"Shattuck leaves us not only with a deepened appreciation of Proust's great work but of all great literature as well."—Richard Bernstein, New York Times
For any reader who has been humbled by the language, the density, or the sheer weight of Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time, Roger Shattuck is a godsend. Winner of the National Book Award for Marcel Proust, a sweeping examination of Proust's life and works, Shattuck now offers a useful and eminently readable guidebook to Proust's epic masterpiece, and a contemplation of memory and consciousness throughout great literature. Here, Shattuck laments Proust's defenselessness against zealous editors, praises some translations, and presents Proust as a novelist whose philosophical gifts were matched only by his irrepressible comic sense. Proust's Way, the culmination of a lifetime of scholarship, will serve as the next generation's guide to one of the world's finest writers of fiction.
Proust's Way: A Field Guide to In Search of Lost Time
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Book Description
--This text refers to the
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Cobbling together commentary, instruction and practical advice, this grab-bag of a guide attempts to fill a gap in the vast library of Proust literature, with mixed results. Eminent scholar Shattuck (author of Proust's Binoculars and the National Book Award-winning Marcel Proust) eschews the personal approach favored by Alain de Botton and Phyllis Rose in their popular memoir-appreciations, but he does not limit himself to scholarly analysis, either, producing instead a kind of sophisticated Cliff Notes. The guide begins with a helpful overview of the novel and a chapter answering basic questions: in what language should one read Proust? (In French, if at all possible.) Is it absolutely necessary to read all 3,000 pages? (It is not--and Shattuck supplies an abridged reading plan in a footnote.) Moving on to a discussion of narrative strategies and themes, Shattuck urges an appreciation of Proust's often-overlooked comic sensibility and examines the author's more familiar preoccupations like time, memory and art. Most enlightening is his complex explication of the double "I" Proust employs: the gap between young Marcel and his older incarnation, the Narrator, creates what Shattuck terms a "stereopticon effect," by means of which the novel springs to four-dimensional life. A fascinating if polemical second-to-last chapter weighs in on ongoing debates in the world of Proust scholarship, judges the various French and English editions of the novel and examines its film versions. Although much of the guide is genuinely illuminating, the best material will be familiar to readers of Shattuck's previous works (he acknowledges his borrowings in his introduction), and some of the new sections--particularly an experimental "Coda," a fictional radio interview with a Proust scholar--strain for effect. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
If you have ever wanted to tackle Proust's In Search of Lost Time but find it a bit daunting, this field guide will bejust the right thing. Shattuck, who won a National Book Award in 1974 for Marcel Proust, focuses here on Proust's place in 20th-century literature. He then provides a guide through Proust's masterpiece. He explains the major settings of the work, summarizes character and plot, and discusses central themes. Shattuck acknowledges that there is no one right interpretation of In Search of Lost Time but succeeds in providing a framework to help readers get through it. He addresses readers coming to the work for the first time, although those familiar with the work who are still struggling with its various facets will appreciate Shattuck's insights. Shattuck is most helpful in placing Proust and the work in the context of his time, giving a balanced treatment to the novel as a whole. Written in a style that will appeal to both the scholar and the lay reader, Shattuck's field guide should be a standard for years to come.DRon Ratliff, Emporia P.L., KS
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
112 of 115 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Search for the Lost Proust,
By
This review is from: Proust's Way: A Field Guide to in Search of Lost Time (Hardcover)
It's like an addiction. First I order William Carter's great biography of Marcel Proust. It's brand new and at 800 pgs hardly an outline, but still quite a romp. After 300 pages I'm hooked. So I go order part I of the "The Search for Lost Time". Ever since high school I've been telling myself: someday, someday...Well I just turned 60 and it's now someday. One hundred pages into "Swann's Way" and I am in a swelter. Whoa... I knew Proust was not something one dips only their little toe into. Luckily along comes my life raft!I've been a fan of Roger Shattuck ever since I read his The Banquet Years and he now, just in time, he has this guide to Proust. Now I am juggling three books at once and one of them 3000 pages in length. I think I should have started at age 50. The guide has been a godsend! Shattuck can balance the academic with the popular. Right off the bat you get hit with words like hypotaxis and parataxis, but not to fret, he nicely explains in simple terms what they mean. And he understands that not all of us stayed awake in French class and kindly provides translations of the French quotes. Even better, he does not sneer at those of use who will read the Search in English saying that the newest translation is more than adequate. Shattuck debunks the common idea that Proust's Search is a prissy and doting exposition of the ways and byways of the fin de siecle French upper class. Far from it. Proust was a wicked observer with a keen sense of humor. Shattuck tells us that: "Reading Proust bears many resemblances to visiting a zoo. The specimens he collected from the remotest corners of society amaze and amuse us in their variety." In fact there is a whole chapter in the Guide on the comic vision in the Search. The most important chapter in the book for me at my entry point to reading the Search is "How to Read a Roman-Fleuve." Here is a multitude of tips on how to deal with many of the complexities in the Search. He also points out that we must pay attention and what seems to be going nowhere eventually comes together. And he has lots more to aid the reader He has some nice charts for keeping track of "places", "characters", "couples", and "scenes." There are other chapters on Proust's sources, the length issue, etc. which I have skimmed through but I am sure they will become more valuable as I penetrate further into the Search. This is not a book to read in place of reading Proust. It is clearly intended as a guide to a first time reader or one re-reading the Search. If you do buy it, you will be sorely tempted to read Proust's "The Search for Lost Time, which by the way is the newest translation of what was once called "Remembrance of Things Past." If you intend to read the Search, this book is a must. Now if I only new what a Roman-Fleuve was.
