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    Simply Proust
    Simply Proust
    Simply Proust
    Ebook155 pages4 hours

    Simply Proust

    By Jack Jordan

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    “Simply Proust pulls off with ease the arduous task of making Marcel Proust’s masterwork accessible, without sacrificing none of the complexity that makes it one of the most important novels of the 20th Century. To do this, Jack Jordan vividly paints vast the cultural, scientific, and philosophical background that fed In Search of Lost Time. Armed with this knowledge, both new and repeat readers are bound to gain fresh insights into the brilliance of Proust’s novel.”
    —Hervé G. Picherit, Associate Professor of French, University of Texas at Austin


    Marcel Proust (1871-1922) was born in Paris during a time of great social and political upheaval, a ferment that is dealt with extensively in his monumental work In Search of Lost Time. He was a sickly child and spent the earlier part of his short life pursuing a variety of sometimes frivolous activities, which led to his not being taken seriously as a writer. It was not until 1909, when he was 38 years old, that he began work on the groundbreaking novel for which he is known, a task that consumed the rest of his life. 


    In Simply Proust, Professor Jack Louis Jordan presents an incisive, yet thoroughly accessible, introduction to Proust’s landmark work, helping the reader to fully appreciate the scope of the author’s achievement, as well as the fascinating process that underlay its creation. Emphasizing the fundamental role of psychology and the unconscious, Jordan shows how Proust’s methodology and our understanding of his novel are connected, and how this makes for a unique and endlessly revealing literary experience. 


    At once philosophical, psychological, and deeply human, Simply Proust offers an invaluable entry point into a masterpiece of world literature and takes the measure of the flawed and brilliant man who transformed the material of his life into a transcendent work of art.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimply Charly
    Release dateFeb 4, 2021
    ISBN9781943657445
    Author

    Jack Jordan

    Jack Jordan is the global bestselling author of Anything for Her, My Girl, A Woman Scorned, Before Her Eyes, Night by Night, Do No Harm and Conviction, and an Amazon No. 1 bestseller in the UK, Canada and Australia. Do No Harm was described as ‘chilling’ by Sarah Pearse, ‘brilliant’ by Lesley Kara and ‘pulse-racing’ by Louise Candlish. It was an instant Times bestseller on first publication and a Waterstones Thriller of the Month pick.  To find out more, follow Jack on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok: @JackJordanBooks @jackjordan_author @jackjordan_author

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      Book preview

      Simply Proust - Jack Jordan

      Simply Proust

      Jack Jordan

      Simply Charly

      Copyright © 2020 by Jack Jordan

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at the address below.

      Cover Illustration: José Ramos

      Cover Design: Scarlett Rugers

      ISBN (Print): 978-1-943657-20-9

      ISBN (eBook): 978-1-943657-44-5

      Contents

      Praise for Simply Proust

      Other Great Lives

      Series Editor's Foreword

      Preface

      À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time)

      1.Marcel Proust’s Early Days

      2.Out and About

      3.In Search of Lost Time

      4.Final Years

      5.The Narrator: Travels in the Space-Time Continuum

      6.A Search for Certainty

      7.Transportation

      8.Proust and the Human Sciences

      9.Proust the Naturalist

      10.Three Types of Observation

      11.The Reader: Riding the Proust Wave

      Sources

      Suggested Reading

      About the Author

      A Word from the Publisher

      Praise for Simply Proust

      "Simply Proust is an excellent introduction and guide to Proust’s fascinating life and his monumental work In Search of Lost Time. Themes such as love, jealousy, snobbery, voyeurism, and brothels, as well as characters in Proust’s novel, are treated in an engaging, entertaining manner. Jack Jordan’s book is a joy to read, full of interesting information, and is highly recommended."

      —Cynthia Gamble, Honorary Research Fellow, University of Exeter, UK

      "Simply Proust pulls off with ease the arduous task of making Marcel Proust’s masterwork accessible, sacrificing none of the complexity that makes it one of the most important novels of the 20th Century. To do this, Jack Jordan vividly paints the vast cultural, scientific, and philosophical background that fed In Search of Lost Time. Armed with this knowledge, both new and repeat readers are bound to gain fresh insights into the brilliance of Proust’s novel."

