How Proust Can Change Your Life in 2017: Our Year of Reading Proust

Jul 16, 2012 Simon rated it it was amazing

Shelves: philosophy, philosophy-of-lifestyle, favorites

A treasure trove of reflections and ideas on life that should not be mistaken for a shallow aphorismic self-help guide but an eloquent, rich digest of Proust's very worthwhile observations.

About half of the book describe Proust's fascinating character, the other his and de Botton's views on life, specifically: on appreciating life, on friendship, love, art, suffering, how to read and think about books, etc.

Towards the end it is said that we can only ever apply the situations of fictional charact A treasure trove of reflections and ideas on life that should not be mistaken for a shallow aphorismic self-help guide but an eloquent, rich digest of Proust's very worthwhile observations.

About half of the book describe Proust's fascinating character, the other his and de Botton's views on life, specifically: on appreciating life, on friendship, love, art, suffering, how to read and think about books, etc.

Towards the end it is said that we can only ever apply the situations of fictional characters and the ideas of the author to ourselves to a certain degree, after which we are left to deal with our own, unique situation. Proust and de Botton rather describe little points about life and human relationships that we may recognize or discover in our own. They show us ways to appreciate life and take a deeper look at what it offers us and how we perceive it. As one book title suggests, "Proust was a neuroscientist". The ideas of both authors are explicitely to be taken as incitement to think for yourself rather than holy script. In the very end of the book, de Botton even exaggerates downplaying the value of reading and great books in general, which i find unfortunate for its placement at the end, as it may deter some readers from starting to read Proust contrary to the book's aim. At the end of each chapter, de Botton does distill their content into a suspectly short morale that i sometimes do find somewhat cheesy self-help and unnecessary, but that is a small part of otherwise high level analysis.

de Botton - through Proust - argues that in art, not the subject matter, but its treatment, how it is viewed and explored, really matters. The depiction of a modest family scene or thinking philosopher can reveal as many beauties and ideas as an obviously grand landscape or an intellectual discussion. This helps to explain why Proust spends 30 pages on describing how a man tosses and turns in bed before being able to fall asleep. What this reveals about the character is important. Many readers have been turned away by these long passages and the difficulty of finding 'the point' in Proust's work and may find this a useful preparation to appreciate it. I know i feel ever more motivated to start this grand adventure.

On some of the points and views i disagree. For example, Proust lives friendship purely on a level of affection and avoids intellectual discourse and honesty of opinion because they endanger friendships and are rarely taken constructively. In my opinion, a good friendship between emotionally mature people should endure discussion with different view points and constructive criticism to allow learning and further cognitive sonance.
Similarly, i disagree somewhat with the point that one cannot refine his arguments in conversation as one can rewrite sentences in a book or text in general. I've made positive experiences with reframing points long after i said them and this option should be respected and promoted in conversation.
Few people will agree on all of Proust's views on life, but one will at least be enriched by these perspectives to reevaluate them.

Still, this is the kind of thought and critical attitude demanded by and promoted in the reader.
I have captured so many ideas (i feel like i've highlighted or annotated half the - often very eloquent - sentences in the book) and gotten to think so much about the human condition that this book will probably indeed, as the in my eyes misleading title suggests, change my life. It is not easy to suggest a better title though. In any case, regarding lifestyle this was the most interesting and thought provoking book i had ever read at the time, and even if you don't want to dedicate the necessary time on Proust's epic master piece, i highly recommend this book as a starter for reflections on life. ...more

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Feb 01, 2016 Klára Slivovice rated it really liked it

Michel Proust was no myth. That's why you should read his novel: don't be scared, he was just like us.
This is my brief summary of the first book I read in 2016: I hope this will finally be Proust's year!
I enjoyed de Botton prose: his writing is soft and winks to the reader. A lot of material and sources are cited. A really easy, friendly and blinking introduction to Proust. ...more

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