About this Exhibition

Private Proust: Letters and Drawings to Reynaldo Hahn was produced by François Proulx, Lecturer on Comparative Literature at Harvard University and guest curator at Houghton Library. This online exhibition was originally a component of the Proust and the Arts web site, which served as a resource both for students enrolled in "French 165: Marcel Proust" and for guests and attendees of the interdisciplinary conference held at Harvard University April 19-20, 2013.

1. Pleasures and Days (1894-1896)

In a letter from 1894 or 1895, Proust writes, “I’d like to go bid you good night if you hadn’t forbidden it,” a scenario that recalls the famous scene of the mother’s good-night kiss at the beginning of Swann’s Way. He signs, “Your pony, Marcel,” using Hahn’s pet name for him. 
Marcel Proust, Letter to Reynaldo Hahn, [Dec 1894 or 1895?]. b 94M-48 (86), Houghton Library, Harvard University. Gift, Mrs. Bradley Martin, 1994.