• WELCOME

    WELCOME

    WHY There is an ocean of secondary publications available on the work of Marcel Proust (1871-1922), especially his A La Recherche du Temps Perdu. So why add this website to them? Simply, because over the past decades, many issues were overexposed while otherwise aspects were kept under the cornucopia of prudishness. We want to bring…

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  • Myths and Facts

    Myths and Facts

    Proust-averse critics  (as of now ornamented with a neologism ‘Proustaverses’) often spread negative myths about Marcel Proust and his masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time (ISOLT). Let’s examine some of the most common myths and contrast them with the facts presented by their counterparts, the Proustophiles, as can be distilled from the extensive secondary literature. …

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  • 1. Is Proust a unworldly Neurotic? 

    1. Is Proust a unworldly Neurotic? 

     1-Proustaverses:  Proust is an oversensitive and over-intelligent man who seems to be a world-alienated recluse trapped in a self-made prison from which he spies on a fading social class and then writes an unreadable book about it.  He needs literary tricks (the Petite Madeleine, the uneven paving stones, the starched napkin, etc.) to invent a…

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  • 2. Is Proust a psychosomatic hypochondriac? 

    2. Is Proust a psychosomatic hypochondriac? 

    2-Proustaverses:  Le Petit Marcel is an imaginary sick man, a neurasthenic psychosomatic who has exaggerated his ailments his whole life to flirt with them and thus demand the attention of those around him.  2-Proustophiles:  From his fashionable articles in the Figaro, his first book “Les Plaisirs et Jours” (1896) as well as from his extensive…

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  • 3. Is Proust a spoiled, conceited, snobbish dandy? 

    3. Is Proust a spoiled, conceited, snobbish dandy? 

    3- Proustaverses  Marcel is a spoiled, conceited, snobbish mama’s boy who whines incessantly about himself. In an egocentric way – the concept of narcissism had not yet been invented – he twists his surroundings, mama at the head, friends, staff, and others around his finger to make them dance to his whimsical tune. Soft terror…

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  • 4. Was Proust a frail little guy who acted like a scared child for his entire life? 

    4. Was Proust a frail little guy who acted like a scared child for his entire life? 

    4- Proustaverses  Marcel Proust is a frail, effeminate little man who has always acted like a child and is coddled by his housekeeper Céleste. He is completely conflict-avoidant, buys affection with extravagant gifts and excessive tips, is bowed down by all sorts of fears and, afraid of his own shadow, even has his incoming mail…

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  • 5. Was Proust an opportunist who hid his sexual preference in order to be published? 

    5. Was Proust an opportunist who hid his sexual preference in order to be published? 

    5- Proustaverses  Marcel Proust is an opportunist who absolutely wants to be published and therefore – we paraphrase André Gide, head of the Nouvelle Revue Française and later Nobel laureate – hides his homosexuality behind the many heterosexual infatuations in the literary closet in a cowardly way. André Gide held this against him permanently, even…

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  • 6. Was Proust a right-wing elitist who looked down on the lower class? 

    6. Was Proust a right-wing elitist who looked down on the lower class? 

    6- Proustaverses  Marcel is an elitist snob who is only interested in being part of the ‘haute bourgeoisie’ and, if possible, the aristocracy. As a mondaine dandy and right-wing socialite, he looks down on the working class.  6- Proustophiles  Proust has a great interest in and attention to the working class. This is evidenced by…

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  • 7. Is ‘In Search of Lost Time’ a long-drawn-out asthma attack?

    7. Is ‘In Search of Lost Time’ a long-drawn-out asthma attack?

    7- Proustaverses  The entire ISOLT is a long-drawn-out asthma attack, argues Dr. George Corganian de Corganoff in his 1945 thesis6 for his doctorate in medicine.  7- Proustophiles  A strange, slightly bizarre thesis by a doctor who – with the best intentions – tries to explain the style of the long sentences. In reality, an asthmatic…

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  • 8. The ISOLT is much ado about nothing 

    8. The ISOLT is much ado about nothing 

    8- Proustaverses  The entire ISOLT is about nothing. The hilarious Monty Python sketch about the “Proust Summaries” world championship brings this to life. The writer Proust is a windbag suffering for the disease called ‘logorrhea verbositalis’ who misuses thousands of pages to ultimately have nothing essential to say. The publisher Fasquelle, whom he approaches first,…

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  • 9. Is the ISOLT an autobiography? 

    9. Is the ISOLT an autobiography? 

    9- Proustaverses  The ISOLT is an autobiography and a roman à clef, as evidenced by the large amount of secondary literature in which people try to piece together details from Marcel Proust’s real life onto what happens in the ISOLT, with some authors acting as detectives to find out who each character is based on. …

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  • Is the ISOLT an incoherent, unreadable word jumble? 

    Is the ISOLT an incoherent, unreadable word jumble? 

    10- Proustaverses  The ISOLT is an impenetrable fog with no plot or storyline, it comes from nowhere and goes nowhere. The whole work is a word jumble of a bedridden sick dandy who pours out page after page more or less at random from his pen in an ode to snobbery, while impressionistically dissecting the…

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