For anyone who ever wondered what Marcel Proust had in mind when he wrote the one-and-a-quarter-million words of In Search of Lost Time (while bedridden no less), Alain de Botton has the answer. For, in this stylish, erudite and frequently hilarious book, de Botton dips deeply into Proust's life and work - his fiction, letter, and conversations - and distils from them that rare self-help manual: one that is actually helpful. Here, tendered in prose almost as luminous as it's subject's, is advice on cultivating friendships, ...
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For anyone who ever wondered what Marcel Proust had in mind when he wrote the one-and-a-quarter-million words of In Search of Lost Time (while bedridden no less), Alain de Botton has the answer. For, in this stylish, erudite and frequently hilarious book, de Botton dips deeply into Proust's life and work - his fiction, letter, and conversations - and distils from them that rare self-help manual: one that is actually helpful. Here, tendered in prose almost as luminous as it's subject's, is advice on cultivating friendships, suffering successfully, recognising love and understanding why you should never sleep with someone on the first date. And here, too, is a generously perceptive literary biography that suggests that the master is as relevant today as he was in fin de si�cle Paris.
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Add this copy of How Proust Can Change Your Life to cart. $73.02, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hialeah, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2012 by Bolinda Audio.
This is a very strange book! Not strange in the sense of weird or bizarre but strange in the sense that it's hard to figure out why Alain de Botton would expound so much energy trying to explain to us why we should even read Proust. The book that he is referring to is Marcel Proust's "The Remembrance of Time Past" which is a book that very, very few people have ever read and one that very very few ever will, especially considering the fact that it's a massive work of over 3,000 pages.
Don't get me wrong! I think that you should read this book as well as Proust and I sincerely hope that you pick up this book and that it whets your appetite for Proust because, as Alain tried to show us, we are missing something if we don't. I know that I wouldn't have the courage to write this book but I am very glad that Alain did and I hope others find out why it's such a great work.
Peter
Apr 1, 2007
Fun with philosophy
This is a very enjoyable book written in an accessible style. Philosophy can be hard to comprehend, but the way De Botton presents it is incredibly original and also easy to grasp. I would recommend checking out his other books as well.