, and Geneviève Halévy Bizet Straus—Weber exposes the high society world of France during the 1870s to early 1890s. The grandeur might impress from afar, but Weber reveals the darker side of a culture that contributed little to the larger society while spending lavishly on its own whims. Greffulhe’s husband, for example, used one of his footmen solely to deliver daily bouquets of orchids to his dozens of paramours, while she indulged in custom clothing that included a muff crafted of blue jay feathers, a floor-length fox stole, and a mauve brocade gown woven with palm fronds. The final impression is one of a topical warning against the accumulation of vast wealth for its own sake. Readers will be impressed when they reach the end of this lengthy book, nearly every page of which offers factual riches, served up with precise and witty prose.