... splendid ... Prendergast’s organization is more fruitful than logical...These headings allow Prendergast to quarry nuggets of gold from the vast complexity of Proust’s book ... Prendergast is not biographical or historical, though he is able to draw on his knowledge of Proust’s tastes and foibles. He can relate asthma to the labyrinth of his sentences (Prendergast reminds us that Walter Benjamin traced the very syntax of Proust’s sentences to his ailment) and to his devotion to music in his compositional practices.
Prendergast created this guidebook from remnants of a previous book, 'a pile of unused jottings and scribbles set aside…on the theme of walks'. One is reminded of the shoemaker’s last pieces of leather transformed overnight into a very fine pair of shoes – these shoes walk the reader through Marcel Proust’s Á la recherche du temps perdu in great style ... Delving into the finer points of language, sentence structure and etymology, Prendergast’s approach feels Proustian in its scope and attention but above all in his witty response to the French novelist’s wicked sense of humour ... And indeed it is Proust’s examination of the wasted side of our lives which Prendergast highlights with such flair and wit. Scholarly, rich and succinct ... This volume is bound to resurrect readers’ interest of Á la recherche du temps perdu – although it does contain plot spoilers for newbies. In Prendergast’s hands the return journey is irresistible.
... [a] magnificent and very living book ... We recognize, along with Proust’s obsessions we so delight in observing, Prendergast’s own, such as the counterfactual, recurring and recurring, elaborated once as an 'absolutely decisive negative counterfactual.' Whoof. A sharp stylist himself, he displays his acute humor in describing the play of countering statement by opposed statement as both impish and astute. We are invited into his text.
Prendergast generally cites remarkable Proust passages solely in English (only occasionally quoting from the original French text); Proust’s brilliance as a writer still comes through in the translated texts, but Prendergast’s analysis might have been enhanced by including more passages in French ... This book will prompt many to reread Proust. For readers interested in 20th-century French literature and individuals with Proustian affinities.
Prendergast, the general editor of Penguin’s English reissues of Proust’s work, sheds light on the novelist’s rich sensory world in this bibliophile’s treasure chest ... Well-chosen quotes enrich the text, as does Prendergast’s dry humor ... his one’s not to be missed.
