Shocker: In Search of Lost Time really rather good | Books | The Guardian

I thought I knew a bit about Proust's culturally enshrined novel, but trivia and surrounding theory are no substitute for direct engagement.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about how I was preparing to begin reading Proust's In Search of Lost Time. Writing from the other side of volume one, The Way by Swann's, I'm experiencing that odd feeling you get when a piece of art so culturally enshrined as to become meaningless turns out to be - stop the presses - really rather good. When I say meaningless, I mean it in a practical sense. I thought I knew a bit about the novel, but trivia and surrounding theory are no substitute for direct engagement. In fact, reading The Way by Swann's reminded me of visiting New York for the first time: I'd…

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• Lydia Nottingham

related reading

• In Search of Lost Time - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
• On Reading Proust’s In Search of Lost Timenabeelqu.substack.com
• On Reading Proust’s In Search of Lost Time — Nabeel S. Qureshinabeelqu.co
• no one told me about proustpersonalcanon.com
• Proust’s Way?nybooks.com
• Scraping training data for your mindescapingflatland.substack.com
• The Thrill of Proust’s Handwriting | The New Yorkernewyorker.com
• 'Proust's Way?': An Exchange | André Aciman, Lydia Davis, Marcel Muller | The New York Review of Booksnybooks.com
• “Infinite Jest” Has Turned Thirty. Have We Forgotten How to Read It?newyorker.com
• Literary Fiction Has Lost the Plotdevonhalliday.substack.com
• The Madeleine Excerpt From Remembrance of Things Past, by Marcel Proust | DailyGooddailygood.org
• The Time Will Pass Anywayagoodhardstare.substack.com