The Proust Project

by André Aciman (Editor)

"Discovering Proust is like wandering through a totally unfamiliar land and finding it peopled with kindred spirits and sister souls and fellow countrymen . . . They speak our language, our dialect, share our blind-spots and are awkward in exactly the same way we are, just as their manner of lacing every access of sorrow with slapstick reminds us so much of how we do it when we are sad and wish to hide it, that surely we are not alone and not as strange as we feared we were. And here lies the paradox. So long as a writer tells us what he and only he can see, then surely he speaks our language." --from the preface by André Aciman

For The Proust Project , editor André Aciman asked twenty-eight writers--Shirley Hazzard, Lydia Davis, Richard Howard, Alain de Botton, Diane Johnson, Edmund White, and others--to choose a favorite passage from In Search of Lost Time and introduce it in a brief essay. Gathered together, along with the passages themselves (and a synopsis that guides the reader from one passage to the next), these essays form the perfect introduction to the greatest novel of the last century, and the perfect gift for any Proustian.

FSG will co-publish The Proust Project in a deluxe edition with Turtle Point Press, Books & Co., and Helen Marx Books.
André Aciman is the author of Out of Egypt and False Papers . He is also a frequent contributor to The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books . Aciman teaches comparative literature at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.For The Proust Project , editor André Aciman asked twenty-eight writers—among them Shirley Hazzard, Lydia Davis, Richard Howard, Alain de Botton, Diane Johnson, Edmund White, Geoffrey O'Brien, Wayne Koestenbaum, Susan Minot, Andrew Solomon, and Louis Auchincloss—to choose a favorite passage from In Search of Lost Time and introduce it in a brief essay.

As gathered togethered here, along with the translated passages themselves (and a synopsis that guides the reader from one passage to the next), these essays form the perfect introduction to the greatest novel of the last century. "Discovering Proust is like wandering through a totally unfamiliar land and finding it peopled with kindred spirits and sister souls and fellow countrymen . . . They speak our language, our dialect, share our blind-spots, and are awkward in exactly the same way we are, just as their manner of lacing every access of sorrow with slapstick reminds us so much of how we do it when we are sad and wish to hide it, that surely we are not alone and not as strange as we feared we were. And here lies the paradox. So long as a writer tells us what he and only he can see, then surely he speaks our language."— André Aciman, from his Preface

"Editor Andre Aciman's introductory essays gracefully place the individual passages in the larger context of the multivolume novel with great skill. He also provides the most penetrating essay on In Search of Lost Time in his preface."— Barbara Fisher, The Boston Globe

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Books About Books, Literary Criticism, Literature

248 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2004

About the author

André Aciman was born in Alexandria, Egypt and is an American memoirist, essayist, novelist, and scholar of seventeenth-century literature. He has also written many essays and reviews on Marcel Proust. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, The Paris Review, The New Republic, Condé Nast Traveler as well as in many volumes of The Best American Essays. Aciman received his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Harvard University, has taught at Princeton and Bard and is Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature at The CUNY Graduate Center. He is currently chair of the Ph. D. Program in Comparative Literature and founder and director of The Writers' Institute at the Graduate Center.

Aciman is the author of the Whiting Award-winning memoir Out of Egypt (1995), an account of his childhood as a Jew growing up in post-colonial Egypt. Aciman has published two other books: False Papers: Essays in Exile and Memory (2001), and a novel Call Me By Your Name (2007), which was chosen as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and won the Lambda Literary Award for Men's Fiction (2008). His forthcoming novel Eight White Nights (FSG) will be published on February 14, 2010

Reviews

[Eylül Görmüş · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Kayıp Zamanın İzinde'yi okumaya başlayınca, artık onu bitirebileceğimizi düşünmeyiz, ta ki son sayfalara gelip de onu gerçekten bitiriyor olduğumuz zamana kadar. Nasıl olur da her geniş, yavaş, aheste dönemeçte romancısına meydan okuyan bir romanın, hızın karşısında kıkırdayan, kronolojiye gülen, en iyi okurun en sabırlı dikkatini sınayan bir romanın, nasıl olur da bir sonu olabilir? 'Bugün Proust'u bitirdim' ne anlama gelir? Proust'u kim bitirebilir?..."

Hakikaten, ne kadar güzel bir soru; Proust'u kim bitirebilir? Okuduktan sonra sizi tamamen başka biri yapan ve bir gölge gibi hayatınız boyunca sizi kovalayacak olan o roman bitmiş midir? Kayıp Zamanın İzinde biter mi?

