Dreams Of My Russian Summers

For Marianne Véron and Herbert Lottman

For Laura and Thierry de Montalembert

For Jean- Christophe

… it was with a childish pleasure and a profound emotion that, being unable to mention the names of so many others who must have acted similarly and thanks to whom France has survived, I gave the real names here…

– Marcel Proust, Le Temps retrouvé

Does the Siberian ask heaven for olive trees, or the Provençal for cranberries?

– Joseph de Maistre, Les Soirées de St. Petersbourg

I questioned the Russian about his method of work and was astonished that he did not make his translations himself, for he spoke a very pure French, with just a hint of hesitation, on account of the subtlety of his thought.

He confessed to me that the Académie and its dictionary froze him.

– Alphonse Daudet, Trente ans de Paris