      —Hervé G. Picherit, Associate Professor of French, University of Texas at Austin

      In this fast-paced book, Jack Jordan condenses a lifetime of teaching and research on Proust into a lively and accessible format. Jordan introduces us to Proust, his family, and his friends, all the while taking care to explain and respect Proust’s own thoughts on the gap between life and work, between the social self and the hidden, creative self. Jordan inspires us to read, or reread, Proust’s novel, inviting us to ‘Take those long sentences and paragraphs as a surfer would big waves.’ Jordan brings out, in particular, the modernity of Proust’s novel: its love of speed, motion, and technology; its engagement with the latest scientific developments in physics, evolution, and psychology.

      —Jennifer Rushworth, Associate Professor in French and Comparative Literature, University College London, UK

      "Professor Jack Jordan’s richly contextualized introduction to Proust revisits the intricate and quasi-mythologized relationship between the writer’s life and work in surprisingly lucid ways. From biographical facts through contemporaneous science and sociology to novelistic interpretations, these 11 highly accessible and introspective chapters enthrall the reader to embark on an exciting journey through the Proustian ‘space-time continuum.’ Simply Proust is written with considerable erudition, witticism, and poise, and is also sprinkled with practical tips for a literary amateur’s budding Proust pilgrimage."

      —Shuangyi Li, Research Fellow in French and Comparative Literature, Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University, Sweden

      "Jack Jordan’s Simply Proust is a perfect introduction to In Search of Lost Time, one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, as well as to its author, Marcel Proust. After an excellent biographical section that connects Proust’s life to his work, it presents and analyzes the multiple facets of the novel in a compact and accessible fashion. Simply Proust especially emphasizes the French novelist’s modern outlook and shows how his view of the world is closely linked to the scientific discoveries of his time. Yet, it also demonstrates how In Search of Lost Time is a fascinating voyage of self-discovery for today’s reader."

      —Pascal Ifri, editor-in-chief of Bulletin Marcel Proust & Professor of French, Brown University

      "Although simplicity is not usually associated with In Search of Lost Time, Professor Jack Jordan does a remarkable job of rendering Marcel Proust’s masterpiece accessible. The engaging biography section describes how Proust drew on real-life figures and on his own complex emotions to capture an entire era so vividly that readers feel they have lived there themselves. A thematic section provides a catalog of the perspectives, techniques, and patterns Proust uses to weave the 3000 pages of his seven novels into a brilliant whole capable of changing our views on our own lives. A deeply informed and highly readable introduction."

      —Catherine Le Gouis, Professor of French, Mount Holyoke College

      "Simply Proust provides a wonderfully engaging look not only at the life and work of Marcel Proust, but also at the convoluted relationship that obtains between them. Demonstrating wide-ranging knowledge of Proust’s monumental masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time, and of the cultural, personal, and social contexts in which it was written, Jack Jordan brings out the astonishing narrative richness, variability—and sheer strangeness—of Proust’s work, moving effortlessly between discussions of—among other things—the significance of new technologies (including planes, trains, and automobiles) in the novel, of the relationship between Einstein’s theories of relativity and Proust’s own investigations in the space-time continuum, of Proust’s attempts to describe the workings of the unconscious, and of the relationship between the experience of reading Proust and of hypnotism. Written with enviable clarity and humor, Simply Proust is also, on a more light-hearted note, a rich source of funny anecdotes from Proust’s life, including details of his addiction to ice cream."

      —Thomas Baldwin, Reader in French and co-director of the Centre for Modern European Literature, University of Kent

      Other Great Lives

      Simply Austen by Joan Klingel Ray

      Simply Beckett by Katherine Weiss

      Simply Beethoven by Leon Plantinga

      Simply Chekhov by Carol Apollonio

      Simply Chomsky by Raphael Salkie

      Simply Chopin by William Smialek

      Simply Darwin by Michael Ruse

      Simply Descartes by Kurt Smith

      Simply Dickens by Paul Schlicke

      Simply Dirac by Helge Kragh

      Simply Eliot by Joseph Maddrey

      Simply Faulkner by Philip Weinstein

      Simply Gödel by Richard Tieszen

      Simply Hegel by Robert L. Wicks

      Simply Hitchcock by David Sterritt

      Simply Joyce by Margot Norris

      Simply Nietzsche by Peter Kail

      Simply Proust by Jack Jordan

      Simply Riemann by Jeremy Gray

      Simply Sartre by David Detmer

      Simply Tolstoy by Donna Tussing Orwin

      Simply Stravinsky by Pieter van den Toorn

      Simply Turing by Michael Olinick

      Simply Wittgenstein by James C. Klagge

      Series Editor's Foreword

      Simply Charly’s Great Lives series offers brief but authoritative introductions to the world’s most influential people—scientists, artists, writers, economists, and other historical figures whose contributions have had a meaningful and enduring impact on our society.

