The Thumbnail Book Reviews

by John Q McDonald --- 27 October 2006

Marcel Proust

by Edmund White

Turn-of-the-20th-Century author Marcel Proust is now infamous, of course, for his interminable sentence structure and the cork-lined bedroom in which he spent the last years of his short life. Proust's massive novel is now considered a masterpiece (perhaps the masterpiece) of the 20th century. His nervous aversion to noise, and his miserable asthma attacks, justifiably kept him gloomily confined to that cork-lined room. Proust has, elsewhere, the massive biography he deserves. This book, however, is a short, fast-moving, and breezy biography from the Penguin Lives series. Edmund White has a grasp of the world in which Proust moved, and the cultural restrictions of his life as a homosexual. Indeed, Proust's homosexuality is the one thread that White follows through Proust's life. We read of the many conflicts he experiences in his writing in opposition to his life, and of the obsessive quality of his desires and loves. Proust transformed his homosexual experiences into the largely heterosexual relationships in his novel, though he did not shy away from the topic at all. Many key characters in the book are gay, after all. However, this biography may not be the best introduction to Proust or his writing. One may not want to have such a highly colored perspective before at least dabbling in In Search of Lost Time. White argues that Proust's homosexuality is the defining element of his literary experience. This focus may also be a result of the short form of the biography. White doesn't have the luxury of space that other biographers have exploited to greater affect. This book, while a good introduction to one aspect of Proust's existence, albeit a key aspect, leaves the reader with a limited appreciation for his life. With its thoughtful bibliography, though, the book does open doors to the reader who intends to read more by and about Marcel Proust.

[Mail John][To List]

Also by Edmund White: [The Flâneur] [City Boy]

[Other books by and about Marcel Proust]

[Other Biography and History ]