Marcel Proust: A Very Short Introduction

by Joshua Landy

100 years after Proust's death, In Search of Lost Time remains one of the greatest works in World Literature. At 3,000 pages, it can be intimidating to some. This short volume invites first-time readers and veterans alike to view the novel in a new way.

Marcel Proust (1871-1922) was arguably France's best-known literary writer. He was the author of stories, essays, translations, and a 3,000-page novel, In Search of Lost Time (1913-27).

This book is a brief guide to Proust's magnum opus in which Joshua Landy invites the reader to view the novel as a single quest--a quest for purpose, enchantment, identity, connection, and belonging--through the novel's fascinating treatments of memory, society, art, same-sex desire, knowledge, self-understanding, self-fashioning, and the unconscious mind.

Landy also shows why the questions Proust raises are important and exciting for all of how we can feel at home in the world; how we can find genuine connection with other human beings; how we can find enchantment in a world without God; how art can transform our lives; whether an artist's life can shed light on their work; what we can know about the world, other people, and ourselves; when not knowing is better than knowing; how sexual orientation affects questions of connection and identity; who we are, deep down; what memory tells us about our inner world; why it might be good to think of our life as a story; how we can feel like a single, unified person when we are torn apart by change and competing desires. Finally, Landy suggests why it's worthwhile to read the novel itself-how the long, difficult, but joyous experience of making it through 3,000 pages of prose can be transformative for our minds and souls.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Literature

168 pages, Paperback

Published December 18, 2024

About the author

Joshua Landy is the Andrew B. Hammond Chair of French and Professor of Comparative Literature at Stanford University, where he teaches "Film and Philosophy," "Literature and the Brain," "Getting through Proust," and other hopefully fun classes. He also co-directs Stanford's Initiative in Philosophy and Literature. And since 2017, he's been one half of the nationally syndicated public radio program “Philosophy Talk.”

Reviews

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the moment I’m immersed in Proust and literary criticism related to Proust. Focusing on what Temps Perdu has to teach us about narrative structure and its relationship to identity, this book holds its own in a crowded field.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed much more than the work it discussed. But Proustians are weird. The author admits it took him seven years to read the entire “book”. It took me several years and I hated it.

I find it challenging to believe he remembered the details he wants us to be fascinated with having any significance 2000 pages later.

If half of the philosophical points raised in this short book are true about the value of Proust’s book, then it is a direct indictment of Proust’s approach as an abject failure. We don’t need 3,000 pages of boring self-absorbed drivel to learn these insights. 100 pages in a pocket sized book drawing on the same few examples repeatedly will suffice.

And how brilliant of Proust to include so many contradictory passages and errors, we are told. Just like real life! You seriously need to put up with reading all of Proust to learn that?

So if you haven’t read Proust, then skip it, read this Very Short Introduction, and move on.

[Nicholas Cross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Splendid read.

‘Search’ is not an easy book to read. There are good translations. I read the Scott Moncrief which though the original is considered dated by some. So, Landy’s excellent examination of Proust’s work is a must for anyone who has read ‘Search’ but of questionable value to anyone coming to the work for the first time. Nonetheless, highly recommended.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this "Very Short Introduction" series, It's a great tool for tackling difficult texts. This is a great supplement to my reading of Proust. The author introduces many themes and insights for me to be aware of as I make my way through this lengthy tome.

[Merritt Burstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook