How Proust can Change your Life by Alain de Botton
So maybe that’s a slightly flippant title for a post – is Proust’s Remembrance of Times Past/In Search of Lost Time the hardest book in the world? I’m not sure – I’ve read many a ‘difficult’ book in my time, but so far I’ve only got through the first two volumes of Proust (after owning them for over 30 years). The problem for me is more with the structure of the book than anything else; they require long, uninterrupted periods of reading to do them justice, and frankly my life is so fragmented that I rarely get that. However, I *am* determined that I will one day finish the sequence.
That’s perhaps by the by; what I’m supposed to be writing about here is a book *about* Proust, and quite a famous one at that. I’ve been aware of de Botton’s book for some time (I’m sure I’ve seen reviews on blogs I follow) and so when I came across a copy in a charity shop the time seemed right to read it.
“How Proust Can Change Your Life” is structured in nine sections, each taking a different angle on the great author. So one will consider “How to Love Life Today” while another ponders on the problem of “How to Suffer Successfully” and yet another looks at “How to Express Your Emotions”. Each section is a scintillating mix of biographical snippets, philosophical musings and insights into the work of Proust, how it’s best read and what you’ll get out of the books.
One section I found particularly appealing was “How To Take Your Time”; I read fast, often too fast, and the whole point with Proust is to read slowly, appreciating the language and the detail. Plot isn’t necessarily all, it’s experiencing the moment in depth, in all its glory. In our modern, fast-paced, short attention span world that’s harder to do than it ever was, and I imagine I’ll return to de Botton’s book for guidance on this as I need to slow my reading if I can!
Interestingly, though, it’s not only to Proust that de Botton’s thoughts can be applied; they’re more like ideas for life in general, and indeed how Proust can change the way you treat the everyday. In many ways, this reads almost like a self-help book, taking advice from the great author and using this to improve ourselves; appreciating what we have and not coveting more; and being honest about our friendships and what they really are for.
The final chapter goes into territory that makes me twitch a little – “How to Put Books Down”! Are books the be-all and end-all, or should we be spending more of our time living instead of reading? I suppose there needs to be balance, but to honest I’ve always agreed with Morrissey that “There’s more to life than books, you know, but not much more”….!
So, a fascinating book which serves to make Proust approachable as well getting you thinking about your lot in life, and life in general. De Botton is not scared to point out flaws or make criticisms, even having a bit of a laugh at the expense of his subject at times. However, he portrays the Proust and his great work as approachable and essential which hopefully will help me to get onto the next volume!
Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings 
Mar 15, 2017 @ 07:29:25
Sounds like an interesting read. My problem with Proust is the problem I have with all books in French – I have a good A level and if only I could get back up to that level again, I could like TOTALLY read it in the original. But I won’t and I can’t, so it gets left again …
Mar 15, 2017 @ 09:27:38
Ah – interesting problem! Perhaps just throw the French to the side and read the translation? Or would you be constantly wondering what the original sounded like?
Mar 15, 2017 @ 10:10:42
Yes, it’s a nightmare. I felt guilty the whole way through Madame Bovary that I was reading it in English and not in French!
Mar 15, 2017 @ 10:56:12
:))))
Mar 15, 2017 @ 07:37:26
I have this buried in the TBR somewhere, along with the first to volumes of Proust’s epic. Maybe if I dig it out it will encourage me to get going on Remembrance of Things Past! I know what you mean about a fragmented life though – I carry a book with me and catch reading time where I can – I don’t think Proust is going to suit a few minutes whilst waiting for a bus!
Mar 15, 2017 @ 09:27:00
No, certain books demand longer stretches of reading. I used to enjoy my train commute in my younger days because I could read so many more books…. 🙂
Mar 15, 2017 @ 08:41:28
You know when you take a deep breath before sticking your head under water? That’s how you should prepare to read Proust’s serpentine sentences, and when you come up for air, drink it in and really think on what you’ve just read. Little by little and piece by piece is undoubtedly the best way to approach reading Proust.
Proust demands patience (and I know you’ve got that by the bucketload), but that patience is rewarded a million times over when you finally get under the skin of what Proust is writing.
I think de Botton’s book is readable, but it’s a little superficial as he only skates the surface, which is really all he intended to do.
To get right in to the bones of “À la recherche…” Roger Shattuck’s ‘Proust’s Way – a Field Guide to the Search for Lost Time’ or even more so Patrick Alexander’s ‘Marcel Proust’s Search for Lost Time: A Reader’s Guide to Remembrance of Things Past’ are perfect companions. They help you to get a good handle on all of the themes, and the multitude of characters etc. and help to keep you both focussed and motivated.
