Customer Reviews
Masterpiece of masterpieces - By: Carol Haemmerli, 19 Nov 2005 
I had been intrigued by Proust since early age, for one of my favourite books is Gold & Fizdale's "Misia" & his name crops up all the time. I bought the Scott Moncrieff's English versionin Paris over ten years ago & I know that many supposedly more authoritative versions have come out ever since. Yet, a few years ago I read the versionin French as organised by Jean-Yves Tadié, the best known pundit on Proust's work to date & I have to say Moncrieff's translation doesn't stray that far from the original. "A la recherche" is to me the most important bookin the history of literature. Compellingly philosophical, psychological, soul-searching & esthetic, no details of life go amiss. I am alternately moved, stirred & surprised at Proust's dexterityin describing the wide range of human emotions & the complexity of human interactions. He discusses art, love, jealousy, nostalgy, ambition, social climbing, politics & you cannot fail to empathise with his prose or finding new moot questions with each new reading of his work. His work is as relevant today as it was at the time when it got published.
Just the best novel ever written, ever - By: Julia, 25 Mar 2004 I LOVE Proust. Really worth persevering with, & it's even betterin French.
Grokkable - By: , 29 Aug 1999 Reading Marcel Proust books like : The Past Regained , has been a delicious experience .
i especially like the sensein his novels of space & time as being deepened [in terms of their potential for a type of resonance ] by the act of contemplation : where things are contemplated according to a sequence of precise manuevers within & outside of the mind .
This is a theme the theologian Paul Tillich also touches uponin his writings .
Thomas Wolfe , perhaps , was mistaken when he said : you can't go home again .
Marcel Proust teaches us that it is possible to go home again .
If we are willing to dwell on the past & contemplate without conflating or distorting each of the distinct nuances of past experiences , we can have the experience of cosmically going home again . [We mustin this process avoid the mental laziness of the pop psychology that tells us "don't dwell on it' , "don't cling" to the interesting experiences of the past . ]
Do dwell on it should be the message .
Worthwhile, but be prepared... - By: , 22 Jun 1999 
I set myself the challenge of reading this monumental work, & am stillin the process of slogging through Volume 3, which I hope to finish sometime before death.The book has moments of transcendant beauty & insight that have made it worthwhile, but also some deeply tedious sections that seem to drag on endlessly. My main problem has been the exasperation I feel with Proust himself. It is frankly difficult at times for modern readers to identify with this supremely self-involved aesthete of the early 20th century. Often I just want to reach out & smack him & tell him to quit whining & obsessing & get on with his life, already. Currently, I am dealing with his jealousy & need to control Albertine & her lesbianism, when I have to restrain myself from screaming "Go ahead & break up with her, you dolt!" The minute details of his emotional life spread out over 3,000 plus pages are sometimes overwhelming. On the other hand, I have to admit that he is ruthlessly honest & makes no attempt to render himselfin a glowing light, which is admirable. And there are occasionally those deeply profound insights into human nature that strike a chordin everyone, along with a valuable documentation of a time & a life so unlike my own & fascinatingin its own way. Take the challenge, & good luck!
