As we know, the driver-mechanic Alfred Agostinelli was one of the inspirers, one of the models of the character of Albertine, the most disturbing of the four young girls in flowers of Balbec. Agostinelli, also ephemeral secretary-typist of Proust, who died tragically at the age of 26 in a plane crash. What is less known is that this son of a Tuscan coachman and a seamstress from Nice made his first appearance in November 1907, on one of the
Figaro
, when the 10th edition of the Motor Show was beating its full at the Grand Palais. The ticket, “Impressions de route en automobile”, is signed by Marcel Proust.
This "
enthusiast of motoring
" relates there from the Normandy coast a motorized excursion through the grove and the hills of Calvados.
Agostinelli is nicknamed the “
nun of speed
”.
The article will be taken up and transposed in the famous scene of the bell towers of Martinville, in
Du cote de chez Swann
.
Proust had just met this Agostinelli, then 19 years old ...
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