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6 votes
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What's the deal with Proust?
I've never read Marcel Proust, and I know very little about his work. But every serious reader of literature I know absolutely gushes over him, but never seems to be able to explain what's good...
I've never read Marcel Proust, and I know very little about his work. But every serious reader of literature I know absolutely gushes over him, but never seems to be able to explain what's good about it or what the books are even about.
The scarce pop-culture references I see to his work (like in "Little Miss Sunshine") seems to cast an affection for Proust as kind of a mark of being an unmoored and depressive romantic.
So is he worth reading? The full collection of "Remembrance of Things Past" is nearly $100, so that's not a trivial amount to invest. Is there a recommended/definitive translation or edition I should read? What should I keep in mind or be open to if I do try giving it a shot?
By that last question I mean like, I'd have hated "Catcher In the Rye" if I wasn't told ahead of time to approach it from the mindset of a 15 year old boy. Or I kind of hated 'Madame Bovary" but when explained to me that this was Flaubert's exercise in trying to make people see themselves in an adulteress, a generally reviled archetype, and this was groundbreaking for the time lets me at least appreciate it for accomplishing what it's set out to do. Are there any literary contexts like I this should have in my head before I delve in?
11 votes -
Anoushka Shankar - Voice of the moon (2005)
4 votes -
Gabriel Fauré - Sicilienne, for cello & piano, Op. 78
8 votes -
Classical Music at the Yellow Lounge in Berlin
4 votes -
Yo-Yo Ma: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert (2018)
9 votes -
George Walker, trailblazing American composer, dies at 96
7 votes -
Beethoven's Große Fuge (Grand Fugue) op. 133, visualized
3 votes -
Kepler Quartet - Ben Johnston / String Quartet No.4 "Amazing Grace" (2017)
6 votes -
Daniel Corral - Polytope excerpts (2018)
3 votes -
Zoe Keating - Tetrishead (2005)
3 votes