Marcel Proust's Search for Lost Time

October 1, 2009
This entertaining reader's guide will enhance the reader's appreciation of Proust's seven-volume masterpiece. Alexander (former director of professional advancement, Univ. of Miami) identifies many of the episodes and explains upon whom Proust's characters are modeled. He summarizes plots, contextualizes the novel in history, offers a short biography of Proust, and presents family trees and information on 50 key characters to help simplify the 400-plus figures in the book. Alexander offers insights on Proust's writing style; for example, he discusses Proust's illustration of how the painter, Elstir, and the writer, Bergotte, will die and are outlived by only their paintings and booksonly art can defeat time. It is typical of Proust's writing, as Alexander demonstrates, to describe some petty event in everyday life in great detail and then move on. Alexander helps the reader to recognize the extremely bizarre and ridiculous behavior of some of Proust's characters. VERDICT This entertaining analysis will enable readers to understand Proust's book better.Bob T. Ivey, Univ. of Memphis

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