Illiers-Combray celebrates two major birthdays around Marcel Proust on July 9-10 and 11

From July 9 to 11, 2021, Illiers-Combray (Eure-et-Loir) will celebrate both the 50th anniversary of the name of Illiers-Combray and the 150th anniversary of the birth of Marcel Proust.

Festivities that are part of the cultural event “Illiers-Trait d’union Combray”.

An extremely varied program

The municipality and its partners have prepared a varied program throughout the weekend: farmer and craft market, parade of vintage cars from the 70s throughout the city, theater play Une Chekhov's marriage proposal, festive evening with country meal and ball, fireworks, conferences, symposium and round tables, book fair in the presence of around fifty authors.

All the three-day program

► FRIDAY JULY 9

■ 9:00 a.m.: Colloquium “Proust and childhood” led by Mireille Naturel and Thanh-Van Ton That. It brings together Proust specialists from different countries and questions the representation of childhood in the writer's work, through his indefinite age, his speeches, his cruelty, his relationship with writing. Dagmar Wieser, Kirsten van Hagen, Mireille Naturel and Cynthia Gamble will talk about Freud, Anna de Noailles, John Ruskin and childhood reading. At the Jules-Amiot room, 13 Rue Philebert.

■ 6:00 p.m.: First broadcast of the documentary-fiction A Combray le parle comme à Illiers, produced by the middle school classes of La Vivonne school under the direction of the director, Mohic Lavergne. By invitation. Three broadcasts on Friday 9 and Saturday 10 July. Salle Georges-Billebault – 4/6 Avenue Foch.

For several years now, the children of Illiers, their families and their teachers have become, through the theater, ambassadors-translators of the images of Proust and of the various places or characters evoked by him in Combray. This year, due to the health crisis, you are going to discover a film which evokes through silhouettes and in front of models the language of our past, our speech, funny, tasty, full of common sense, the true and old original language evoked by Proust throughout his work.

This project was completed thanks to the talent of the children, the tenacity of the teachers, the help of the precious volunteers, amateur actors, sets and costumes, and the professionalism of Mike Baudoncq.

► SATURDAYJULY

■ 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Farmer's and Artisanal Market organized in partnership with the Panier Beauceron. Local producers, charcuterie, honey, jewellery, lace, horticulture… Place Maunoury and Place de l’Eglise.

■ 9.30 am: Parade of vintage cars in the city and exhibition from 10.30 am. Place Maunoury

■ 11:45 a.m.: Tribute to René Compère (Mayor of Illiers then Illiers-Combray in 1971) and Philibert-Louis Larcher (President of the Society of Friends of Marcel Proust in 1971) followed by an outdoor aperitif accompanied by Proust readings by actress Alix Bénézech.

■ 2:00 p.m.: Second broadcast of the documentary-fiction A Combray le parle comme à Illiers, produced by the middle school classes of La Vivonne school under the direction of the director, Mohic Lavergne. Free – By reservation: culture@illiers-combray.com. Salle Georges Billebault – 4/6 avenue Foch.

■ 2.30 p.m.: Inauguration of Marcel Proust’s Promenade au Combray by the Federation of Hunters of Eure-et-Loir. Large footbridge of La Peupleraie – Rue de Tansonville.

■ 3:15 p.m.: Lecture by Jean-Yves Tadié France and the Proust family in 1871. Free – By reservation: contact@amisdeproust.fr or 02.37.24.30.97. Salle Georges Billebault – 4/6 Avenue Foch.

■ 3:30 p.m.: Open-air theater play A marriage proposal by Anton Tchekov, Free – Open to all. La Peupleraie – Rue Rebours-Panny. A comedy in one act around the (im)possibility of linking a union between two neighboring families entangled in their differences. Rivalry, jealousy, ownership, diplomacy, necessity… Not to be missed. Created by the Center d'Art René Lozac'h. Director: M-M Lozac'h. Cast: Idriss, Mélanie Brandel and Sebastien Pelletier Bagreaux

■ 4.30 p.m.: Third broadcast of the documentary-fiction A Combray le parle comme à Illiers, produced by the Middle School classes at La Vivonne school under the direction of the director, Mohic Lavergne. Free – By reservation: contact@amisdeproust.fr or 0237243097. Salle Georges-Billebault – 4/6 avenue Foch.

