M. Proust was more severe than M. de Caillavet on Anatole France: "He was selfish and supercilious. He had read so much that he had left his heart in other people's books, and all that remained was dryness. One day I asked him how he came to know so much. He said, 'Not by being such a handsome young man as you. I wasn't in demand, and instead of going out I studied and learned'.
Céleste Albaret, Monsieur Proust
anatole-france, dryness, envy, marcel-proust, pedantry, popularity, reading, snobbery