“The Proustian equation is never simple.“
This book can fulfill two purposes together. A glimpse of the writing of Samuel Beckett and, a thought on Marcel Proust! Is not this a great idea for those who do not know anything about the two masters? Something similar to killing two birds from one stone!
Proust’s The Captive, I had started last year and I could not move beyond a few pages, So I know nothing about Proust writing so far, Neither I have been able to properly start Waiting for Godot. I started reading both these books, but time failed me in both cases and both were kept dangling in my list.
But today I got in my hand, this book. Eager to know what one thinks about the other, I read it and it was a quite pleasing experience. It shaped my understanding of Proust. The beginning was like a typical essay. He talks about Proust’s memory and habits and writes,
“Proust had a bad memory- as he had an insufficient habit, the man with a good memory does not remember anything, because he doesn’t forget anything.”
It has multiple references to Proust’s works. And the themes and philosophy, woven around all this make this reading not easy for a novice reader, but those who have read the majority of Proust’s novels will definitely find the critical take of Samuel Beckett on Proust very enlightening. Though I have not yet read Proust, this short book has given me some idea. I also saw Beckett’s capabilities as a critic.
His precision, in the scrutiny and breakdown of themes and notions, present in Proust’s work is commendable. I will recommend the book to those who are interested in reading a critical essay on one master’s work by another master!
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“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?”
― Laurence J. Peter
“Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.”
― Bertrand Russell
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