How Proust can Change your Life

[beat wanderer]

Ive just finished reading How Proust can Change your Life by Allan De Botton. I have to say it was a brilliant read. De Botton is a great writer but what i enjoyed most about this book is that it is almost an essay on literature itself and explained the benefits and limitations of reading.

I always knew that i was getting alot from reading but could never quite explain to others exactly what i felt i was getting from all the money and time ive spent other than entertainment.

So who else here has read it?

What did you think?

[booksandtea]

i've never had the time to sit down and read proust but i've heard really good things about 'how proust can change your life.' i was wondering, is it still okay to read the latter w/o having read the former? i was just recently thinking about picking it up but wasn't sure if i needed to have actually read proust...

beat wanderer - btw, i just finished 'the portable beat reader' and i highly recommend it since ann charter does a great job of describing the prominent (and less prominent) writers of that period. i've read bukowski and ginsberg but it was nice to have someone lay it all out there and unify this beat 'ideology.'

[beat wanderer]

The beat reader sounds good, ill have to look into it. No i dont think you need to read proust at all to enjoy How Proust can Change Your Life, I certainly didn't but i still enjoyed it and got alot from it too. Unfortunately I don't think that alot of people would even be tempted to pick up In Search of Lost Time after reading HPCCYL because it almost seems like you just read 'the Best of Proust' and no longer need to struggle through what is (as far as i know) the longest novel of all time. Im actually more interested in reading In Search of Lost Time but im not sure if ill ever start, im too intimidated by the size of the damn thing.

[Kafka's Crow]

Finished reading How Proust Can Change Your Life, de Botton is excellent. Most of the references are from Swann's Way which I will finish today after lunch, so not much in way of 'spoilers'. This is an excellent book and is well worth reading whether you have read Proust or not. Time well spent!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Proust-Change-Your-Life/dp/0330354914/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=gateway&qid=1201690904&sr=8-3

[aabbcc]

I have read most of de Botton's works. :) The aforementioned one can be read without having read Proust, as a 'preparation' for reading Proust, whilst reading Proust, after that - all combinations are winning. Though I would always recommend getting first-hand experience of Proust rather than relying on somebody else's perspective. ;)

[Kafka's Crow]

I have read most of de Botton's works. :) The aforementioned one can be read without having read Proust, as a 'preparation' for reading Proust, whilst reading Proust, after that - all combinations are winning. Though I would always recommend getting first-hand experience of Proust rather than relying on somebody else's perspective. ;)

It goes perfectly with my major project of reading Proust. Will start reading Within a Budding Grove before I go to bed.

[ivette]

I haven't read 'real' Proust yet but I'm planning to do that...someday...when I'll have enough time, I guess... :)
However, I read How Proust can change your life last year and I loved it!
It didn't make me feel I don't need to read 'real' Proust, just the opposite. I liked de Botton so much that I now indirectly love Proust.

The next book on my list: The Consolations of Philosophy
Has anyone read it? Is it as great as HPCCYL ?

[Etienne]

HPCCYL? I have a few books of The Consolation of Philosophy, it's great, really.

[aabbcc]

I have read The Consolations of Philosophy too; it is skillfully written and the kind of reading I would name 'funny', but definitely not the sort of work I would recommend on philosophy.

[Etienne]

I have read The Consolations of Philosophy too; it is skillfully written and the kind of reading I would name 'funny', but definitely not the sort of work I would recommend on philosophy.

Why not? It's probably the most important work of philosophy of pre-12th century Latin medieval philosophy. He is the last Occidental Roman and the first Latin Middle-Ages philosopher. His work is of an historical significance for the west on both philosophical and literary level which few other works reach.

[aabbcc]

Why not? It's probably the most important work of philosophy of pre-12th century Latin medieval philosophy. He is the last Occidental Roman and the first Latin Middle-Ages philosopher. His work is of an historical significance for the west on both philosophical and literary level which few other works reach.
We do not speak of the same Consolation of Philosophy. ;) I referred to De Botton's work, which Ivette said she would read next; whilst I will take a smart guess that you meant Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy.

[Etienne]

Ohhh what an impostor!!

In fact you guessed right. Is De Bottom's work about Boethius' work or related in any way?

[Kafka's Crow]

Ohhh what an impostor!!

In fact you guessed right. Is De Bottom's work about Boethius' work or related in any way?

:lol: The guy has an MA in philosophy, I am sure he is well aware of Boethius' work. Apparently de Boton's book is an attempt at 'popularizing philosophy'. He does know a thing or two about philosophy and has written books on Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. I was well impressed and actually depressed by him as he is same age and I and has achieved a lot in short time, then I checked his background. His father was an extremely rich financier and collector of artworks. He should have done more with that kind of support. He started a PhD in French Philosophy but then left it unfinished. Now he makes documentaries and writes books. I watched his documentary 'Status Anxiety' which concluded that we are unhappy because the modern lifestyle does not allow us to think and we are too busy running after material things. Money has infiltrated even our religious beliefs blah, blah, blah, which is all nice and good but it comes from the pen of someone who recently inherited a huge fortune built out of feeding and establishing the system that he criticizes. Of course he has the time and leisure to do philosophy even in the 21st century.

[aabbcc]

Is De Bottom's work about Boethius' work or related in any way?

Not really, though he probably took the title on purpose (it's been years since I've read it, so I don't really remember whether he made some notion about Boethius or not). His book is sort of "popular philosophy", to say so, and he focused more on philosophers' lives and curiosities from their lives than on the actual philosophical content. Which is why I don't really recommend it to somebody who is interested in philosophy as discipline.;)