Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Art in the World of Proust

Paintings in Proust: A Visual Companion to In Search of Lost Time

Paintings in Proust: 
A Visual Companion to 
In Search of Lost Time 


Thanks to art, instead of seeing one world only, our own, we see that world multiply itself and we have at our disposal as many  worlds as there are original artists...
- Marcel Proust, Time Regained


This is one of the best companion books to read and keep by your side as you journey through Proust's magnificent In Search of Lost Time. The author opens with an introductory essay that explains how he has "attempted to reassemble in a single volume the fleeting paintings weaving in and out of a moving narrative, to offer for the first time to the reader of In Search of Lost Time 'a comprehensive and continuous picture'."

To this end he combines color plates for all of the art referenced in the novel along with lucid contextual commentary and relevant quotations from the novel. When a specific work of art is not mentioned he has chosen a representative piece to complement the passage from the novel. The presentation of art works from artists as disparate as Manet  and Michelangelo, Delacroix and Degas, and many others is a feast for the reader's eyes. 

The result of his comprehensive work is a successful melding of art with literature that will please both those who are encountering Proust for the first time and those who know and love his literary masterpiece.


2 comments:

mudpuddle said...

i've not finished Proust but his sounds tempting anyhow...

James said...

mudpuddle,
The book is especially enriching if you are interested in art.