My Moors. My clocktowers. Bells and hammers. Cambrai and Venice. And George Sand.
Of all the authors Marcel Proust could have chosen to use in the pivotal scene in Combray, I love that he chose George Sand with her nom de plume. And of all the books he could have chosen, I love that he chose the packet of four.
We know his mother reads him François le Champi. And this makes sense- for reasons having to do with the subtext of a young boy in love with his mother, named Madeleine. Many have written on the subject.
I for one am fascinated by the fact that he includes the title Les Maitres Sonneurs. Translated as Bagpipers, but literally the Bell Ringers. Coincidence? I can’t imagine it is, if the quartet of Martin and Martine and the two Moors on the Torre del’Orologgio are bellstrikers, right? Something to consider.
