Marcel PROUST imagines his mother near his bed.

 Marcel Proust (1871.1922)

Autograph letter signed to Georges de Lauris.

One page in-12°. Slnd [mid-December 1908]

Kolb, volume VIII, page 320

« … Mom would come by my bed…”

Proust asks his friend for advice on the article he wishes to devote to Sainte Beuve, while imagining a scene where his mother would come to listen to him near his bed.

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“Dear Georges, Can I ask you for some advice? I'm going to write something about Ste Beuve . I sort of have two articles built in my mind (journal article). One is an article in classic form, Taine's essay less well. The other would begin with the story of a morning, Mom would come near my bed and I would tell her about an article that I want to write about Ste Beuve [his essay Against Sainte-Beuve]. And I would expand on it. What do you find best? Kind regards, Marcel. »

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Against Sainte-Beuve, a collection of criticism was published posthumously in 1954.