The Cambridge Introduction to Marcel Proust (English, Adam Watt)

Fascinating study

Fascinating work on Proust, his style and his master work. To my mind, the first chapters of "The Cambridge Introduction to Marcel Proust" constitute a true "introduction" to Proust and his "oeuvre". Among other information, it explains that what passes as Proust's other works ("Jean Santeuil", "Les Plaisirs et les Jours", "Contre Ste-Beuve") are reworkings of drafts and notes that Proust wrote, sometimes at great length, but never really completed; only "A la Recherche du Temps perdu" and articles published by Proust during his lifetime are completely his own. The main part of the book, however, while a brilliantly annotated précis of the seven volumes of "In Search of Lost Time", must be very difficult to follow, for a neophyte using this book as an introduction to Proust. This said, and having read Proust (which is why I grab everything I can find on Proust), I found Mr Watt's descriptions of Proust's style, metaphors and ideas, well researched and especially clear, since some of these concepts must be close-to-impossible to verbalize and properly set into words. An extensive list of books, studies, films, TV programmes, or even, societies about or, around Proust, complete the book.

A first-rate introduction

Books written by academics are conspicuously under-reviewed here, I imagine because other academics are frightened of treading on toes. However, some deserve to be reviewed and as someone who is not a member of the Academy, perhaps I can step into the breach.This is in my opinion the best relatively short introduction to the subject that has so far been produced. Some writers try to emulate Proust's style, with a rather extravagant use of metaphorical language, and this can be a cover for not having really got to grips with the text.Not so here. This book is concise, up-to-date, impressively well informed both as to the text and to the secondary literature, and equipped with enough critical apparatus to enable the reader to move on to more specific areas of interest.Talking of moving on, another somewhat longer introduction of the same quality is A Reader's Guide to Proust's In Search of Lost Time by David Ellison and there is also a very interesting collection of essays edited by Adam Watt entitled Marcel Proust in Context, both published by Cambridge.