André Aciman'ın Proust projesini geçtiğimiz yıl Proust videosu için hazırlanırken kurcalamıştım, bu defa baştan sona ve dikkatle okudum. Kayıp Zamanın İzinde'den seçilen türlü pasajlar var kitapta, ardından o pasaja dair bir yazarın analizi ve/veya değerlendirmesini okuyoruz. Aslında bence çok iyi bir fikir bu, ancak uygulamayı fikrin kendisi kadar iyi bulmadım. Kimi yazarların bölümleri çok iyi yazılmışken kimilerininkiler epeyce zayıf kalmıştı. Yine de Kayıp Zamanın İzinde'ye bir nevi geri döndürdü beni ve iyi geldi, çünkü özlemişim.

Bence bu kitap benim yaptığım gibi Kayıp Zamanın İzinde'yi okuyup üzerinden biraz zaman geçtikten sonra okunabilir. Bana ne bıraktı / bu yazarlar ne görmüş kıyaslaması yapmak keyif vericiydi. Ama hep dediğimi yineleyeceğim: Proust'u okumak gibi bir seçeneceğimiz varken Proust üzerine konuşmak çok saçma. O seçeneğin yanında söyleyeceğimiz her şey çok yavan, çok sıradan, çok vasat.

Çünkü yani... Proust bir sihir.

Yine de analizlerden sevdiğim son bir alıntıyla bitireyim: "Öyle görünüyor ki, gerçeklik çoğunlukla onu bulmayı umduğumuz yerde olmuyor. Sonuçta asıl önemli olan, ihtimaller dünyası değil, süreklilik dünyası. Sanat eserleri, değişmeyen bir şekilde ve ustaca, etrafımızı saran o geçici olaylara da şekil veriyorlar ve ancak bu ikisi arasındaki tesadüfü ayırt ettiğimizde (ya da hayal ettiğimizde) âşık olabiliyoruz, bir düşünceye, bir kadına ya da bir görüntüye."

[Bucket · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of reactions to some of the key passages in In Search of Lost Time. There are 28 different writers, all die-hard Proustians, who wax emotional (mostly) in response to their particular favorite passage.

I'm not sure that I really "got" Aciman's concept until I was halfway through this book - either that or the essays drastically improved as the book continued. As I read the first half, I was significantly underwhelmed. The essays seemed too short and as though they had little to say worth saying. It felt more or less like an I-love-Proust-so-much-*giggles* fest. As I continued though, this book began to speak to me more and more. The excerpts from Proust's novel became more and more lengthy (and therefore more and more dive-into-able) and the essays seemed a little more worth reading. I enjoyed Susan Minot's discussion of Proust's "obsession to penetrate the minds of others" and Shirley Hazzard's discussion about translating Proust. I also felt a real emotional pull from Jeremy Eichler's essay about the Vinteuil phrase and how it helps Marcel (the narrator) "glimpse the mysteries of another self that lie[s] hopelessly beyond the reach of language." The Proust Project is most definitely only worth reading once you've completed In Search of Lost Time. It's a celebration for the converted, not an introduction or explanation of any kind.

Themes: Proust, reading, memory, love, art, time, translation

[Yuval · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm still too daunted to begin The Great Re-Read of Proust, which I know is more a question of when rather than if. So I really appreciated the great idea for this book--where several different authors choose their favorite passage from Proust and explain why--as a way of both remembering the incomparable richness of this novel and reminding me why a full re-read really is a must.

While a few of the author commentaries were either obnoxious faux-Proust or (shockingly) a regurgitation of the plot for the passage you just read, more often than not they were illuminating and lovely. The highlight for me was Jeremy Eichler's analysis of Marcel listening to Vinteuil's septet. The selection of excerpts shows a good sense of balance in capturing as many of the multi-faceted qualities that make the novel as a whole such a unique experience.

Unfortunately, I don't think this will be very satisfying for those who haven't read the full novel; this book is ultimately better suited for those who have already been overwhelmed by the experience of the whole and who want to carefully dip their toe back in the Proust deep-end.

[Caterina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Su gibi akıp giden, Proust’a ve Kayıp Zamanın İzinde’ye dair okuduğum en güzel kitaplardan. Bunda eserin makaleler şeklinde hazırlanmış olması kadar, bu makalelerin sahiplerinin çok değerli ve alanda uzman kişilerden seçilmiş olmasının da büyük etkisi var.

