false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178908173m/852284.jpg 852284 10 Marcel Proust documented his existence so lavishly--albeit in fictional form--that many of his biographers have functioned as little more than code-breakers, doggedly translating art back into life. It's a great pleasure, then, to welcome Edmund White's slender, superbly artful account. A novelist himself (as well as a biographer of Jean Genet), White beautifully evokes "the France of heavy, tasteless furniture, of engraved portraits of Prince Eugene, of clocks kept under a glass bell on the mantelpiece, of overstuffed chairs covered with antimacassars and of brass beds warmed by hot-water bottles." And he's no less canny at summoning up Proust's personality, in all its neurotic, contradictory glory.<p> Of course, Proust's life can't truly be separated from his art. Every biography of him is bound to operate in the shadow of <I>Remembrance of Things Past</I>, and White has some shrewd things to say about that mammoth work, whose style he describes as "an ether in which all the characters revolve like well-regulated heavenly bodies." Yet the focus remains on Proust and on his unlikely transformation from momma's boy to social climber to world-class genius. Like his subject, White often proceeds by anecdote. His book is packed with telling, hilarious little nuggets, which find Proust being snubbed by that "powdered, perfumed, puffy Irish giant" Oscar Wilde or luring back his lover Alfred Agostinelli by buying him an airplane.<p> At the same time, White conveys the considerable pain that Proust endured as an invalid, an artist, and (more to the point) a closeted homosexual. No doubt these factors shaped his rather hopeless take on human affections, which impoverished his life even as they enriched his writing. "Proust may be telling us that love is a chimera," White writes, "a projection of rich fantasies onto an indifferent, certainly mysterious surface, but nevertheless these fantasies are undeniably beautiful, intimations of paradise--the artificial paradise of art." In White's view, this recognition makes his subject not only a supreme poet of impermanence but <I>the</I> greatest novelist of the century. Here, of course, it's possible to quibble. But the world would be an emptier place indeed without Proust's mighty masterpiece--and readers curious about its brilliant, bedridden creator should start with White's witty and exquisite portrait. <I>--James Marcus</I> 837793 1 1 1999 Marcel Proust (Penguin Lives) total:87|5:17|4:37|3:24|2:6|1:3| 87 320 127 13 5 0 false false Fri Jul 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 03 19:24:32 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 03 22:11:56 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Apr 19 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 21 21:45:50 -0700 2007 Sun Apr 20 08:40:18 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Fri Jul 31 04:59:12 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 05:03:55 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Dec 15 00:07:53 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 15 00:21:30 -0800 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Dec 24 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 29 12:20:20 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 29 12:20:20 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Mon Jul 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 27 16:34:12 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 27 16:38:46 -0700 2009
That being said, White does a good job of being an obnoxious snob on an acceptable level. I found the book to be readable and pretty much worth the amount of time I spent on it. I'd recommend it for pe...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jun 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 20 22:33:54 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 30 15:25:24 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Sep 09 01:13:07 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 09 01:13:31 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Oct 30 23:05:31 -0700 2007 Sun Dec 09 07:41:52 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Thu Aug 07 13:47:09 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 07 13:56:03 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Sat Sep 08 17:58:38 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 08 17:58:38 -0700 2007 2 0 false false Wed Jun 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 25 08:07:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 25 08:07:00 -0700 2009 Once 1 0 false false Thu May 15 21:39:55 -0700 2008 Thu May 15 21:39:55 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Sun Nov 22 20:25:29 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 22 20:25:29 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Thu Nov 19 12:16:41 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 19 12:16:41 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Tue Nov 10 16:54:21 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 10 16:54:21 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Nov 02 06:38:35 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 02 06:38:35 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Oct 29 14:00:43 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 29 14:00:43 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Wed Oct 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 28 09:13:40 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 28 09:13:40 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Oct 21 17:14:59 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 21 17:14:59 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=852284