40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't venture forth without this guide!,
By
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This review is from: Proust's Way: A Field Guide to in Search of Lost Time (Hardcover)
Roger Shattuck has provided a book that truly lives up to its subtitle: A Field Guide to In Search of Lost Time. The highly credentialed and astutely discerning author gives both the first-time reader of Proust and the Proustian scholar useful information that will help them read, enjoy, and plumb the depths of Proust's massive oeuvre. I count myself among the former group, having made a number of attempts at reading In Search of Lost Time, but always managing to stall out somewhere in the middle of Swann's Way and then jumping around the other volumes looking for amusing sections.Although certain chapters have been previously published, Shattuck has taken care to fully integrate them into this Field Guide, and readers will probably be best served by reading the book from cover to cover. Some chapters, I suspect, will be more meaningful to me after I've read more of the novel, but the ones I found most useful as a novice Proustian were "Proust's Complaint" (the "clouding of the mind at the moment of achieving what it most desires") and "How to Read a Roman-Fleuve" (Check out the footnote on p. 25: it gives an abbreviated reading plan for those who aren't ready to read the entire 3,000 page novel from beginning to end). I also found the discussions about the English translations in the chapter on "Continuing Disputes" especially fascinating. Owners of the Random House/Vintage 3-volume Rembrance of Things Past should be warned that all citations are keyed to the 6-volume Modern Library edition of In Search of Lost Time. This is frustrating if you want to read a passage in context, but, on the whole, is not especially problematic since Shattuck quotes the passages that are most germane to his arguments. The Selected Bibliography is extremely short, but I suspect every work that made it to the list has earned Shattuck's high regard and is worth looking into. Proust's Way is a thoughtful work that any serious reader of Proust will want to keep at his or her elbow when reading In Search of Lost Time.
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Helpful Guide,
By A Customer
This review is from: Proust's Way: A Field Guide to in Search of Lost Time (Hardcover)
Roger Shattuck's book is a helpful guide to the most complex of novels. He provides some insight into Proust's thought and writing without being overly technical. He doesn't treat the text as sacred scripture and suggests various ways of encountering the novel without reading it from cover to cover. Also, he examines some of the peripheral concerns of Proustiana from the perspective of an English-speaker such as the value of the Scott-Moncrief translation and the various attempts to improve it. He reviews the few attempts at a film of the novel and points out where they succeed and where they fail. (This is the first I've heard of a film of "Time Regained". I hope it comes to the US soon.) His diatribe against the new Pleiade critical edition is excessively vehement, but I'm glad that someone shares my opinion that reading an author's early drafts and notes distracts one from understanding the finished work and is not a task for the general reader. This book is not an introduction, but an aid for the person who has already read the novel at least partially.
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Inside This Book
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Citations (learn more)
4
books
cite this book:
- Alive at the Core: Exemplary Approaches to General Education in the Humanities (Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series) by Michael Nelson in Front Matter
- Essential Cinema: On the Necessity of Film Canons by Jonathan Rosenbaum on page 108
- Evil after Postmodernism: Histories, Narratives and Ethics by Jennifer Geddes in Front Matter
- Ilium by Dan Simmons in Front Matter
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