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Zusatztext "It's exquisite! delicate! fascinating. I put PROUST'S OVERCOAT on the same shelf as Serena Vitale's PUSHKIN'S BUTTON and Umberto Eco's FOUCAULT'S PENDULUM." Informationen zum Autor Lorenza Foschini is an Italian journalist! writer! and television news anchorwoman on RAI! the state-owned Italian radio and television network. As a Vatican correspon-dent! she traveled around the world! covering the journeys of Pope John Paul II. She is the author of Investigation at Millennium's End ! which won the Prix Scanno! and has translated Return to Guermantes ! a collection of previously unpublished Proustian texts! from French into Italian. Born in Naples! she lives in Rome. Klappentext Jacques Guérin was a prominent businessman at the head of his family's successful perfume company! but his real passion was for rare books and literary manuscripts. From the time he was a young man! he frequented the antiquarian bookshops of Paris in search of lost! forgotten treasures. The ultimate prize? Anything from the hands of Marcel Proust. Guérin identified with Proust more deeply than with any other writer! and when illness brought him by chance under the care of Marcel's brother! Dr. Robert Proust! he saw it as a remarkable opportunity. Shamed by Marcel's extravagant writings! embarrassed by his homosexuality! and offended by his disregard for bourgeois respectability! his family had begun to deliberately destroy and sell their inheritance of his notebooks! letters! manuscripts! furni-ture! and personal effects. Horrified by the destruction! and consumed with desire! Guérin ingratiated himself with Marcel's heirs! placating them with cash and kindness in exchange for the writer's priceless! rare material remains. After years of relentless persuasion! Guérin was at last rewarded with a highly personal prize! one he had never dreamed of possessing! a relic he treasured to the end of his long life: Proust's overcoat. Proust's Overcoat introduces a cast of intriguing and unforgettable characters! each inspired and tormented by Marcel! his writing! and his orphaned objects. Together they reveal a curious and compelling tale of lost and found! of common things and uncommon desires. Zusammenfassung “A rare and wonderfully written book of literary detection that is heartbreaking as well as thrilling.” —Michael Ondaatje! author of The English Patient In the tradition of Simon Winchester’s The Professor and the Madman comes Proust’s Overcoat by Lorenza Foschini—the charming! endlessly intriguing story of a collector’s obsessive search for the personal effects of legendary author Marcel Proust. This fascinating true story introduces readers to a truly delightful character— Jacques Guérin! owner of a perfume company in France—and enthralls them with his relentless lifelong pursuit of all things Proustian! even the author’s most mundane possessions. ...
