proust_bio

PROUST by Edmund White

1999. Wiedenfeld & Nicholson. Hardback.

This short biography of Proust is easily readable, especially
compared to Proust's own writing! I dashed through it in two days
while I was bogged in a close reading of Swann's Way in both English
and French; a very painstaking process.

White shows Proust's development and how he went from a failed novelist
and essayist to a great writer almost overnight. He finds the originals
of the great characters from "In Search of Lost Time" and explains
how Proust changed the gender of all the characters he loved to be
females.

Proust seems extraordinarily fearful of having his true sexuality
discussed, although everybody who knew him could see that he was
gay. He was akin to Liberace in this respect.

Proust inherited lots of money from his parents; enough to live
comfortably and work on his great novel. He was exploited by several
of his lovers and must have been a lot happier in his art than he was
in his life. A lifelong asthmatic, he would stay in bed for a lot of
the day and in his last years could only venture out after midnight
when the chances of exposure to dust would be at their lowest.

                                      29th December 2023.

My book reviews are at https://github.com/stucooper/booksiveread