The Memoirs of Ernest A. Forssgren Prout′s Swedish Valet: Proust's Swedish Valet - Hardcover

Carter, William C.; Forssgren, Ernest

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 030011463X ISBN 13: 9780300114638

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2006

This original analysis of the workings of Soviet state security organs under Lenin and Stalin addresses a series of questions that have long resisted satisfactory answers. Why did political repression affect so many people, most of them ordinary citizens? Why did repression come in waves or cycles? Why were economic and petty crimes regarded as political crimes? What was the reason for relying on extra-judicial tribunals? And what motivated the extreme harshness of punishments, including the widespread use of the death penalty? Through an approach that synthesizes history and economics, Paul Gregory develops systematic explanations for the way terror was applied, how terror agents were recruited, how they carried out their jobs, and how they were motivated. The book draws on extensive, recently opened archives of the Gulag administration, the Politburo, and state security agencies themselves to illuminate in new ways terror and repression in the Soviet Union as well as dictatorships in other times and places.

Review:

"To have this memoir and the ancillary materials made available is important for Proust scholarship, and of considerable interest for a general public endlessly fascinated by Proust. It should also attract those interested in American immigrant history and sociology, and those who enjoy variations of the 'Upstairs-Downstairs' theme."--Katherine Kolb, Southeastern Louisiana University

--Katherine Kolb

Synopsis:

The memoirs of Ernest A Forssgren, the young Swede who served as Marcel Proust's last valet, have never before been published in full. This book presents the complete text (which was written in English), with an introduction and annotations by the distinguished Proust scholar William C Carter. The memoirs, along with other previously unknown documents relating to the Proust household and to Forssgren, shed new light on key periods in Proust's life and greatly augment what is known about Forssgren and his relationship with Proust. The publication of "The Memoirs of Ernest A Forssgren, Marcel Proust's Swedish Valet" constitutes an important contribution to Proust scholarship.

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 030011463X
• ISBN 13: 9780300114638
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 192