      Each book provides an illuminating look at the works, ideas, personal lives, and legacies these individuals left behind, also shedding light on the thought processes, specific events, and experiences that led these remarkable people to their groundbreaking discoveries or other achievements. Additionally, every volume explores various challenges they had to face and overcome to make history in their respective fields, as well as the little-known character traits, quirks, strengths, frailties, myths, and controversies that sometimes surrounded these personalities.

      Our authors are prominent scholars and other top experts who have dedicated their careers to exploring each facet of their subjects’ work and personal lives.

      Unlike many other works that are merely descriptions of the major milestones in a person’s life, the Great Lives series goes above and beyond the standard format and content. It brings substance, depth, and clarity to the sometimes complex lives and works of history’s most powerful and influential people.

      We hope that by exploring this series, readers will not only gain new knowledge and understanding of what drove these geniuses, but also find inspiration for their own lives. Isn’t this what a great book is supposed to do?

      Charles Carlini, Simply Charly

      New York City

      Preface

      When someone asks if you have read Marcel Proust (1871–1922), the question usually refers to his 3,000-page novel, In Search of Lost Time. Though a prolific writer in numerous genres, without the publication of his masterpiece it is unlikely that his name would have become as well-known as it has. Some individuals who have read In Search of Lost Time consider it to be the greatest novel ever written. Others are more limited in their praise, describing it as the greatest novel of the 20th century or in the French language. Whatever the case may be, it is rare, if not unique to Proust, that a writer had devoted his entire life to creating one novel whose vision reaches from the details of his own life and times to a metaphorical description of the essence of man.

      For many, Proust’s name is also often synonymous with difficult to understand. The most obvious reasons for this are the size of the novel and the (in)famous length of some of his sentences. Take those long sentences and paragraphs as a surfer would big waves. Enjoy the ride as long as you can, then have fun falling into what a British academic Malcolm Bowie called the large tidal movements that make up Proust’s gritty, breezy, and salty book. Let yourself go and enjoy letting the currents take you where you have not been before.

      Since Proust first tried to publish his novel, some readers have had difficulty understanding the lack of an obvious chronological development in characters and plot. Some have found his descriptions of the very ordinary experiences and things that make up daily life to be boring. Swann’s Way, the first of the seven volumes that make up In Search of Lost Time, was rejected several times, most famously by André Gide, editor of La Nouvelle Revue Française, the leading French publisher at the time. He later said it was the biggest mistake of his career. Alfred Humblot, the general editor of Ollendorf, Proust’s second choice, also rejected it.

      My dear friend, Humblot wrote. I might be dead from the neck up, but rack my brains as I may, I fail to understand why a man needs thirty pages to describe how he tosses and turns in his bed before falling asleep.

      His reaction was not uncommon. But, while seeing what lies on the surface in Proust’s novel, he did not perceive what lies below the mundane, ordinary experiences shared by everyone. The times spent falling asleep and waking up are precious parts of the territory that make up the novel’s quest. They are the bridges between each person’s conscious and unconscious states and can ultimately lead one to the underlying meaning of his novel, which Proust described as a series of novels of the Unconscious.

      Proust finally had to publish Swann’s Way himself. Despite its slow start, the praise for this innovative novel started pouring in. The numerous translations that are still being done attest to this and the rest of In Search of Lost Time’s continuing, universal appeal; properly presented, these aspects are part of what can make the novel more appealing and better understood by modern readers.

      Though Proust’s novel reflects so well today’s modern, relativistic worldview, it is also rich in the particulars of his time. While not an autobiography, this masterpiece is profoundly rooted in his life. He used what he learned from his family, his friends, himself, and the world he lived in and observed with the passion of an artist and the detached perspective of a scientist to create the world of his novel. He enthusiastically embraced, observed, analyzed, and wrote about who and what he experienced—from the smallest details to the most general laws he saw governing man and the world. The end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th was a period of great change in science, technology, psychology, and art. Man’s relationship to the world around him was being changed by the popular use of trains and the introduction of cars and planes; the increased speed changed his relationship to time and space. Distance was no longer fixed, time and space no longer absolutes.

      The arts lie at the heart of Proust’s novel, but the sciences provide the tools needed to arrive at the end of the search. Chief among them is psychology. It provided a scientific methodology to reach the essence of self and the terminology to express

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