Bryan Alistair Charles
@bryanacharles.bsky.social
Writer in midst of disorienting midlife free fall / Author of a novel, a memoir, and a book about Pavement written for 33 1/3 / Broken Hearts Are Blue guitarist / Amateur Proust scholar bryanalistaircharles.com
Pinned
On Translating Proust and the Art of Not Reading Ahead
Le devoir et la tâche d’un écrivain sont ceux d’un traducteur. –Marcel Proust, Le Temps retrouvé * The duty and the task of a writer are those of a translator. –The Past Recaptured, tra…
lithub.com
I wrote about Proust in translation/the new IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME for @literaryhub.bsky.social.
Featuring a chat with @avecsesdoigts.bsky.social, whose stunning vol. 2 translation, IN THE SHADOW OF GIRLS IN BLOSSOM, is out now!
lithub.com/on-translati...
#proust
#booksky
Featuring a chat with @avecsesdoigts.bsky.social, whose stunning vol. 2 translation, IN THE SHADOW OF GIRLS IN BLOSSOM, is out now!
lithub.com/on-translati...
#proust
#booksky
Last 5 movies watched:
Stolen Kisses, Truffaut, 1968
Antoine et Colette, Truffaut, 1962
The Battle of Algiers, Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966
Vice Squad, Gary Sherman, 1982
After the Hunt, Luca Guadagnino
Currently reading Shirley Jackson's Hangsaman--one of the best books I have read for some time
Stolen Kisses, Truffaut, 1968
Antoine et Colette, Truffaut, 1962
The Battle of Algiers, Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966
Vice Squad, Gary Sherman, 1982
After the Hunt, Luca Guadagnino
Currently reading Shirley Jackson's Hangsaman--one of the best books I have read for some time
December 6, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Last 5 movies watched:
Stolen Kisses, Truffaut, 1968
Antoine et Colette, Truffaut, 1962
The Battle of Algiers, Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966
Vice Squad, Gary Sherman, 1982
After the Hunt, Luca Guadagnino
Currently reading Shirley Jackson's Hangsaman--one of the best books I have read for some time
Stolen Kisses, Truffaut, 1968
Antoine et Colette, Truffaut, 1962
The Battle of Algiers, Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966
Vice Squad, Gary Sherman, 1982
After the Hunt, Luca Guadagnino
Currently reading Shirley Jackson's Hangsaman--one of the best books I have read for some time
Reposted by Bryan Alistair Charles
Oh yeah!! I am beyond thrilled to have the honor of an advance copy of Grace Krilanovich's new novel!!!
November 26, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Oh yeah!! I am beyond thrilled to have the honor of an advance copy of Grace Krilanovich's new novel!!!
!!! Been waiting for this...
November 17, 2025 at 7:05 PM
!!! Been waiting for this...
excited to continue my immersion in the Oxford #Proust. When first reading the Search in 2003 I struggled with this one, after the delicious seaside atmosphere of vol. 2, which I had greedily inhaled. Set the Search aside until 2014, & by then I was ready for Proust's vast social canvas.
November 12, 2025 at 8:55 PM
excited to continue my immersion in the Oxford #Proust. When first reading the Search in 2003 I struggled with this one, after the delicious seaside atmosphere of vol. 2, which I had greedily inhaled. Set the Search aside until 2014, & by then I was ready for Proust's vast social canvas.
At @citylightsbooks.bsky.social. A national treasure. Proust shelf features multiple translations/volumes of The Search plus related works. Including of course the new Oxford Proust, which includes @avecsesdoigts.bsky.social's gorgeous translation of vol. 2.
#Proust
#booksky
#Proustsky
#Proust
#booksky
#Proustsky
November 1, 2025 at 8:39 PM
At @citylightsbooks.bsky.social. A national treasure. Proust shelf features multiple translations/volumes of The Search plus related works. Including of course the new Oxford Proust, which includes @avecsesdoigts.bsky.social's gorgeous translation of vol. 2.
