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The Power of Hygiene (Close Reading of Proust) (Patreon)

Published:
2021-07-29 15:53:21
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

How deeply can we read the Search as autobiography?

Well, with a little foray into Marcel's family dynamics, one might arrive at the conclusion that In Search of Lost Time does indeed contain a fair amount of its author.

But perhaps the more exciting question is:

How deeply can we read the novel as our autobiography?

Video Timestamps:

  • 0:00 to what degree is the Search autobiographical? 
  • 1:40 what doesn't kill me only makes me...weaker? 
  • 2:00 Proust's grandmother in the rain-lashed garden 
  • 3:30 Proust's sickly nature  
  • 4:30 comparing Proust with Tolstoy 
  • 5:00 the real story of the Madeleine scene 
  • 5:30 Proust's father and the literary landscape  
  • 6:13 Adrien Proust's work on hygiene and quarantining 
  • 8:20 what if Adrien were alive today? 
  • 10:00 why Proust's father sent him to a brothel 
  • 11:50 "At last one can breathe!" 
  • 13:00 reading deeply into Proust 
  • 14:20 King Lear on the heath  
  • 16:00 family drama like déjà vu 
  • 21:00 comparing Proust with Dickens 
  • 23:00 Proust's blending of the comic and melancholy

Please do share any meditations or musings you might have, great or small, and let us know whether these passages stir up any childhood memories for you too.

Happy Prousting!

Files

Previews only

The Power of Hygiene - Proust's In Search of Lost Time (Pages 8-10)

0:00 to what degree is the Search autobiographical? 1:40 what doesn't kill me only makes me...weaker? 2:00 Proust's grandmother in the rain-lashed garden 3:30 Proust's sickly nature 4:30 comparing Proust with Tolstoy 5:00 the real story of the Madeleine scene 5:30 Proust's father and the literary landscape 6:13 Adrien Proust's work on hygiene and quarantining 8:20 what if Adrien were alive today? 10:00 why Proust's father sent him to a brothel 11:50 "At last one can breathe!" 13:00 reading deeply into Proust 14:20 King Lear on the heath 16:00 family drama like déjà vu 21:00 comparing Proust with Dickens 23:00 Proust's blending of the comic and melancholy

Comments

Sharon xx

This was excellent. The background information about Proust was really interesting and put a whole new slant on the potential for it to be more autobiographical than I first thought. It also fills in a lot of missing pieces to the puzzle and will enhance my reading and understanding going forward. Very valuable, thank you!

hardcoreliterature
>>65397607

Thank you, Sharon :) I really appreciate that! If you're interested in more biography, Edmund White has a great slim volume on Proust - very interesting to know where certain characters originated from (but may contain spoilers).

Tom Pearsall

Great lecture as usual. I normally don’t care so much about an author’s biography but your discussion of Proust’s upbringing is very interesting. The letter he writes to his grandfather is so strange! Yes, cringe-worthy! His father sending him to a brothel because he masturbates too much would be progressive parenting today. And that is an understatement. Freud may need to have a few words with his father. As for Proust’s writing I agree it is sublime. He has an intuitive, almost effortless way of painting a scene. Once he started describing the family and their interactions with Swann I knew this was more than just a long (though interesting) interior monologue of a tortured artist. He is able to portray the family and all of its complex idiosyncrasies with such economy and poignancy. I would suggest that you could add Faulkner to Joyce as an author who can do this at Proust’s level.

hardcoreliterature
>>66833395

Ha! Progressive parenting, indeed! Proust's biography is so interesting it can be hard to resist. And, truth be told, if we knew anything about Shakespeare, I certainly wouldn't restrain myself. Faulkner and Joyce! Oh, yes, absolutely. Those two, plus Proust, plus Woolf, and there we have Modernism - all valiantly attempting to represent the interiority of their characters in ways that make the reading experience difficult, then delightful for their readers. I mentioned in another comment that we'll have a video putting these authors side-by-side, with representative passages. I can already see a part of 'As I Lay Dying' and 'Ulysses' sitting beside Proust. Readers will surely take preferences! :)