Marcel Proust's Search for Lost Time: A Reader's Guide to The Remembrance of Things Past

I started Proust's Remembrance several years ago and have worked my way through four of the seven volumes of the edition I own. I thought that if I persisted, I would "get" what Proust was aiming at. However at the end of the fourth volume, I was no more closer to an understanding of the flow of his work than earlier. As an undergraduate, I had tried to read Thucydides Peloponnesian War cold and got no where with it, literally. Years later (in a graduate course) I confronted Thucydides again but this time with a reader's guide. It made all the difference and I was able to fully understand and appreciate the masterwork his War actually is. Recalling that experience, I came across this volume in my online research on trying to understanding Proust. I grabbed it and have devoured it in the few short days since I received it. Again, it makes all the difference in the world because it explains Proust's work by content and places it it context with his life, his environment and the times he lived. I no longer doubt that this is a masterwork, difficult as it is to work through, as I have found that it speaks to incidents and feelings in my life which I thought were unique to me. The rewards (even in retrospect, as I have recalled incidents in past volumes through Alexander's work) just keep coming. I do not post reviews on anything very often but this book has been a godsend in guiding me through what seemed a hopeless morass of narration that I could only vaguely understand. For those who would like to unlock the inner dynamics and dimensions of Proust's work, I highly recommend Alexander's Guide.

This is just what I was hoping for: a summary of the salient points that I am not picking up as I read. Proust is so subtle (and the sentences sooo long) that I am missing a lot. This guide lets me know that, yes, that guy *was* coming on to Marcel, and so forth. The list of characters is great, too, and the background on France at the time, of which I knew not one jot.

Deciding to read all seven books of In Search of Lost Time requires a serious commitment. It starts off slow and ponders through a pretty weird obsession the narrator has with his mother -I seriously got irritated and then super-bored with it. But I had decided to read, and comprehend, every damned sentence, so I persevered. And it got better. Even funny in parts.There are tons of really profound insights into human psychology and behavior. And while I have yet to uncover anything remotely resembling a plot, the cultural, political and social references are unmatched.This probably is required reading if you are a writer of any merit - it will undoubtedly help you in both subtle and profound ways.I recommend reading it on a Kindle, with easy access to a dictionary and Wikipedia, you'll get a lot more out of it. Take your time, read slow, understand what you're reading before you move forward. It's worth it, it just doesn't pay out in the rapid-fire, grab you by the seat of your pants way today's fiction does.

A must in the six book catalog set. It is a need, if to follow in series. A lot to follow.

I enjoyed Swann's Way but wasn't up to finishing the rest of the 3000 pages of In Search of Lost Time. This book gave a good summary of the plot and main characters of the entire story. It is clear that many of pieces of the whole story don't come together until you get to some of the later volumes. While certainly not a substitute for reading Proust, I no longer feel that I'm totally in the dark regarding one of the major works of 20th century fiction. If you have the time, by all means read Proust. But if you have a life outside of sitting in a hotel room and philosophizing, this book is an excellent and less time consuming alternative.

At first, I was dubious of Patrick Alexander’s Guide to Proust. His Remembrance is a tale with substantial narrative arc along with much humor and bawdiness.The anguished young man who critiques society, replaces the rituals of Christianity with the salons and art of the Belle Époque and offers acute observations on human nature is strangely absent.But maybe that is not so bad. Too long Proust has been confined to overly dusty shelves. The Guide is obviously an effort to make Proust relevant and to gain him more readers.While the deeper, graver parts of A Remembrance are overlooked, the humor and bawdiness is genuinely in the original work. A first time reader, scrambling to keep straight all the different Guermantes, could easily miss it.Thus, recommended if you want a light, fun guide to what can otherwise be rather morose.

It took me about 30 years to finish Swann's way and once I did, it took a mere couple of months to finish the remaining six books. I became addicted to its wonder...and even its dullness. This Guide does a superb job, not only of enlightening the readers experience, but articulating Proust's inner music, structure and intricacy. Fortunately, it leaves what is enigmatic and ambiguous alone and never attempts to muck around with critical analysis and academic theory. Nor does it fawn over or try to ameliorate whole sections that are maddeningly dull in the novel: they are part of the experience and come with the territory; if you hang on for another hundred pages, you'll get the ride of your life. The Guide is a superb job of its kind and almost makes me want to read all the books again.

The author knows his stuff! I have a three volume set of "In Search of Lost Time'" and since reading Alexander's book I have "got into it". The whole thing is a revelation. If you have not the time nor the inclination to read (dibble in) "In Search of Lost Time" get this book, It helps a great deal to understand what Proust was trying to do with his novel. It really is very funny and in some cases quite hilarious (both books). Winter is on its way and I would suggest this book as well as Proust's to heat up the winter chill.