Proust Among the Stars

Proust Among the Stars by Bowie, Malcolm. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780231114912.

For many, Proust is the supreme European writer of the twentieth century. This book tackles his achievement head-on. Art, death, sex, politics, loss, guilt, morality―Prousts major themes are revealed and explained here. Proust Among the Stars is a matchless close reading of Remembrance of Things Past and a lesson in how to read the great books profitably and pleasurably. Malcolm Bowie asserts that Prousts novel is one of the great exercises in speculative imagining in the worlds literature; and that its originality lies first in the quality of Prousts textual invention, page after page, line after line. Prousts world constantly shimmers with a sense of multiple possibilities and is at the same time infused with the urge to order, obsessively to organize. Bowie examines how Proust achieves this in his writing, as opposed to his themes, plots, or theories. An original, beautiful, and deeply moving book, Proust Among the Stars shows how Prousts work deepens our understanding of our lives and ourselves.