Newsletter of 30 April 2026

NEWSLETTER OF 30 APRIL 2026

Ladies and Gentlemen, dear members,

I. Meeting with Laurent Mauvignier, Prix Goncourt, at the Maison de Tante Léonie, on Saturday 27 June

On Saturday 27 June, at 3pm, Laurent Mauvignier, Prix Goncourt 2025 for "La Maison vide" (éditions de Minuit), will come to present his work at the Maison de Tante Léonie, at 3pm. A signing session will follow, at 4pm, in the Orangerie.

This invitation is almost self-evident:

- because Marcel Proust remains the most illustrious of the Prix Goncourt laureates, and this symbolic kinship provides a framework that is both fitting and stimulating;
- because the Maison, so central to the title of the book, resonates directly with the Maison de Tante Léonie, a place of origin, memory and transmission;
- because a Proust, admittedly with no direct family connection to the writer, features among the ancestors of Laurent Mauvignier, like a discreet yet striking echo;
- finally, because several readers and critics have likened his writing - and in particular the sweep of his long sentences - to that of Marcel Proust.

In the same spirit, as part of "Les Prix Goncourt chez Tante Léonie", we shall welcome Pierre Lemaître on 12 September.

II. Visit to the exhibition on Mme de Sévigné at the Musée Carnavalet, with the curator - 10 June

Anne-Laure Sol, curator of the exhibition the Musée Carnavalet is devoting to Mme de Sévigné, is offering us a visit in her company, on Wednesday 10 June at 10am.

To register, simply send an email to contact@amisdeproust.

Let us recall that Mme Sol was the curator of the exhibition "Marcel Proust, Un roman parisien", held at the Musée Carnavalet in 2021.

On the subject of this exhibition, the website Proustonomics has just published an interview with Nathalie Freidel, scientific adviser to the exhibition (see below).

III. Proustian news

In publishing news, let us note:

- the publication, on our website, of the programme for the journée des Aubépines, including a presentation of Philippe Cassard's concert and the text of the letters to Anna de Noailles read by Ivan Morane.

- an interview with Thierry Laget, published on the website of the Société des Hôtels Littéraires, on the occasion of the publication of "Proust en soutane" (éditions Fario)

- the publication, on the website Proustonomics, of an interview with Nathalie Freidel, adviser to the exhibition on Mme de Sévigné at the Musée Carnavalet.

- the publication, on the website Fabula, of an article by Aude Leblond, La « double vie » vécue dans les livres : la dimension autobiographique des souvenirs de lecture, in which Proust is extensively quoted.

IV. Results of the 8th Proustian pastiche competition

Here is the list of winners of the 8th edition of our Proustian pastiche competition, announced on 19 April 2026

General category:

First prize: La passion verte de Madame Verdon, by José Puig

Members' prize: La verrière de Saint-Léonce-de-Néaulx, by Louis-Xavier Rueda

Second prize: À la recherche du taon perdu, by Gilles Lucas

"Under 25" category:

First prize and members' prize: Un faux départ, by Adrien Bourget

Second prize: Malheur aux dormeurs, by Alix Orhon

Members of the jury: Jérôme Bastianelli, Élyane Dezon-Jones, Emily Eells, Anne Imbert, Jean de La Rochefoucauld, Alexandra de Léal, Isabelle Serça.

Congratulations to all the winners and warm thanks to all the participants, as well as to the members who took part in the vote.

THE AWARD-WINNING PASTICHES ARE AVAILABLE VIA THIS LINK: /assets/actualites/archive-ancien-site/docspdf-palmarespastiches20252026.pdf

V. Calendar of Proustian events

On Tuesdays, from 5 to 19 May, at 2.30pm, at Boulogne-Billancourt (amphithéâtre Landowski), a series of three lectures on Proust by Catherine Cusset

Saturday 9 May, at the cité de la langue française (Villers-Cotterêts): a lecture by Luc Fraisse, La langue subtile de Proust peut aller jusqu'au franc-parler, followed by a performance by Denis Podalydès, Un humour de Proust

Monday 18 May, at 10am, at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, a lecture by Claire Bustarret, Aborder la matérialité des Cahiers : usages des supports et gestes d'écriture, as part of the seminar Proust. « Papiers. Livres. Archives. Bibliothèques »

Thursday 21 May, at the Hôtel Swann (Paris VIIIe), as part of the "rencontres des amis de Proust": a lecture by Dosithée Yeatman about her grandmother, Madeleine Adam Yeatman (see above)

22 May, 19 June, by video conference, from 3.30pm to 5.30pm, a seminar on editing Proust's correspondence, organised by Françoise Leriche and open to all (link for the video conference)

Saturday 23 May: journée des aubépines at Illiers-Combray: /assets/actualites/archive-ancien-site/docspdf-programmeaub2026.pdf

27 May, at the Hôtel Swann (Paris), a meeting with Jean-Yves and Marc Tadié who co-wrote "Le Sens de la mémoire", reissued by Folio essais.

27 May, at the Café de la Gare (Paris IVe), a performance by Jean-Jacques Vanier, À la recherche de la recherche (ou que le grand Proust me croque)

28 May, at the Hôtel Swann (Paris VIIIe), presentation of the book Cent lettres inédites de Marcel Proust. Correspondance retrouvée 1886-1922, forthcoming from éditions Honoré Champion, edited by Julie André, Sophie Duval and Guillaume Fau

28 May, at Montauban (Ancien Collège, 25 allée de l'Empereur), a lecture by Jean-Paul Briseul, Vermeer et Proust : Le petit pan de mur jaune

29 May: a study day on Pélerinages proustiens organised at the École Normale Supérieure by Christophe Pradeau

Wednesday 10 June, at 10am, visit to the exhibition on Mme de Sévigné at the Musée Carnavalet, with the curator (see above)

17 June, at the Hôtel Swann, presentation of the prix Céleste Albaret

Saturday 20 June: a pianola demonstration at the musée de la musique mécanique at Dollon (Sarthe), organised by Jean-Paul Henriet (registrations open)

until 23 June, at the Hôtel Swann, exhibition "Proust et les femmes de sa vie"

Saturday 27 June, 3pm: meeting at the Maison de Tante Léonie with Laurent Mauvignier, prix Goncourt 2025 (see above)

Saturday 11 July, at 3pm, at the Villa du Temps retrouvé (Cabourg), a lecture by the pianist Jérémie Favreau on the sources of Vinteuil's sonata.

Friday 4 and Saturday 5 September, at Illiers-Combray (domaine de la Citadelle), a literary conference organised under the aegis of the Institut universitaire de France by Luc Fraisse and Olivier Guerrier, Identifier les autres et/ou se faire 'lecteur de soi-même' : Proust et la reconnaissance.

Saturday 12 September, 3pm: meeting at the Maison de Tante Léonie with Pierre Lemaitre, prix Goncourt 2013

And also:

Until 27 September, at Tate Britain (London), an exhibition on James McNeill Whistler

Until 23 August, at the Musée Carnavalet, exhibition on Mme de Sévigné

28 and 29 September, in Barcelona, a conference on Marcel Proust et les langues minoritaires ou minorées, organised by the ARIPIC and the société catalane d'amis de Marcel Proust

As usual, you will find in the previous newsletter (12 April) further information, some of which is still relevant.

Yours sincerely,

Jérôme Bastianelli

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