Robert Dreyfus

| birth_date = 13 March 1873 | birth_place = Paris 9, France | death_date = 17 June 1939 | death_place = Paris 9, France | occupation = Writer-intellectual
Journalist
Wartime government official with possible links to the intelligence services | party = | known_for = his friendship with and endless loyalty to Marcel Proust | alma_mater = | father = | mother = | spouse = | children = }}

Robert Dreyfus (13 March 1873 - 17 June 1939) was a French writer and journalist who wrote for Le Figaro. During World War I, between January 1916 and February 1919, he was employed in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, working in the ministry's "diplomatic information service" where he compiled a valuable body of documentation concerning the workings of the Austro-Hungarian empire. His contributions earned him a knighthood in 1920.

A century later, however, it is not for his incisive journalism, nor for his achievements in one of the more self-effacing corners of the Foreign Ministry that he is remembered, but for his loyalty to his childhood playmate and school near-contemporary, Marcel Proust. They began their correspondence while still at school, since poor health kept Proust away from the classroom for much of the time. The correspondence continued at least till 1920 and the friendship was lifelong. Dreyfus, confident that his friend's burgeoning literary reputation would endure, carefully preserved the letters he received from the great man. After Proust died his reputation in literary circles and more general continued to grow, and Dreyfus produced a book of his own, "Souvenirs sur Marcel Proust, accompagné de lettres inédites", quoting extensively from hitherto unpublished letters in his possession. In France, and among francophone scholars round the world, these published "memories" still serve as a valuable and oft cited source of information. Provided by Wikipedia