The Captive

Andrew Rothwell is Emeritus Professor of French and Translation Studies at Swansea University. His translations from the French include poetry by Bernard Noel, Jean-Michel Maulpoix, and Jacques Dupin, novels by Bruno Dumont, and essays by Francis Jacques and Jacques Derrida. He has previously translated two novels by Emile Zola for Oxford World's Classics, Therese Raquin and The Bright Side of Life (La Joie de vivre).


Elisabeth Ladenson teaches at Columbia University. She is the author of Proust's Lesbianism and Dirt for Art's Sake: Books on Trial from Madame Bovary to Lolita.

Adam Watt is Professor of French & Comparative Literature at the University of Exeter. His books include Reading in Proust's A la recherche: le delire de la lecture (2009), The Cambridge Introduction to Marcel Proust (2011), a critical biography of Proust (2013); and, as editor, Marcel Proust in Context (2013) and The Cambridge History of the Novel in French (2021). His edition of Alain-Fournier's The Lost Domain (Le Grand Meaulnes) appeared in 2025.

Adam Watt is Professor of French & Comparative Literature at the University of Exeter, where he is Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. His books include Reading in Proust's A la recherche: le delire de la lecture (2009), The Cambridge Introduction to Marcel Proust (2011), a critical biography of Proust (2013); and, as editor, Marcel Proust in Context (2013) and The Cambridge History of the Novel in French (2021). His edition of Alain-Fournier's The Lost Domain (Le Grand Meaulnes) appeared in 2025.

Brian Nelson is an Emeritus Professor at Monash University and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. His publications include Zola: A Very Short Introduction, The Cambridge Introduction to French Literature, The Cambridge Companion to Zola, Zola and the Bourgeoisie, and translations of Zola's The Assommoir, His Excellency Eugene Rougon, Earth (with Julie Rose), The Fortune of the Rougons, The Belly of Paris, The Kill, Pot Luck and The Ladies' Paradise. He has also translated The Swann Way by Marcel Proust. He was awarded the New South Wales Premier's Prize for Translation in 2015.