#Proust
#booksky
#Proustsky
#Proust
#booksky
#Proustsky
"The whole spark of writing the book emerged from a joke prompt, one of several I had on a list. 'Ancient Egypt High School,' things like that. I had written 'Slutty Teenage Hobo Vampire Junkies' on the list and a classmate said, 'You should write that.'”
fantastic interview w/ one of my faves...
fantastic interview w/ one of my faves...
New interview in Southwest Review!! I‘m talking Charlie Smith, figure drawing, the new novel and more!
Many thanks to Mike Corrao for the great questions, and B.R. Yeager for editing a killer issue.
Many thanks to Mike Corrao for the great questions, and B.R. Yeager for editing a killer issue.
New from our horror issue:
On the reissue of her cult classic THE ORANGE EATS CREEPS, out now via @twodollarradio.bsky.social, Grace Krilanovich talks w/ Mike Corrao 💥
🎨 @nicolerifkin.bsky.social
southwestreview.com/volume-110-n...
On the reissue of her cult classic THE ORANGE EATS CREEPS, out now via @twodollarradio.bsky.social, Grace Krilanovich talks w/ Mike Corrao 💥
🎨 @nicolerifkin.bsky.social
southwestreview.com/volume-110-n...
October 29, 2025 at 7:26 PM
"The whole spark of writing the book emerged from a joke prompt, one of several I had on a list. 'Ancient Egypt High School,' things like that. I had written 'Slutty Teenage Hobo Vampire Junkies' on the list and a classmate said, 'You should write that.'”
fantastic interview w/ one of my faves...
fantastic interview w/ one of my faves...
Found this lovely copy of THE LEMOINE AFFAIR, comprising Proust's pastiches of Flaubert, Balzac, etc., at Walden Pond Books, Oakland. Translated by the great Charlotte Mandell @avecsesdoigts.bsky.social & published by @melvillehouse.bsky.social
#Proust
#Proustsky
#Proust
#Proustsky
October 28, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Found this lovely copy of THE LEMOINE AFFAIR, comprising Proust's pastiches of Flaubert, Balzac, etc., at Walden Pond Books, Oakland. Translated by the great Charlotte Mandell @avecsesdoigts.bsky.social & published by @melvillehouse.bsky.social
#Proust
#Proustsky
#Proust
#Proustsky
October 27, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Reposted by Bryan Alistair Charles
Alfred Dreyfus; a painting by Maira Kalman
On Devil’s Island | Maira Kalman
Museum Visit: A Maira Kalman painting of Alfred Dreyfus
buff.ly
October 24, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Alfred Dreyfus; a painting by Maira Kalman
Watched the George Lazenby Bond film, which I had never seen. I had low expectations but it was very good! Better than the last couple of Connery movies. Yes Lazenby is rather stiff but once Bond arrives at the evil clinic it really moves. Bonus points for Telly Savalas as Blofeld.
October 24, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Watched the George Lazenby Bond film, which I had never seen. I had low expectations but it was very good! Better than the last couple of Connery movies. Yes Lazenby is rather stiff but once Bond arrives at the evil clinic it really moves. Bonus points for Telly Savalas as Blofeld.
"...nothing can penetrate the armour of my sadness, my conviction that all those pages are execrable, a sort of indigestible nougat which sticks between one's teeth."
Marcel Proust, June 1905, in a letter to a friend who wrote to express admiration for his essay "Sur la lecture"
#Proust
Marcel Proust, June 1905, in a letter to a friend who wrote to express admiration for his essay "Sur la lecture"
#Proust
October 22, 2025 at 4:46 PM
"...nothing can penetrate the armour of my sadness, my conviction that all those pages are execrable, a sort of indigestible nougat which sticks between one's teeth."
