How Proust Can Change Your Life
How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton
Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd (January 11, 2010) | ISBN: 1742675522 | Language English | Audio CD in MP3/64Kbps | 107 MB
Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd (January 11, 2010) | ISBN: 1742675522 | Language English | Audio CD in MP3/64Kbps | 107 MB
This is a genius-level piece of writing that manages to blend literary biography with self-help and tongue-in-cheek with the profound. The quirky, early 1900s French author Marcel Proust acts as the vessel for surprisingly impressive nuggets of wisdom on down-to-earth topics such as why you should never sleep with someone on the first date, how to protect yourself against lower back pain, and how to cope with obnoxious neighbors. Here's proof that our ancestors had just as much insight as the gurus du jour and perhaps a lot more wit. De Botton simultaneously pokes fun at the self-help movement and makes a significant contribution to its archives. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Generally writers fall into one of two camps: those who feel that one can't write without having a firm grasp on Proust, and those who, like Virginia Woolf, are crippled by his influence. De Botton, the author of On Love, The Romantic Movement and Kiss and Tell, obviously falls into the former category. But rather than an endless exegesis on memory, de Botton has chosen to weave Proust's life, work, friends and era into a gently irreverent, tongue-in-cheek self-help book. For example, in the chapter titled "How to Suffer Successfully," de Botton lists poor Proust's many difficulties (asthma, "awkward desires," sensitive skin, a Jewish mother, fear of mice), which is essentially a funny way of telling the reader quite a lot about the man's life. Next he moves on to Proust's little thesis that because we only really think when distressed, we shouldn't worry about striving for happiness so much as "pursuing ways to be properly and productively unhappy." De Botton then cheerily judges various characters of A la recherche against their author's maxims. At the beginning, when de Botton drags his own girlfriend into a tortuous and not terribly successful digression, readers may be skeptical, but they will be won over by his whimsical relation of Proust's lessons?essentially an exhortation to slow down, pay attention and learn from life. Is it profound? No. Does this add something new to Proust scholarship? Probably not. But it's a real pleasure to read someone who treats this sacrosanct subject as something that is still vital and vigorous. 25,000 first printing; author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Alain de Botton - How Proust Can Change Your Life
Alain de Botton - How Proust Can Change Your Life
Audiobook | ISBN-10: 0679779159 | English | MP3 64.00 kbps | 83 MB
Philosophy, Psychology, Biography
Philosophy, Psychology, Biography
Alain de Botton has written a highly amusing yet informative book which really does tell you everything you wanted to know about Proust but were afraid to ask! Taking as its starting point the life of the celebrated French writer and eccentric, this book shows how your life can be 'improved' via his work, with advice such as 'How To Suffer Successfully', 'How To Be Happy In Love' etc. Samuel West's brilliant and spirited reading includes a 15-second precis of all 7 volumes of the novel "In Search Of Lost Time" ("A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu) inspired by the unforgettable Monty Python sketch "The All England Summarize Proust Competition"! You''ll learn from this tape - but you'll laugh while you're doing it!
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