French Literature Reviews - 2026

É. Sauthier. Proust sous les tropiques. Diffusion, réceptions, appropriations et traduction de Marcel Proust au Brésil (1913-1960)
Comparative and World Literature

Étienne Sauthier

Proust in the Tropics

Dissemination, Reception, Appropriation, and Translation of Marcel Proust in Brazil (1913–1960)

Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, 2020

362 p. — 26€ — ISBN-10 2757432869 — EAN13 9782757432860

“Each reader is, while reading, the reader of their own self.” What if this observation by Marcel Proust could also apply to the collective reader represented by the receiving culture within the framework of a literary transfer?

Observing the dissemination, reception, and translation of Proust's work in Brazil offers insight into the cultural transformations the country underwent during the first half of the 20th century. We discover that this imported work was read in connection with the nation's diverse cultural spheres, revealing how In Search of Lost Time became a literary classic within these various Brazils.

By tracing this literary circulation, we can gauge the relationship between the Brazilian elites and the phantom interlocutors that France and its cultural life represented during this period.

This circulation of Proust acts as a revealing lens, providing an X-ray of Brazilian intellectual circles in the early 20th century.

The study of literary transfer explores how texts circulate across borders and are reinterpreted by different linguistic and cultural communities. In the early twentieth century, the prestige of French literature often served as a primary reference point for intellectual elites in Latin America, who engaged with European works to define their own national identities.

This analysis focuses on the evolving relationship between Brazilian intellectual circles and French cultural life during the first half of the twentieth century. By tracing the dissemination, reception, and translation of In Search of Lost Time in Brazil, the work examines how the text was read in connection with the nation's diverse cultural spheres. Readers interested in the history of literary reception and the dynamics of cross-cultural exchange may find this examination of the Brazilian intellectual landscape during this period relevant.