Marcel Proust, June 1905, in a letter to a friend who wrote to express admiration for his essay "Sur la lecture"
#Proust
Marcel Proust, June 1905, in a letter to a friend who wrote to express admiration for his essay "Sur la lecture"
#Proust
Saturday night stopped at Moe's 10 minutes till close and found this-- @groveatlantic.bsky.social -- I read the Beckett Trilogy circa 2012 the same way I eventually completed THE SEARCH 2 years later--10 pages every morning first thing--(p.s. love you Barney Rosset & Dick Seaver!)
#proust
#proustsky
#proust
#proustsky
October 13, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Saturday night stopped at Moe's 10 minutes till close and found this-- @groveatlantic.bsky.social -- I read the Beckett Trilogy circa 2012 the same way I eventually completed THE SEARCH 2 years later--10 pages every morning first thing--(p.s. love you Barney Rosset & Dick Seaver!)
#proust
#proustsky
#proust
#proustsky
The art of literary translation is a source of fascination and amazement to me now-- I will never skim over another translator's name again--Charlotte Mandell @avecsesdoigts.bsky.social brought a book I had read 3 times into miraculous new realms on a 4th read.
“Charlotte Mandell had written the English words I was reading, whose power and beauty left me gasping and stunned.”
Bryan Alistair Charles discusses Proust in translation with translator and ALTA member Charlotte Mandell at Lit Hub: @literaryhub.bsky.social
Bryan Alistair Charles discusses Proust in translation with translator and ALTA member Charlotte Mandell at Lit Hub: @literaryhub.bsky.social
On Translating Proust and the Art of Not Reading Ahead
Le devoir et la tâche d’un écrivain sont ceux d’un traducteur. –Marcel Proust, Le Temps retrouvé * The duty and the task of a writer are those of a translator. –The Past Recaptured, tra…
lithub.com
October 10, 2025 at 3:33 PM
The art of literary translation is a source of fascination and amazement to me now-- I will never skim over another translator's name again--Charlotte Mandell @avecsesdoigts.bsky.social brought a book I had read 3 times into miraculous new realms on a 4th read.
Reposted by Bryan Alistair Charles
On Proust and the search for models of translation: “Indeed, it is a bummer to me that Proust occupies such a rarefied, even elitist, realm in the culture—to the extent he is present at all—because he is far more accessible than most people realize, and a lot funnier.”
On Translating Proust and the Art of Not Reading Ahead
Le devoir et la tâche d’un écrivain sont ceux d’un traducteur. –Marcel Proust, Le Temps retrouvé * The duty and the task of a writer are those of a translator. –The Past Recaptured, tra…
buff.ly
October 7, 2025 at 4:30 PM
On Proust and the search for models of translation: “Indeed, it is a bummer to me that Proust occupies such a rarefied, even elitist, realm in the culture—to the extent he is present at all—because he is far more accessible than most people realize, and a lot funnier.”
Reposted by Bryan Alistair Charles
"Je n'ai plus de passion, alors rappelez-vous : il vaut mieux brûler franchement que s'éteindre à petit feu. Paix, amour, compassion. Kurt Cobain."
Sa lettre d’adieu, datée du 5 avril 1994, le jour de son suicide et adressée à un ami imaginaire. Une claque.
➡️ https://l.franceculture.fr/CaC
Sa lettre d’adieu, datée du 5 avril 1994, le jour de son suicide et adressée à un ami imaginaire. Une claque.
➡️ https://l.franceculture.fr/CaC
October 8, 2025 at 5:00 PM
"Je n'ai plus de passion, alors rappelez-vous : il vaut mieux brûler franchement que s'éteindre à petit feu. Paix, amour, compassion. Kurt Cobain."
Sa lettre d’adieu, datée du 5 avril 1994, le jour de son suicide et adressée à un ami imaginaire. Une claque.
➡️ https://l.franceculture.fr/CaC
Sa lettre d’adieu, datée du 5 avril 1994, le jour de son suicide et adressée à un ami imaginaire. Une claque.