Bölüm aralarında makale içeriklerine dair anımsatma alıntılarının olması da hatırlatmaya yardımcı.

Seriyi bitirdikten sonra mutlaka okunması gereken kitaplardan diyebilirim.

[heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection is fairly hit or miss. I like the idea of excerpting Proust's text (in English) and then including a personal essay. It seems like the contributors frequently misread both Proust and the intentions of the anthology, in a way that is totally unengaging. Lydia Davis' essay, though, is astonishing. I like this book because I'm obsessed with Proust. Someone not as much of a fangirl/boy might not feel the same way.

[Özgür Balmumcu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kitabın kurgusu itibarıyla Kayıp Zamanın İzinde serisinin hemen ardından okunması kitabın kendisine bakışı değiştirebilir. Çünkü kitapta bolca alıntı var Kayıp Zamanın İzinde serisinden. Hatta kitabın neredeyse yarısı romandan pasajlar. Diğer yarısı da edebiyat ile doğrudan veya dolaylı ilgili olan 28 insanın özelde bu pasajlara ve genelde seriye yönelik düşünceleri. Pasajları bu kişiler seçmiş anladığım kadarıyla, en sevdikleri kısımlar adı altında. Dolayısıyla serinin hemen ardından okuyorsanız bu kitabı, alıntılardan oluşan bir yarısı şişkinlik hissi yaratabiliyor. Aciman'ın giriş yazısı çok iyi. Farklı kişilerden gelen çözümlemeler de. Ancak bu çözümlemelerin kitapta daha fazla yer tutmasını beklerdim, isterdim. Sonuç olarak, bu eseri seriyi okuduktan çok sonra okumanın daha verimli olacağını düşünüyorum tekrar hissine kapılmamak için. Sahi alıntılanan bölümler çok iyi olduğundan, onları tekrar okumanın da çok aydınlatıcı olduğunu belirtmeliyim. Böylece Proust evrenini şimdilik tamamladım. Bir süre edebiyata dair okuma yapmak da istemiyorum çünkü Proust'un üzerine kimi okursam ona haksızlık olacakmış gibi hissediyorum. Bir süre edebiyat dışı okumalarla devam edeceğim.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book about Proust's "À la recherche du temps perdu" that not only includes passages from each of the seven volumes but writers commenting on those selfsame passages? I doesn't get much better than that, except if you leave out the commentary and just have 100% Proust. I absolutely love Proust's "À la recherche du temps perdu" so I had to read this book. If you love Proust, then you will appreciate this book immensely. If you do not, screw you and you lack of respect! Ha! Seriously, if you don't love Proust than this book likely lacks the desired affect, but you should read it anyway because there is Proust's writing in it, and some great writers write about Proust's writing.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series of short essays on passages selected from Proust is a celebration of his style, his masterful prose, and his ability to capture moments that wring true to readers almost a century later, and the essayists share and comment on the passages that resounded with moments of their own lives.

I read this to prepare to jump back into Proust, having only the final volume left to read.

[Canan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kayıp Zamanın İzinde kitabını okuyup aradan biraz zaman geçmesine izin verin ve tekrar bu kitap ile “zamanın izinde” kısa pasajlar ile yolculuğa çıkın. Bence çok keyifli bir kitap ama içinde çeviri hatası, imla hatası, baskı hatası.. ne ararsanız var. Yakışmamış Sel Yayınlarına. Umarım gözden geçirilmiş yeni bir baskısı ile tekrar raflarda yer alır.

[Elise Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful concept, but some authors were better than others - meaning, more profound, with something new to teach someone who has been reading Proust and supplementary material for 4 years! This was a terrific book to read now that I have finished Proust's 3,300 page (my version) masterpiece. Not only was I able to re-read choice passages of the text, but also to reflect on them in new ways. Highly recommended, if you've read the whole thing or don't mind spoilers.

[Cory]

I am enjoying dipping into this book periodically. Far from being an academic book it features short essays from various writers talking about their favorite section of The Book. I'm hoping reading this will lead me closer to reading the original text!

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great smattering of recherches from some of the most respected Proust scholars of our time.

[Claire S]

Interesting..

[Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple dozen writers pick a favorite passage of Proust, then write a brief (usually far too brief) bit about it.