Product Description

`Delightful'

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9668 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Review
'Gets to the novel's troubled heart... [but] you do not need to have read a page of Proust to appreciate this beautiful book... magnificent'
--The Daily Telegraph

Review
`An intelligent and passionate introduction from a painter who deeply understands Proust ... this book seduces us with its ... easy access to gems of Proust's wit'

Review
`Academics, art historians or philosophical bookworms, you would be hard pushed to find a more exciting tome ... an extraordinary read'

Customer Reviews

Beacons of light when you're adrift in a sea of memory
For anyone struggling with Proust's labyrinthine 'In Search of Lost Time', this book provides a visual guide. Karpeles has tracked every reference to specific paintings in the six volume novel and has placed a reproduction of the picture alongside an extract from the text in which it is referred to.

One product of this exercise is to emphasise Proust's art historical knowledge.He spent many hours studying at the Louvre in his youth and built up a mental catalogue of works which later became embedded in the text.

More importantly, in both the juxtaposition of text and picture and in a wonderfully illuminating introductory essay, Karpeles provides persuasive evidence that Proust's devotion to works of art can have a major impact on our understanding of one of the most important, influential and unread books.

There are two reasons for witholding five stars; the first is the size of the reproductions, which are rarely full page and inevitably this means that it is difficult to search for detail, and the second is the lack of a specific reference back to the novel itself, making it difficult to use this volume to consult the original text. But these are minor concerns given the pleasure and illumination to be obtained.

Paintings in Proust
This is a delicious book and has already given me a lot of background understanding to reading Proust's "In search of lost time". I would recommend it as an introduction to reading his actual work.