■ 4.30 p.m.: Musical tea room hosted by the “Le Jazz de Combray” quartet from the municipal music school. Free – Open to all – Paid drinks. La Peupleraie – Rue Rebours-Panny.

■ 5:30 p.m. Presentation of the book Proust and Cabourg by the author, Jean-Paul Henriet (Éditions Gallimard). Free – By reservation: mediatheque.illiers@wanadoo.fr on 0237241785 Médiathèque de Combray, 6 Avenue des Gloriettes.

The story of the meeting between a city born on a fine sand dune, which has become a seaside resort with incomparable charm, and a young boy who came to breathe the sea air there to treat his asthma, told by a Cabourgeois, Proustian heart for thirty years. In Cabourg, Marcel Proust will find the most beautiful inspirations to create the masterpiece of literature that is In Search of Lost Time. Discoveries in unpublished photos of the Grand Hotel, the casino but also opulent villas, it is to a real investigation that Jean-Paul Henriet invites us in the footsteps of the novelist in Normandy, whose letters, abundantly quoted, restore to us a world pre-war period with infinite charm. In partnership with the Department of Calvados and the Normandy Region.

■ 7:30 p.m.: Festive evening, country meal, grilled pig organized by the festival committee. Espace Florent d'Illiers-Combray. Paying – €15 – Tickets on sale at the Tabac-presse de l’Europe, at the Rapid Market and at the Tourist Office. Ball from the 70s hosted by “Pascal Deschamps and his orchestra”. Espace Florent d'Illiers - Rue Folie-Cotton.

■ 00:00: fireworks

► SUNDAY JULY 11

■ Second edition of the Illiers-Combray book fair under the presidency of Ya Ding, writer and translator who received the Asia Prize in 1988 for the book Le Sorgho Rouge.

■ From 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.: Meeting with more than fifty authors of novels, essays, comic strips… Several round tables around the books presented, in the presence of the authors.

■ 10.15 a.m.: Inauguration of the Book Fair by Bernard Puyenchet, Mayor of Illiers-Combray, Mr. Ya Ding and guest of honor François Bon, writer, playwright and explorer of new literary forms.

■ 11 a.m.: Round table around “Maurice Carême, the poet of childhood” led by François-Xavier Lavenne and Mireille Naturel.

■ 11:20 a.m.: Interview with Serge Korber, author of "Jean-Louis Trintignant: dialogue between friends" led by director Christophe David.■ 11:50 a.m.: Round table on the theme "Around music" In the presence of Jérôme Bastianelli, Evelyne Bloch-Dano and Régis Penet, hosted by director Christophe David.

■ 2:30 p.m.: Round table in the presence of François Bon led by Mireille Naturel and Isabelle Dumas.

■ 3:00 p.m.: Public reading of La Chambre de Liège by Jean-Claude Brisville by the Compagnie Alfred et Jacques, “During these years, his bedroom was his whole theater, and also a bit part of mine. " Everything is here. These are the terms that Céleste Albaret uses to evoke the place where Marcel Proust secluded himself for the last eight years of his life in order to finalize the writing of his work.

■ 4:00 p.m.: Round table on the theme “Around the thriller novel” in the presence of Eric Mercier, Dominique Maisons and Caroline Dorka-Fenech, led by the director Christophe David.

■ 4:30 p.m.: Round table on the theme “What is a writing residency” led by Valéria Gaillard and Mireille Naturel.

■ 4:30 p.m. Round table on the theme “What is a writing residency” led by Valéria Gaillard and Mireille Naturel.

■ 5:30 p.m.: Closing of the show and musical tea room

■ 6.30 p.m.: discovery of the Château de Swann.

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