BOOKS: In Search of Lost Time

Shelby Foote, the late civil war historian said that after he would finish one of his writing projects he would always treat himself by rereading Marcel Proust's massive magnum opus,"In Search of Lost Time" or as was earlier known, "Remembrance of Things Past." Containing 6 volumes and almost 1,250,000 words, "In Search of Lost Time" was composed while Proust was confined to bed and shut up in a cork lined room. He didn't like noise. Beware, "In Search of Lost Time" is not a barn burner. The plot is slow and meandering __ Well, you might ask, why would I want to read it? Proust believed that a person, especially an artist could recover the past by using the power of his imagination, in essence he could regain time. By slowing down and noting the ordinary details of life a person could in effect savor life to a much higher degree than is normally possible, then in the future he could recover the vivid details, relive the events, and regain the lost time. "In Search of Lost Time" is a monument to this type of recollecting. It's filled with excoriating detail on 2000 characters doing ordinary things. There are no explosions here. This work shows how to slow down and observe life and the characters that walk through it. It's especially good for writers wanting to learn how to collect observational and psychological detail for their work. I suspect Shelby Foote learned how to observe details for use his own works by reading Proust.

Today there is somewhat of a Proust revival with the appearance of several books: "Marcel Proust, A Life" by William Carter, "Proust in Love", by Carter and "How Proust Can Change Your Life" by Alain de Bottom. The best biography is George Painter's 1957 "Proust a Biography" in 2 volumes. However, read "In Search of Lost Time" first.