Proust's Way: A Field Guide to Paperback – Illustrated, August 17, 2001

Quality product. Reasonable price with speedy delivery service. Highly recommended.

Sold as used but nook is newSo I pleased with the sellerAuthor's style is engaging and informativeAuthor gives overview and chapter by chapter breakdown

"In Search of Lost Time" goes on and on and on to the point you will be searching for your own lost time. Dipping into Shattuck's guide helps to keep your spinning thoughts in their proper orbit. I checked five stars, although reading Proust has raised (for me at least) many questions this book simply does not seem to address. At least Shattuck provides a really decent basic orientation. I am not certain a Kindle edition is the best way to go on a "Field Guide" where flipping back and forth between pages is helpful, but I was anxious to have this in a hurry. Odd -- to be in a hurry when reading Proust! Not advised.

I purchased this book as an aid to retrospective understanding of my first foray into Proust, Swann's Way, which I had a attract-repel relationship with all the way through. I hoped that I would gain some enlightenment from Shattuck about Proust's magnum opus, and that reading his book would help me decide whether I want to tackle the second volume. I am only 64 pages into the book, but the critical analysis seems very good. The book itself, however, is printed on very cheap cream-colored paper, and the back cover contains blurbs about Shattuck's book from three people who are not identified in any away except for their names. I found that so odd that I Googled Shattuck to see what kind of a credentials he had to write on this subject. A lot, evidently, so there is nothing lacking on that score. The only drawback, therefore, that I find to this book is the lack of aesthetic pleasure in reading from, and turning page after page of, a very cheaply done edition.

Shattuck was one of the best commentators on Proust. His prose is elegant and easy to read and his knowledge of his subject is second to none.

Shattuck's guide is at times brilliant, at others, pedantic. The opening chapters about Proust's life and ways to approach the novel are surprisingly the best-an excellent resource for beginning Proust readers. I highly recommended them. The middle chapters outlining Proust's "vision" and aesthetics make some intelligent and convincing points, but are over-general and are curiously earnest in their tone. I think he's very articulate about the "double I" (Marcel vs. Narrator), but neologisms like "soul error" to explain Marcel's dissipation are confusing, and the diagrams seem to function to convince rather than to elucidate. Chapter VIII, "Continuing Disputes," contains some useful information for scholars about the current state of Proust studies, but borders on self-indulgence. And while I appreciate his shattering criticism of the "critique génétique" behind the new Pléiade edition of the novel, at other times Shattuck just sounds like the curmudgeon of Proust criticism. The book ends with several appendices, which make the book conclude in a stutter. In conclusion: I would recommend the first chapters to beginning Proust readers, but beyond that it did not add much to my understanding of Proust's novel.

A great guide very different from the others. Definitely worth reading it.

GREAT guide for reading Proust. Made all the difference in my understanding and enjoyment of this great piece of literature