About this title: Alain de Botton's first work of nonfiction is a tribute to Marcel Proust, in the guise of a somewhat unusual self-help book. Consisting of Proust's opinions on subjects ranging from vacations to sex, it is, in the end, an illuminating portrait of Proust by de Botton. Listed by Salon as one of the Ten Best Books of 1997.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books USA
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780679779155ISBN:0679779159
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 208 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books USA
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780679779155ISBN:0679779159
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 208 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Edition: 12th printing
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books; Vintage International Ser., New York
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780679779155ISBN:0679779159
Description: Fine. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. 197 pp.; 21 cm. Tight, clean copy. "Alain de Botton combines two unlikely genres--literary biography and self-help manual--in the hilarious and unexpectedly practical How Proust Can Change Your Life. Who would have thought that Marcel Proust, one of the most important writers of our century, could provide us with such a rich source of insight into how best to live life? Proust understood that the essence and value of life was the sum of its everyday parts. As ... read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: MacMillan
Date Published: 1998-07
ISBN-13:9780330354912ISBN:0330354914
Description: New. A great book in new condition. may show slight signs of shelf wear. We provide USPS confirmation tracking and email when we ship. We want your complete satisfaction. read more
Edition: Illustrated.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books USA
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780679779155ISBN:0679779159
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 208 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. Like new, pristine, no marks, creases or shelfwear. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 1998-04-28
ISBN-13:9780679779155ISBN:0679779159
Description: Like New. Clean throughout, binding as tight as new. Tips of several pages have been bent. We ship 6 days a week, generally within 24 hours; single CDs and DVDs upgraded to 1st class! read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Picador, London
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780330354912ISBN:0330354914
Description: Very Good in Wraps. Our copy is clean and bright. There are no marks, notes or dogears. The cover has no tears or chips and there are no spine creases. The pages are beginning to yellow very slightly. read more
"So, how to describe this book? It's beautiful, lovely, and unique -- the weirdest mix of self-help, scholarly writing, art appreciation and biography that I've ever read, or probably ever will read. de Botton goes through the various things we can learn from Proust by going through his art, and the facts of his life. In so many ways, Proust feels tragic to me -- the things he didn't experience, the losses he felt and the general strangeness of his world. But in so many ways, he was heroic -- he understood beauty. And there's a lot to learn there. A really cool, lovely book."
"This book is an easy 215 pages in "self-help" format, making it a good bio of Proust to read as I was finishing up the last 50 or so pages of Swann's Way.
I really liked the last chapter on "How to Put Books Down," where de Botton says "It was a symbol of what Ruskin had done for Proust, and what all books might do for their readers, namely bring back to life, from the deadness caused by habit and inattention, valuable yet neglected aspects of experience."
Later in this chapter he also writes "Reading is on the threshold of the spiritual life; it can introduce us to it: it does not constitute it." And "Because books are so good at helping us become aware of certain things we feel, Proust recognized the ease with which we could be tempted to leave the entire task of interpreting our lives to these objects."
De Botton claims Proust would have us read his work, take it for what it was worth, and then get on with our OWN job of making sense of our life."
"Concise, readable book that breaks down Proust to his essential elements and throws in a bunch of funny biographical info (the man was quite the loopy guy). I like it for its unpretentious yet randomly incisive observations about life, friendship, wisdom, and unhappiness (how it's both a figment of perception as well as a truism in being human). De Botton's good at untangling some of Proust's least accessible ideas and making them seem intuitive. There may not be anything truly life-changing/surprising to be learned from this so-called "self-help" book, but many instances will inspire an "aha" moment, as in "Aha, I GET what he's talking about because I've experienced it too.""
"This was the best book I've read in quite some time. Thought-provoking, funny, and highly enjoyable.
One of the book's major themes was on the purpose of art, both visual art and novels. Proust's theory is that despair arises when our observations about our daily life become stale giving us the false belief that life is tedious. The job/gift of artists and writers is, therefore to see the beauty in the minute details of the external and internal life. Artists allow everyone else to appreciate the unique splendor of their own individual existence.
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