The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 8 June 2008
by Edmund Wilson
In the early twentieth century, European and American literature were undergoing another shift in tone and attitude, typified by such inventive authors as James Joyce and Gertrude Stein. Edmund Wilson termed this a shift toward Symbolism. In his analysis, symbolism was a species of late romanticism, as distinct from classicism. In other words, symbolism was a shift toward the intensely personal, having evolved from the romantic and in contrast to the global and historic themes of classical literature. In this book, Wilson looks at six authors who, for him, typify this modern shift toward a very personal literature, W. B. Yeats, Paul Valéry, T. S. Eliot, Marcel Proust, James Joyce and Gertrude Stein. This mini-review is based only on Wilson's introduction and his chapter on Proust, but, if the perception and sensitivity displayed in that chapter is in any way typical, then the entire study should be a highly recommended book. In this study, published in 1931, Wilson presents us with a brilliant exegesis on Proust's massive (and at the time, still new) novel A la Recherche du Temps Perdu. He takes us through the entire story, no mean feat considering the complexity, beauty, and dauntingly long sentences the for which the book is infamous. Nevertheless, Wilson weaves together the primary threads of Proust's thought and the purpose of his definitive work. Few other writers have so concisely captured the themes and inner structure of what some consider the definitive 20th century novel. And, of course, Wilson fits all this into his overall theme of symbolism as a then-new movement in modern post-war (World War 1) literature. In the latter portions of the essay, Wilson also fits Proust's work into the grim context of his life. Proust famously lived sequestered in a smoky bedroom for the last years of his life, suffering from neurotic and asthmatic illness. Wilson casually glazes over Proust's homosexuality and the complex psychology of how Proust integrated this hidden corner of his psyche into the book. But his overall picture of Proust, how he lived in his times, and the book he is so justly famous for, is brilliantly concise. A must-read for any Proust scholar or fan.