Patrick Roegiers imagines a friendship between Proust and Joyce in 'La nuit du monde'

In his novel 'La nuit du monde', Patrick Roegiers reimagines the 1922 meeting between Marcel Proust and James Joyce, which actually occurred at a dinner hosted by patrons Violet and Sydney Schiff. While historical accounts, such as Richard Davenport-Hines's 'Proust au Majestic', describe the conversation as disappointingly banal—Joyce later told Frank Budgen their exchange consisted only of 'Non'—Roegiers invents a deeper dialogue and friendship between the two literary giants. The novel's ambition, as stated by Roegiers, is to prove that 'fiction triumphs over Time'. Roegiers takes creative liberties, even summoning Shakespeare, Homer, Diderot, Barthes, and Kafka to Proust's funeral. The book was published by Éditions du Seuil.