Illiers-Combray Explained

Illiers-Combray
Commune Status:Commune
Image Coat Of Arms:Blason ville fr Illiers-Combray (Eure-et-Loir).svg
Arrondissement:Chartres
Canton:Illiers-Combray
Insee:28196
Postal Code:28120
Mayor:Bernard Puyenchet[1]
Term:2020 - 2026
Intercommunality:Entre Beauce et Perche
Coordinates:48.3011°N 1.2483°W
Elevation M:162
Elevation Min M:144
Elevation Max M:204
Area Km2:33.60

Illiers-Combray (in French pronounced as /ilje kɔ̃bʁɛ/) is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in north central France.

Literature

Combray was the writer Marcel Proust's name for the village of Illiers (near the Cathedral town of Chartres), vividly depicted by him in the opening chapters of his vast semi-autobiographical novel In Search of Lost Time.

The home of Proust's "Aunt Léonie" in the heart of the village, where he spent much of his childhood, has been transformed into a museum to the writer's memory. It provides visitors with a delightful view of 19th-century provincial life as well as of the many Proustian mementos on display.

It should be added that Proust scholars have recently claimed his descriptions of "Combray" owe as much to the author's stays in his uncle's home in Auteuil, near Paris, as to Illiers-Combray.

As a tribute to Proust's literary masterpiece, the people of Illiers decided, in 1971, to change the town's name to Illiers-Combray, on the occasion of the centenary of the author's birth.[2]

Twinning

The village is twinned with Coniston, Cumbria, the home of John Ruskin.[3] Ruskin's work was a source of inspiration to Proust.

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Répertoire national des élus: les maires. data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022. fr.
  2. News: Illiers-Combray à la recherche d'un tourisme proustien . La Croix . 19 December 2020 . 2018 . "Voilà 47 ans que la ville, qui s'appelait simplement Illiers, a adopté le nom fictif de «Combray» pour célébrer le centenaire de la naissance de l'auteur.".
  3. News: Coniston toasts its twin towns . Addison . Mike . . 5 June 2017 . 2014.