M. Proust: the triumph of memory
M. Proust, on stage at the Steppenwolf, is the monologue between Celeste Albaret (played by Mary Beth Peil) and an invisible and irrelevent visitor inquiring about Marcel Proust’s life. During Proust’s 8 most prolific, and final, years Celeste was his housekeeper. She earned his respect and trust and became a confindante. “I was like his mother and his daughter”, proclaims Celeste’s character.
For years after Proust’s death Celeste honored her promise to him to be discrete and not divulge details of his life. But near the end of her life she published Monsieur Proust, trying to set the record straight about the literary giant. It was her book that Mary Zimmerman used as the background for this powerful play.
This was a play about memory.
First it was Ms. Peil’s impeccable memory in reciting her role for 90 minutes. Her performance was a tour-de-force. The single actor on the stage, Ms. Peil gave flesh to the different individuals Celeste was talking about.
Second it was Celeste’s memories at the very center of the play. Celeste wrote about her 8 years with Proust during the author’s most productive phase, both in quality and in quantity. The volume of information that Celeste received from Proust was enormous and she preserved him and his life in her memory.
Third, it was Proust’s memories at the center of Celeste’s remembrances. Memories extended telescopically from Ms. Peil to Celeste to Proust to his life. To find his humanity he had to dive to the darker corners of his psyche and face the landscape. He emerged wounded but strong enough to write about his battle.
Near the end of the play Celeste recounts Proust’s death and his resurrection: a few months after he died his book was published. It was memory, again, that effected the resurrection of Proust. And carrying forward through time it was Celeste’s memory that amplified the resurrection. During the play Ms. Peil celebrated that dual resurrection through her own memory.
May in memory we find our immortality or, at least, some illusion thereof. Amen.