As I said, sticking with Proust really does pay dividends. I read him perpetually now, dedicating two to three hours per day to either reading “À la recherche…” directly or associated material i.e. Eric Karpeles’ ‘Paintings in Proust’, which is an absolute delight, William Carter’s biography, collected letters of Proust etc. and every day I discover something new.
Dipping into Proust is like swimming in the widest and deepest of literary oceans – the swim is glorious, the effort needed unyielding, but it’s an ocean that teems with endless delight and discovery.
Good luck!
Rob
Mar 15, 2017 @ 09:26:15
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts! I think your advice about how to read Proust is quite right, and the problem I have now is that two or three hours a day to read him – fragmented life and reading time don’t lend themselves to it, so it may have to be the summer holidays. And thank you also for the recommendations of further reading – I *will* finish the books, I’m determined!
Mar 15, 2017 @ 11:43:49
I couldn’t agree more re: time investment. And to be honest, the time *I* invest comes at the expense of reading a lot of other things, which isn’t necessarily a good thing (ask me how many of the Man Booker International Prize longlist I’ve read, for instance :)). I guess like everything else in life it all boils down to finding some kind of balance.
Mar 15, 2017 @ 15:54:21
It does, and I wish the balance was such that I didn’t have long working hours and less reading time…. :((
Mar 15, 2017 @ 09:32:23
I think both you and Rob point out a very real problem with Proust: not that he’s difficult (his sensuous prose is very moreish, or maybe it’s that I’ve got a sweet tooth, so I really enjoy it), but that you need time to dedicate to him on a long-term basis, which is really hard. I am lucky that I read him in my late teens (will I ever have so much time on my hands again, although I was swotting really hard for exams and leading an active social life and all sorts of things?), but now it’s really difficult to find that ‘quiet state of mind’ to fully focus.
Mar 15, 2017 @ 09:36:18
It is! I can’t imagine have a few hours dedicated just to reading nowadays – there are so many things that get in the way, and like you I look back wistfully to the times when I could just sit and read and read…..
Mar 15, 2017 @ 11:44:43
“his sensuous prose is very moreish, or maybe it’s that I’ve got a sweet tooth, so I really enjoy it.” <– hehe…I love this 🙂
Mar 15, 2017 @ 13:01:45
Well, yes, it agrees with me (in moderation). I struggle much more with Finnegan’s Wake or Infinite Jest, for example.
Mar 15, 2017 @ 15:53:11
:))
Mar 15, 2017 @ 15:53:54
:))
Mar 15, 2017 @ 13:45:50
I’m also two volumes in, and plan to read the third this year. The first time I attempted Proust I read too fast and got nothing from it. As soon as I slowed down, savouring every sentence, it was suddenly like reading in technicolour and I couldn’t put it down. Even though I relished the first two volumes, I do keep picking up other books instead of the third, and I think that’s because Proust does require total immersion and such a huge amount of time. That said, it is worth the effort, so I shall dig out ‘The Guermantes Way’ and get cracking!
Mar 15, 2017 @ 15:49:25
Yes, slow is going to be the way – I wish I could get on better with polyreading at the moment (totally failing) because committing to that amount of reading and nothing else is a little scary…
Mar 15, 2017 @ 14:02:32
You find Swann’s Way more difficult than The Critique of Pure Judgment or the Summa Theologica?
The whole point of all literature is to appreciate the details and language!
Mar 15, 2017 @ 15:46:52
Not difficult with its content (I was being a little tongue in cheek with the heading of this post!) but difficult in finding the time to do the books justice. I long for the days when I *could* simply sit and read all day (or at least for several hours uninterrupted.) I think Kant and Aquinas *would* be beyond me at the moment!
Mar 15, 2017 @ 16:03:48
I seem to have invented an imaginary Kant book. How funny, and sad.
The first time I read the seven volumes of Proust, I almost literally read all day. It took me three weeks or so to finish. The next time I read them over the course of a decade or more, as if they were just novels, closer to what the original readers would have done.
I recommend my second approach over my first.
Mar 15, 2017 @ 16:08:22
Just shows how little I know about Kant! :)) As for the novels, I left gaps between reading the first two which I think is a good one. There’s a danger of overkill with any author and as you say, it’s reading them more in the way original readers would have done.
Mar 15, 2017 @ 15:45:10
I recommend that you read Nabokov’s lecture on Proust if you haven’t already (and his other lectures as well). Very illuminating !
Mar 15, 2017 @ 15:54:41
Thanks! I don’t think I have so I’ll look out for it!
Mar 15, 2017 @ 15:49:56
Rob’s spot on. The issue with Proust is the one you cite – you need chunks of time so you can read it in blocks, not little bits.
Other than that though I’m not persuaded it’s that difficult and I don’t think Botton’s doing it any favours either by suggesting it is or by suggesting it’ll change your life (I love it, but it won’t unless maybe you’re reading it in the street and walk under a bus).
