Proust's Overcoat: The True Story of One Man's Passion for All…

This was a first reads book.

I thought this book was quite good actually, but so short it couldn't go in depth enough to actually learn much. And I thought Guerin (the guy stalking down Proust's possessions) was a wildly odd and funny guy and I would have enjoyed finding out more about him. The book itself was short and really only half was about Guerin, the other half was about Proust and his brother. I liked what I read but I sort of thought why bother doing it only half way?

I completely forgot to put how much I loved the cover. It would have made me buy it if I hadn't won it on first reads. It is superfantastic. Maybe I should just frame it and hang it over my bookshelf. ( )

I honestly didn't think I'd enjoy this. I thought it looked like a nice quirky little read and decided it was a good way to kill an hour or so, but it turned out be much more interesting than I anticipated. Though the story of the man who owned Proust's coat is very interesting, it's all the little details of Proust and his family that really drew me in. I think I enjoyed this to the point where I am convinced I may actually attempt to read In Search of Lost Time. Some time this decade... ( )

What a delightful little book, not only for Proustians but for bibliophiles alike. Foschini's reportage of interviews lead to the story of Jacques Guerin, whose interest in Proust grows all the more idolatrous after an illness sees him treated by Proust's brother, Robert. Ensuing, and led by his mother's model of business and collecting--a famous perfume tycoon and entrepreneur--Guerin becomes embroiled in the Proust family drama and rescues many of Proust's letters and papers from a near bonfire after Robert's death.

This is a book about Proust, but it's also about the legacy of a writer, preserving his work, and trying to see that his reputation is intact for the generations to come. As much as the memoir is about collecting--it begins with a wonderful scene recollected by Foschini in which Proust's famous overcoat is unveiled for her to touch, suggesting that the interest or fervor in preserving and collecting is one that is passed on to others--it is also very much about memory: remembering Proust, remembering his text, and piecing together the puzzle of his manuscripts.

An absolute pleasure, and strongly recommended to those who are fans of the period as we see mentions of, letters to, or fleeting memories of figures as varied as Visconti, Picasso, Violette Leduc, Jean Genet, Jean Cocteau, and Modigliani. A true testament to the power of Proust's message and his legacy, as well as the debt we owe to those of genius to ensure their posthumous work is treated with the care, respect, and love that it deserves. ( )

An inspiring extended long article in book form about how a Parisian Society man a perfumer who runs a successful Perfumers, rescues Marcel Proust possessions for eternity; the struggle to in effect get his possessions and in a sense becoming an Archivist resulting in Marcel Prousts stuff without the famous overcoat becoming a Museum. ( )

In this lovely short book, Foschini chronicles the diligent (and obsessive) commitment of Jacques Guérin to rescue as many of Marcel Proust's belongings as he could from the ravages of time and the destructive maelstrom of Proust's sister-in-law, who sought to obliterate any reminders of her brother-in-law out of a concern for bourgeois respectability and frustration over an unhappy marriage to Proust's brother Robert. Foschini constructs a multi-layered work: introducing Guérin's efforts to use his fortune to save everything he could, from photographs and letters written by and to Proust, to pieces of furniture and Proust's fur-lined overcoat; weaving in excerpts from In Search of Lost Time and episodes from Proust's life; and providing thoughtful passages on the ways in which material possessions embody some of the essence of their former owners.

I particularly appreciated Foschini's ability to evoke the excitement of a collector opening an old hatbox and discovering tangible remnants of Proust's life captures in sketches, letters, notes, and old photographs. Anyone who has had the privilege of touching a manscript and feeling an electric connection with the past, with genius, will recognize those feelings in Foschini's book. Numerous photographs throughout the text provide the reader with tangible hooks into Foschini's story. Recommended for fans of Proust, for people interested in the phenomenon of collecting, and for those who seek to preserve the memory of a loved one in material possessions left behind. ( )