James Alexander Grieve (14 November 1934 – 15 January 2020) was an Australian translator of French literature and an author. His translations have included scientific works, books for children and two volumes of

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust ( ; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist who wrote the novel (in French – translated in English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'' and more r ...

's ''À la recherche du temps perdu'' (ANU, 1982 and Penguin, London, 2002). Grieve's translated second part of Proust's 7-part ''Remembrance of Things Past'' is the first completely new English translation since the 1920s. There were six other translators working on the other parts, for this project by Penguin. Grieve's Penguin translation received positive review from

Alain de Botton Alain de Botton (; born 20 December 1969) is a Swiss-born British author and public speaker. His books discuss various contemporary subjects and themes, emphasizing philosophy's relevance to everyday life. He published ''Essays in Love'' (1993) ...

who remarked: "... if one ends up with a favourite f the 7 volumes(mine was James Grieve, who did Volume 2)." Grieve is also the author of the language study text ''Dictionary of Contemporary French Connectors'' (Routledge, London, 1996). Grieve's translations have been illustrated by Petr Herel (Uncollected Works Press) and Phil Day (

Finlay Press Finlay Press is the name of an independent private press founded by Ingeborg Hansen and Phil Day (artist). It began production in Goulburn, NSW, Australia in 1997. In 2001 the press moved to Braidwood, New South Wales, Australia, where it printed it ...

). Grieve is the author of three published novels (in English): * ''A Season of Grannies'' (1987) * ''They're Only Human'' (2001) * ''Something in Common'' (2010) * ''Swann's way'', by

, New York : New York Review Books, 2023, Grieve also developed a text, deriving from his set of fiches correctives, which is now available to download as a PDF, entitled
The One-Stop Fiche-Shop
' and its contents run over 3000 pages. Grieve taught French language and literature at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

. Grieve died after a short illness on 15 January 2020, at the age of 85.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grieve, James 1934 births 2020 deaths Australian translators Australian writers