Ever been curious about all the fuss surrounding Proust's gargantuan novel? This is a weekly livestream series designed to make it as accessible as possible. It provides a close analysis of Proust's "In Search of Lost Time" discussing what makes it such a special piece of literature, how ahead of its time it was in terms of its psychological insight, and how reading it can provide great "textual healing" for the stresses of everyday life. #Proust #bookclub #literaryanalysis
Curated by: Readers of the Lost Art (15 videos)
It's not too late to join in our slow, deep dive into one of the world's greatest novels! We are still at the beginning of the "Swann in Love" section in which we are introduced to the high society environment that contrasts with the earlier domestic bliss of Combray. There is a particularly important section of the book here in relation to music and our aesthetic experience of life. At the salon of Madame Verdurin, Swann hears a sonata, the effect of which is described by Proust in vivid emotional detail. This description of music's effect on Swann raises profound questions about the ultimate purpose of art - questions to be explored in future on the Channel in James Joyce's work, a particularly good example being Stephen Dedalus's thoughts about art in "A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man". This section contains some almost Dickens-like caricatures of social snobs as well as describing, in Proust's inimitable style, how Swann falls in love with Odette - despite his better instincts, a story as old as time itself? #proust #rembranceofthingspast #insearchoflosttime #books #memory #literaryanalysis #persistenceofmemory