➡️ https://l.franceculture.fr/CaC
Yes--and also funny! Proust's range is stunning. Obsessive love, childhood, politics, philosophy, sexuality, food, music, reading...on and on. And the many (many!) characters he introduces all have individual voices. One need not wait for a "let's read Proust together" group-- Dive in!
"Neurotic, sickly, gay, cork-lined room, guy tastes a bit of cake and thinks up an endless book filled with interminable sentences, etc.—" On translating Proust
On Translating Proust and the Art of Not Reading Ahead
Le devoir et la tâche d’un écrivain sont ceux d’un traducteur. –Marcel Proust, Le Temps retrouvé * The duty and the task of a writer are those of a translator. –The Past Recaptured, tra…
lithub.com
October 8, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Yes--and also funny! Proust's range is stunning. Obsessive love, childhood, politics, philosophy, sexuality, food, music, reading...on and on. And the many (many!) characters he introduces all have individual voices. One need not wait for a "let's read Proust together" group-- Dive in!
Cheers! Thank you! And yes, Charlotte's SHADOW slayed me. One of the great reading experiences I've had this year.
A wonderful piece by B.A. Charles, focusing on Charlotte Mandel's new translation of the second volume of 'In Search of Lost Time': 'In the Shadow of Girls in Blossom', which I warmly recommend. I don't think any English translator has brought us closer to Proust's own diction and tone.
On Translating Proust and the Art of Not Reading Ahead
Le devoir et la tâche d’un écrivain sont ceux d’un traducteur. –Marcel Proust, Le Temps retrouvé * The duty and the task of a writer are those of a translator. –The Past Recaptured, tra…
lithub.com
October 8, 2025 at 3:03 AM
Cheers! Thank you! And yes, Charlotte's SHADOW slayed me. One of the great reading experiences I've had this year.
Quel temps fait-il ? 😂
"Around the time I was learning to ask what the weather was like in French, Charlotte Mandell was named a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government."
October 8, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Quel temps fait-il ? 😂
Such a pleasure talking to Charlotte Mandell @avecsesdoigts.bsky.social for this piece! I had just read her IN THE SHADOW OF GIRLS IN BLOSSOM, a book I absolutely cherish, and was frankly in awe. #proust #proustsky
October 8, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Such a pleasure talking to Charlotte Mandell @avecsesdoigts.bsky.social for this piece! I had just read her IN THE SHADOW OF GIRLS IN BLOSSOM, a book I absolutely cherish, and was frankly in awe. #proust #proustsky
I wrote about Proust in translation/the new IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME for @literaryhub.bsky.social.
Featuring a chat with @avecsesdoigts.bsky.social, whose stunning vol. 2 translation, IN THE SHADOW OF GIRLS IN BLOSSOM, is out now!
lithub.com/on-translati...
#proust
#booksky
Featuring a chat with @avecsesdoigts.bsky.social, whose stunning vol. 2 translation, IN THE SHADOW OF GIRLS IN BLOSSOM, is out now!
lithub.com/on-translati...
#proust
#booksky
On Translating Proust and the Art of Not Reading Ahead
Le devoir et la tâche d’un écrivain sont ceux d’un traducteur. –Marcel Proust, Le Temps retrouvé * The duty and the task of a writer are those of a translator. –The Past Recaptured, tra…
lithub.com
October 7, 2025 at 2:42 PM
I wrote about Proust in translation/the new IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME for @literaryhub.bsky.social.
Featuring a chat with @avecsesdoigts.bsky.social, whose stunning vol. 2 translation, IN THE SHADOW OF GIRLS IN BLOSSOM, is out now!
lithub.com/on-translati...
#proust
#booksky
Featuring a chat with @avecsesdoigts.bsky.social, whose stunning vol. 2 translation, IN THE SHADOW OF GIRLS IN BLOSSOM, is out now!
lithub.com/on-translati...
