Proust spent summers in Normandy in a town he called "Balbec" but he really stayed in Trouville or Cabourg. Like many writers, Proust kept the names of big cities like Paris or Venice in his novel, but he changed the names of smaller towns like Cabourg to imagined names. The same with Combray. The imagined places become as real to us as Proust's Paris. Here is a lovely picture of Cabourg, and you can almost see Proust strolling on the boardwalk before luncheon is served in the dining room. I don't see the young ladies on their bicycles, do you? Proust loved them all. Such a lovely image.
The Beach at Cabourg
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1 comment:
:) I can see the man strolling with their canes and top hats and the women with their long skirts up and down the boardwalks. Lovely!
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