Octave Gréard, le docteur Proust et M. de Norpois

This text argues that Octave Gréard, vice-rector of the Académie de Paris, is the inspiration for M. de Norpois. Doctor Proust participated with Gréard in commissions set up by the Ministère de l’Instruction publique and which became “la Commission” in À la recherche du temps perdu. It appears that Octave Gréard refused to support Proust’s father during elections to the Académie des sciences morales et politiques. The reason: Mrs. Proust’s Jewishness and her sons’ Dreyfusism were compromising in the midst of the Dreyfus affair.