
Delhi Proustians – First Meeting With Marcel, Venice
First day, first show. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Very soon, his life will revolve around a single object—a book with 2,058 pages. And if in this world of million distractions he manages to read even five pages…

Delhi Proustians – Finding Marcel, Near Santi Giovanni, Venice
The Italian Proust. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] There he was. All of him. One afternoon The Delhi Walla was browsing at the Libreria Acqua Alta bookstore on Calle Lunga Santa Maria Formosa. The famous shop is near…

Delhi Proustians – First Look, William Carter’s Annotated Edition of Marcel Proust’s 2nd Volume
In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla has seen the cover. And it’s utterly beautiful. I’m talking of the much-awaited annotated English translation of the second volume of À la recherche du…

The Delhi Proustians – 10 July, Hazrat Marcel Proustuddin’s Happy Birthday
Celebrating Marcel Proust. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] 10 July is a special date. It is the Happy Birthday of Marcel Proust, author of the seven-volume French novel À la Recherché du Temps Perdu, known to the English-speaking…

Letter from Paris – The Reluctant Proustian, Marais
Proust’s reader in Proust’s city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] He is a man of another time. On streets, he is shocked to see women with cigarettes. At home, he paints, and plays piano and cello. In drawing…

Letter from Paris – Hazrat Marcel Proustuddin’s Dargah, Père Lachaise Cemetery
The secret origins of Marcel Proust. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] O Sheikh Marcel, bless us so that we all can write like you. The Delhi Walla is in the dargah of Hazrat Marcel Proustuddin in Père Lachaise…

Letter from Venice – Marcel Proust’s Woman, Calle dei Preti
A Proustian in Italy. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She has read the entire Proust, all the seven volumes of À La Recherche Du Temps Perdu. We the English-speakers, of course, know the French novel as In Search…

Letter from Venice – Proust in French, Castello
In search of Marcel. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla is performing a Proustian pilgrimage in Venice, a place that was special to French novelist Marcel Proust. One day I visited Libreria “Acqua Alta” in Castello….

Letter from Venice – Proust on Selfies, Piazza San Marco
In search of Marcel. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is for Marcel Proust In April 2013, The Delhi Walla finished all the seven volumes of Proust’s novel In Search of Lost Time. Immediately afterwards I picked them…

The Delhi Proustians – C.K. Scott Moncrieff, Proust’s High Commissioner
A biography by Jean Findlay. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] There happens to be a very, very long novel. It has seven volumes, 200 characters and 1.2 million words. A Scotsman, who was an extremely sensitive homosexual and…
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