#proust
#booksky
Brief notes on the time I saw R.E.M., 9-9-89, Clarkston MI, one of the relatively few (?) truly euphoric nights of my life.
medium.com/@bryanalista...
medium.com/@bryanalista...
9–9
Notes on R.E.M.
medium.com
October 3, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Brief notes on the time I saw R.E.M., 9-9-89, Clarkston MI, one of the relatively few (?) truly euphoric nights of my life.
medium.com/@bryanalista...
medium.com/@bryanalista...
I made a "website"...trying to gather all (or most of) my writing in one place including things I had almost forgotten about e.g. turn-of-the-century pieces on @mcsweeneys.net -- also essays, critical pieces, a couple of short stories etc.
www.bryanalistaircharles.com
www.bryanalistaircharles.com
Bryan Alistair Charles
www.bryanalistaircharles.com
October 1, 2025 at 4:32 PM
I made a "website"...trying to gather all (or most of) my writing in one place including things I had almost forgotten about e.g. turn-of-the-century pieces on @mcsweeneys.net -- also essays, critical pieces, a couple of short stories etc.
www.bryanalistaircharles.com
www.bryanalistaircharles.com
James Dean with cousin Markie Winslow, Park Cemetery, Fairmount IN, February 1955, photo by Dennis Stock.
Note name Cal on headstone is same as Dean’s character in EAST OF EDEN. Dean himself would be laid to rest in Park Cemetery eight months later.
8 February 1931-
30 September 1955
#filmsky
Note name Cal on headstone is same as Dean’s character in EAST OF EDEN. Dean himself would be laid to rest in Park Cemetery eight months later.
8 February 1931-
30 September 1955
#filmsky
September 30, 2025 at 3:06 PM
James Dean with cousin Markie Winslow, Park Cemetery, Fairmount IN, February 1955, photo by Dennis Stock.
Note name Cal on headstone is same as Dean’s character in EAST OF EDEN. Dean himself would be laid to rest in Park Cemetery eight months later.
8 February 1931-
30 September 1955
#filmsky
Note name Cal on headstone is same as Dean’s character in EAST OF EDEN. Dean himself would be laid to rest in Park Cemetery eight months later.
8 February 1931-
30 September 1955
#filmsky
"Et, comme un aviateur qui a jusque-là péniblement roulé à terre 'décollant' brusquement, je m'élevais lentement vers les hauteurs silencieuses du souvenir."
Proust, Le Temps retrouvé
#proust
#proustsky
Proust, Le Temps retrouvé
#proust
#proustsky
September 29, 2025 at 8:42 PM
"Et, comme un aviateur qui a jusque-là péniblement roulé à terre 'décollant' brusquement, je m'élevais lentement vers les hauteurs silencieuses du souvenir."
Proust, Le Temps retrouvé
#proust
#proustsky
Proust, Le Temps retrouvé
#proust
#proustsky
"...les vrais livres doivent être les enfants non du grand jour et de la causerie mais de l'obscurité et du silence."
Proust, Le Temps retrouvé
...real books should be the offspring not of daylight and casual talk but of darkness and silence.
trans. Mayor/Kilmartin/Enright
#proust
#proustsky
Proust, Le Temps retrouvé
...real books should be the offspring not of daylight and casual talk but of darkness and silence.
trans. Mayor/Kilmartin/Enright
#proust
#proustsky
September 29, 2025 at 8:24 PM
"...les vrais livres doivent être les enfants non du grand jour et de la causerie mais de l'obscurité et du silence."
Proust, Le Temps retrouvé
...real books should be the offspring not of daylight and casual talk but of darkness and silence.
trans. Mayor/Kilmartin/Enright
#proust
#proustsky
Proust, Le Temps retrouvé
...real books should be the offspring not of daylight and casual talk but of darkness and silence.
trans. Mayor/Kilmartin/Enright
#proust
#proustsky