HEADLINER
Literature and Fiction
A PROUSTOGRAPHE
In celebration of the 150th anniversary of Marcel Proust’s birth (2021) and the centenary of his death (2022), Denoël editions have taken a fresh look at the famous French writer and dedicating a unique book to him: a visual encyclopedia made up entirely of infographics.
"What work could, before this one, and in so few words, teach its readers (...) in which languages In Search for Lost Time is translated, what was in Proust's library, what drugs he took, how many tens of thousands of letters he sent, and the true story of the madeleine?" is written on the back cover of the Proustographe which makes you want to discover this beautiful and very original book made up entirely of infographics.
The book looks back at the writer's life, his work on In Search of Lost Time, his characters, his style and his descendants. This work is drawn from the database of the Proustonomics website (https://proustonomics.com/) run by journalist and author Nicolas Ragonneau, who enriched it with lexicographic, stylistic, bibliographical and biographical studies of all kinds. "Thanks to data visualization, this book provides answers at a glance to questions that usually require heavy documentation," explains its editor Dorothée Cunéo who is also the head of Denoël editions.
"Small true facts can be savored like the little madeleine (...). The hundreds of infographics from Proustian big data navigate the reader from the useful to the futile by answering all the questions never asked – which should have been," writes Camille Laurens in Le Monde des Livres.
Both the press and the public were quickly seduced by this book. It has sold 3,500 copies in France. Foreign rights have been sold in Italy, Spain, Korea and Taiwan.
"It is a unique work that manages to stand out in a period where many publications are being dedicated to Marcel Proust. Not only is it innovative, playful and erudite at the same time, but also it addresses both the finest connoisseurs of Proust who want to know everything about this author and his works in all their forms, as well as readers who are not familiar with him and who wish to take their first steps into his universe," says Margherita Giubelli Bortolami, Head of Rights at Denoël.
The beauty of the edition also helped to convinced foreign publishers. It was printed in two spot colors, gold and black, a format borrowed from Art Deco. "This is a true visual encyclopedia that we are proud to have published and represent," says Dorothée Cunéo.
Katja Petrovic
February 2022
In celebration of the 150th anniversary of Marcel Proust’s birth (2021) and the centenary of his death (2022), Denoël editions have taken a fresh look at the famous French writer and dedicating a unique book to him: a visual encyclopedia made up entirely of infographics.
"What work could, before this one, and in so few words, teach its readers (...) in which languages In Search for Lost Time is translated, what was in Proust's library, what drugs he took, how many tens of thousands of letters he sent, and the true story of the madeleine?" is written on the back cover of the Proustographe which makes you want to discover this beautiful and very original book made up entirely of infographics.
The book looks back at the writer's life, his work on In Search of Lost Time, his characters, his style and his descendants. This work is drawn from the database of the Proustonomics website (https://proustonomics.com/) run by journalist and author Nicolas Ragonneau, who enriched it with lexicographic, stylistic, bibliographical and biographical studies of all kinds. "Thanks to data visualization, this book provides answers at a glance to questions that usually require heavy documentation," explains its editor Dorothée Cunéo who is also the head of Denoël editions.
"Small true facts can be savored like the little madeleine (...). The hundreds of infographics from Proustian big data navigate the reader from the useful to the futile by answering all the questions never asked – which should have been," writes Camille Laurens in Le Monde des Livres.
Both the press and the public were quickly seduced by this book. It has sold 3,500 copies in France. Foreign rights have been sold in Italy, Spain, Korea and Taiwan.
"It is a unique work that manages to stand out in a period where many publications are being dedicated to Marcel Proust. Not only is it innovative, playful and erudite at the same time, but also it addresses both the finest connoisseurs of Proust who want to know everything about this author and his works in all their forms, as well as readers who are not familiar with him and who wish to take their first steps into his universe," says Margherita Giubelli Bortolami, Head of Rights at Denoël.
"It is a unique work that manages to stand out in a period where many publications are being dedicated to Marcel Proust. Not only is it innovative, playful and erudite at the same time, but also it addresses both the finest connoisseurs of Proust who want to know everything about this author and his works in all their forms, as well as readers who are not familiar with him and who wish to take their first steps into his universe," says Margherita Giubelli Bortolami, Head of Rights at Denoël.
The beauty of the edition also helped to convinced foreign publishers. It was printed in two spot colors, gold and black, a format borrowed from Art Deco. "This is a true visual encyclopedia that we are proud to have published and represent," says Dorothée Cunéo.
Katja Petrovic
February 2022
February 2022