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Living and Dying with Marcel Proust

Living and Dying with Marcel Proust

by Christopher Prendergast

Europa Compass ·2022 ·256 pages
Near the Top
Near the Top
I Index
65/99
Top of the Pile

87/99

Critics' Rating Index

Maybe Someday

43/99

Readers' Rating Index

n/a

Scholars' Citation Index

34/99

Volume of Reviews

21/99

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About This Book

A New York Times Editors' Choice A Publisher's Weekly Most Anticipated Book of 2022 Living and Dying with Marcel Proust is the result of a lifetime's reading of, reflection on, and love for Proust's masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time . One of the masterpieces of twentieth-century fiction, Proust's In Search of Lost Time describes a unique journey, combining elements drawn from the timeless narratives of great expectations and lost illusions. In this lively and entertaining book, Christopher Prendergast traces that journey as it unfolds on an arc defined by the polarities in his living and dying. At once a careful contemplation Proust's masterwork and an exploration of the rich sensory and impressionistic tapestry of a lived world, Living and Dying with Marcel Proust addresses such disparate Proustian obsessions as insomnia, food, digestion, color, addiction, memory, breath and breathing, breasts, snobbism, music, and humor. Entertaining and erudite, Prendergast's book will surely become the companion for all readers either about to reembark on Proust's three-million-word journey or setting out for the first time. "Splendid... Reading [it] feels like, say, seeing all of Venice in a gondola, seated beside a patient, smiling, all-knowing art historian."— Edmund White, The New York Times Book Review


Reviews

"Prendergast generally cites remarkable Proust passages solely in English (only occasionally quoting from the original French text); Proust's brilliance as a writer still comes through in the translated texts, but Prendergast's analysis might have been enhanced by including more passages in French ..."

Erica Swenson Danowitz· Library Journal Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Well-chosen quotes enrich the text, as does Prendergast's dry humor ..."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"This volume is bound to resurrect readers' interest of Á la recherche du temps perdu – although it does contain plot spoilers for newbies."

Martina Evans· The Irish Times Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"He can relate asthma to the labyrinth of his sentences (Prendergast reminds us that Walter Benjamin traced the very syntax of Proust's sentences to his ailment) and to his devotion to music in his compositional practices."

Edmund White· The New York Times Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

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