Mme Proust and the Kosher Kitchen

W.J. Keith is a retired professor of English at the University of Toronto and author A Sense of Style: Studies in the Art of Fiction in English-Speaking Canada.

I believe this novel to be a major triumph, a landmark in contemporary
Canadian fiction.

Basically, it is the story of three women: Jeanne Proust, historical
mother of Marcel, who is known to have kept a private diary, now lost,
that is imaginatively recreated here; Marie Prévost, a fictional
character who is translating the fictional diary; and Sarah Bensimon,
equally fictional but, like Mme. Proust, of Jewish ancestry, whose
parents died in Auschwitz, and with whose homosexual son, Maxime, Marie
falls desperately, and of course futilely, in love. The action of the
novel moves between Paris, Toronto, and Montreal, and stretches in time
from the 1890s to the early 21st century.

The interrelations between these three women are intricate, and Kate
Taylor rings all the imaginable changes: Mme. Proust’s troubled love
for her son, and Sarah’s love for hers; the shared interest in
translation between Marie and Mme. Proust (who historically rendered
Ruskin into simple French to assist Marcel’s more polished version),
the Catholic–Jewish connection in the Proust family and its shadow in
the relationship between Marie and Maxime.

Academics will label the novel “postmodern” because of the
fragmentation of its plot in space and time, its blurring of narrative
devices (Sarah’s story is told in the third person, Marie’s in the
first, Mme. Proust’s in diary form). But all this detracts seriously
from the deeply traditional aspects of Taylor’s art: her meticulous
recreation of period and manners, her realistic characterization, and
what can only be described as her stylistic decorum.

The more one knows about Proust’s life and work the better, but a
detailed familiarity is not essential. This is a novel that appeals to
both the emotions and the intellect, and is especially rewarding to
those who appreciate sensitively written prose. It explores the
complexities of human relationships in an admirably mature manner, and
approaches painful subjects with understanding and compassion. The
confidence and poise of this novel (Taylor’s first—or at least
first-published) are astonishing.