From the Writers Trail:
16. Alain-Fournier 1886-1914. French novelist, anglophile: a key scene in Le Grand Meaulnes was inspired by a works fete at Sanderson & Sons in Chiswick where in 1905, aged 19, he worked as a translator. This in turn inspired a scene in The Great Gatsby. Letters from his time here appear in Towards the Lost Domain: Letters from London, 1905, edited by WJ Strachan.
Voysey House, Barley Mow Passage, W4 4PN (no access)
Chiswick Timeline: 1902 Voysey House
‘The memorable months he spent perfecting his English in Chiswick…’ – The Economist
Letter in the Times Literary Supplement
Alain-Fournier, The Great Gatsby and a party in Chiswick – The Guardian (via ChiswickW4.com)
Chiswick Timeline – A History in Art & Maps: Voysey House
Towards the Lost Domain – Letters from London 1905
Sanderson set to return to Voysey House in Chiswick – The Chiswick Calendar, March 2024
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1. Towards the Lost Domain: Letters from London 1905 is a translation by WJ Strachan of Fournier’s letters which he wrote home during the time he stayed in Chiswick. We are grateful for the following information sent by Vivienne Cox, one of our readers.
It seemed to be a sort of Edwardian ‘language exchange’ stay. Fournier lodged with the manager of Sanderson’s wallpaper company, at his home in what is now Burlington Road (it was Brunswick Road before the First World War and renamed to sound less German). Fournier wrote pretty much every day and describes Chiswick in some detail. He thought the wide streets were splendid and describes how, as it was summer, the windows were all open and he could hear music (presumably piano playing) issuing from almost every house.
I recall also that he visited Gunnersbury Park, then still owned by the Rothschilds, but perhaps more importantly he describes an evening party which really cannot be regarded as anything other than the template for the party that forms the pivotal event in Le Grand Meaulnes.
2. This 2010 letter in the Times Literary Supplement reveals more:
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Alain-Fournier
Sir, – I was very interested to read J. C.’s musings (NB, October 15), which included an item on the author of Le Grand Meaulnes, Alain-Fournier. As J. C. pointed out, the young Henri Fournier lodged with a family named Nightingale in Chiswick in the summer of 1905. These Nightingales, John James and his wife Annie, were my grandparents. Young Henri wrote many letters home describing his experiences in London, and how he was not much enamoured of English grub. Too polite to mention his hunger to his hosts, with whom he got on very well, he sent home for food parcels. J. C. remarks that “Mrs Nightingale enters literary history for her parsimony”.
Thanks a bunch! I think that’s a bit unfair. I don’t remember a lot about my grandparents, as they died when I was very young, but their generosity and hospitality were widely known. Alain-Fournier was nineteen… .
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