I tend to think of de Botton as a seller of the slightly obvious. All you need for Proust is time. That said, I do recall when I mistimed a reading and ended up reading it in 30 minute installments on my commute each day. That wasn’t good. A week’s reading and I was still in the same dinner party…
Mar 15, 2017 @ 15:57:08
Yes, I can see that the next time I have a holiday it’s going to have to be concentrated chunks. I can imagine that a half hour on the train or tube wouldn’t have been very productive. As for de Botton, I can see what you mean – the book was reasonably light, but it *has* served to give me the urge to carry on with Proust so that has to be good!
Mar 15, 2017 @ 16:41:43
I can’t imagine ever wanting to read Proust-(is that sacrilege?) especially as you say it requires long blocks of time in which to properly read it.
Mar 15, 2017 @ 17:38:02
It does, which is the joy – immersing yourself completely in a long book is something I rarely have the luxury to do nowadays!
Mar 15, 2017 @ 16:54:58
I didn’t find Proust difficult but time-consuming because I stopped the reading often and thought about things endlessly. It resonated with me so much, I lived the book. I didn’t read all of the tomes and still want to but I’ll have to restart.
That said, I’ve got this de Botton book somewhere but haven’t read it.
Mar 15, 2017 @ 17:37:35
That’s another aspect – you do want to be able to ruminate on bits as you read! I obviously need to retire early…
Mar 15, 2017 @ 19:06:15
🙂
Mar 15, 2017 @ 16:56:30
I think I accidentally replied to Ali.
Mar 15, 2017 @ 17:36:59
:))))
Mar 15, 2017 @ 17:29:38
I very much enjoyed de Botton’s take on Proust, particularly his comments on Proust and friendship and entertaining and dealing with people in general. I agree that taking your time with Proust seems to be the way, much like reading Virginia Woolf’s The Waves it is a book which needs slow and steady attention, which cannot be rushed. I am making progress on reading more slowly, but haven’t reached Proust speed yet. Maybe when I’m sixty!
Mar 15, 2017 @ 17:36:49
It *was* interesting to read de Botton’s thoughts on the different aspects of Proust – hopefully they’ll enhance my reading! 🙂
Mar 16, 2017 @ 12:48:38
You’ve made more progress than I have. I’ve read the first 25 pages of Swann’s Way about five times. I’m like you, though, I have to have consistent amounts of big chunks of time to read and get really involved with those kinds of books. I’m still trying to finish Don Quixote, although I’m enjoying it.
Mar 16, 2017 @ 14:40:37
I had the same issue with Don Quixote – I’ve read the first part and enjoyed it, but I need longer stretches of time. Plus all the constant beatings up were getting to me!
Mar 19, 2017 @ 15:50:31
I read the first of Proust’s ‘In Search of Lost Time’ which was Swann’s Way. I didn’t care for it much so I probably could have used this guide.
Mar 19, 2017 @ 17:59:53
It’s certainly useful as a pointer to some of the themes in the book – which can kind of get obscured in all the beautiful prose! 🙂
Mar 20, 2017 @ 23:35:52
Now i’ve retired I dont have the excuse of lack of time to delve into Proust in the way that is recommended. But I’m not sure I have the patience
Mar 21, 2017 @ 08:42:43
Exactly! Go for it! I’m sure you could develop the patience! 🙂
Mar 21, 2017 @ 06:46:23
It was a discussion about reading all of Proust that started Hard Book Habit (‘Let’s read all of Proust and blog it!’) before we realised that is a very limited sphere of interest, and also that we’d need to read other work along the way to keep ourselves going. I had initially thought it wouldn’t be too bad as the first is so small, not realising how much larger later volumes are, but I’m three in and will get there, even though it seems to be one a year at the moment. I too have de Botton’s book, and have found it very helpful 🙂
Mar 21, 2017 @ 08:42:18
Well done on being three in – I’m determined to get going again when I have some uninterrupted stretches of time! 🙂
Apr 07, 2017 @ 16:32:47
Every couple of years or so, I pick up the first volume in order to check if I’m ready for Proust. So far I managed to read it only once (the first part only, in which he’s remembering Combray – it was published as a separate title). I fell asleep a number of times and, nearing the end, I was getting more and more irritated by long descriptions. Which meant that I wasn’t ready. It was two years ago.. I might try it again next Winter.
I read de Botton, but couldn’t for the love of life remember what I thought of it.
Apr 07, 2017 @ 17:08:13
I think you have to be in the right place mentally and physically and time wise for Proust – I’ve red the first two and I’m sure I’ll get to the others eventually!
Apr 07, 2017 @ 17:32:25
Yes, one definitely must be..
Fingers crossed. I don’t plan to ever give up either.
Apr 07, 2017 @ 19:09:55
🙂