Against Saint-Beuve

“Against Saint-Beuve” is a collection of critical articles and essays by Marcel Proust (1871–1922). Proust enters into a dispute with the famous literary critic Charles-Augustin de Saint-Beuve (1804–1869), the founder of the biographical method in literary studies. In his judgments, Saint-Beuve relies primarily on personal acquaintance with writers, while Proust believes that a work creates the hidden, deep “self” of a person, separate from their public persona. Writers should be judged by their books, and books should not be judged by their authors. Engaging in a mental debate with the late critic, Proust analyzes the poems of Charles Baudelaire and Gérard de Nerval, the novels of Gustave Flaubert and Honoré de Balzac, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, as well as the paintings of Gustave Moreau, Antoine Watteau, and Claude Monet. But “Against Saint-Beuve” is not a collection of dry theoretical essays; it is a vibrant literary narrative in which the protagonist-narrator and his dearly beloved mother exchange impressions. On the pages of the book, Proust the critic transforms into Proust the writer, and from the articles, “In Search of Lost Time” is born.