Chasing lost time
Subtitle: the life of C.K. Scott Moncrieff : soldier, spy, and translator
By: Jean Findlay
Edition: First American edition.
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 351
ISBN-13: 9780374119270
Subjects: Catholics; Gay men; World War, 1914-1918; British Espionage; English Authors; Translators; Soldiers; Spies; Biography; History
Description: "The thrilling first-ever biography of Proust translator C.K. Scott Moncrieff, penned by his great-great-niece. 'And suddenly the memory returns. The taste was that of the little crumb of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray (because on those mornings I did not go out before church-time), when I went to say good day to her in her bedroom, my aunt Léonie used to give me.' With these words, Marcel Proust's narrator is plunged back into the past. Since 1922, English-language readers have been able to take this leap with him thanks to translator C.K. Scott Moncrieff, who wrestled with Proust's seven-volume masterpiece--published as Remembrance of Things Past--until his death in 1930. While Scott Moncrieff's work has shaped our understanding of one of the finest novels of the twentieth century, he has remained hidden behind the genius of the man whose reputation he helped build. Now, in this biography--the first ever of the celebrated translator--Scott Moncrieff's great-great-niece, Jean Findlay, reveals a fascinating, tangled life. Catholic and homosexual; a partygoer who was lonely deep down; secretly a spy in Mussolini's Italy and publicly a debonair man of letters; a war hero described as 'offensively brave,' whose letters from the front are remarkably cheerful--Scott Moncrieff was a man of his moment, thriving on paradoxes and extremes. In Chasing Lost Time, Findlay gives us a vibrant, moving portrait of the brilliant Scott Moncrieff, and of the era--changing fast and forever--in which he shone"--
Notes: "Originally published in 2014 by Chatto & Windus in Great Britain"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Bloodline; title: Childhood; title: Winchester, 1903-1905; title: First Love Affairs, 1905-1908; title: To Edinburgh; title: Lightness in War, 1914; title: God in the Trenches, 1915-16; title: Critic at War; title: Wounded Out, 1917-18; title: In Love with Wilfred Owen; title: Sniping in the Literary World; title: Translating Proust; title: Writer/Spy in Fascist Italy; title: Discovering Pirandello; title: 1927-1928 : A Death and Eviction; title: Rome, 1928-1930; title: Epilogue; title: Family Postscript; title: List of published works by Charles Scott Moncrieff.