Considered one of the greatest—and most influential—writers of the twentieth century, Marcel Proust was also one of its most fascinating figures. A strange, reclusive genius who often lay in bed for days at a time obsessively rewriting his masterpiece, Remembrance of Things Past, Proust was at other times a tireless socialite, attending the grandest parties and dazzling guests with his vivacity and wit. But as a boy Proust was yearning and lonely, an ambitious grasper after honors, and a miserably closeted homosexual, an aspect of his life that this book explores frankly and perceptively.
“White has a novelist’s eye for the telling detail or the remarkable phrase.”—New York Times Book Review
"White has a novelist's eye for the telling detail or the remarkable phrase and, like Proust himself, concentrates upon the minutiae of the past so that it might live again. He has a wonderful sympathy with his subject, adduced in such reflections as ''Proust fancied that so long as he failed to begin his life's work, his life would go on.'' -- Peter Ackroyd, The New York Times Book Review
"White's deft prose is densely packed with information but never burdensome. He gives a good sense of why Proust's work is valuable, and why it remains eternally fresh." -- Washington Post
"A tale of twentieth-century literature 'par excellence' that White makes fun, accessible, and insightful." -The Philadelphia Inquirer
"White's biography of Proust is a paragon of the genre; an engrossing and delightful piece of work." -Norah Vincent, author of Self-Made Man
Considered one of the greatest—and most influential—writers of the twentieth century, Marcel Proust was also one of its most fascinating figures. A strange, reclusive genius who often lay in bed for days at a time obsessively rewriting his masterpiece, Remembrance of Things Past, Proust was at other times a tireless socialite, attending the grandest parties and dazzling guests with his vivacity and wit. But as a boy Proust was yearning and lonely, an ambitious grasper after honors, and a miserably closeted homosexual, an aspect of his life that this book explores frankly and perceptively.
“White has a novelist’s eye for the telling detail or the remarkable phrase.”—New York Times Book Review
Praise
"White has a novelist's eye for the telling detail or the remarkable phrase and, like Proust himself, concentrates upon the minutiae of the past so that it might live again. He has a wonderful sympathy with his subject, adduced in such reflections as ''Proust fancied that so long as he failed to begin his life's work, his life would go on.'' -- Peter Ackroyd, The New York Times Book Review
"White's deft prose is densely packed with information but never burdensome. He gives a good sense of why Proust's work is valuable, and why it remains eternally fresh." -- Washington Post
"A tale of twentieth-century literature 'par excellence' that White makes fun, accessible, and insightful." -The Philadelphia Inquirer
"White's biography of Proust is a paragon of the genre; an engrossing and delightful piece of work." -Norah Vincent, author of Self-Made Man
