Alain-Fournier, The Great Gatsby and a party in Chiswick

From the Writers Trail:
G) Alain-Fournier 1886-1914. French novelist, Anglophile: a key scene in Le Grand Meaulnes was inspired by a works fete at Sanderson & Sons in Chiswick where, aged 19, he worked as a translator.
Voysey House, Barley Mow Passage, W4 4PN (no access)
Chiswick Timeline: 1902 Voysey House
‘The memorable months he spent perfecting his English in Chiswick…’ – The Economist
Letter in the Times Literary Supplement
Alain-Fournier, The Great Gatsby and a party in Chiswick – The Guardian (via ChiswickW4.com)
Chiswick Timeline – A History in Art & Maps: Voysey House
Towards the Lost Domain – Letters from London 1905

1. Towards the Lost Domain: Letters from London 1905 is a translation by WJ Strachan of Fournier’s letters which he wrote home during the time he stayed in Chiswick. We are grateful for the following information sent by Vivienne Cox, one of our readers.

It seemed to be a sort of Edwardian ‘language exchange’ stay. Fournier lodged with the manager of Sanderson’s wallpaper company, at his home in what is now Burlington Road (it was Brunswick Road before the First World War and renamed to sound less German). Fournier wrote pretty much every day and describes Chiswick in some detail. He thought the wide streets were splendid and describes how, as it was summer, the windows were all open and he could hear music (presumably piano playing) issuing from almost every house.

I recall also that he visited Gunnersbury Park, then still owned by the Rothschilds, but perhaps more importantly he describes an evening party which really cannot be regarded as anything other than the template for the party that forms the pivotal event in Le Grand Meaulnes.

2. This 2010 letter in the Times Literary Supplement reveals more:

Alain-Fournier