Proust by Samuel Beckett

 Proust by Samuel Beckett

 

Proust is the best writer I have ever had the chance to read. I respect and admire Beckett; so far I have only read Molloy and still have to finish the last two parts of his trilogy.

 

This is a very good short book, which did not get all of my attention.  There are some passages which I found both intriguing and interesting:

“Proust places friendship somewhere between boredom and tiredness…he does not agree with Nietzsche who thinks friendship must be based on intellectual sympathy…Proust does not see in friendship the slightest intellectual significance”

Another observation which escaped me, when reading Proust is that Proust makes description using vegetal comparisons and never animal: he did not get along with cats or dogs…

 

The Baron de Charlus is well described by Beckett, as a combination of Lear, Oedipus and Archangel Rafael.

Rather shocking is the assertion that Proust was “in a way positivist” I thought that Proust was famous for the contrary attitude, even read a lecture on positive psychology from Harvard, saying that if Proust were positive he would have been even more prolific, even more creative…

 

For those who declare themselves tired by Proust’s long phrases and style, Beckett replies that these are peaks and they can be tired, but never worse off.

 

It was an unexpected read: I have read Molloy and seen Waiting for Godot at the theatre: I had opened the book waiting for something else. I was pleasantly surprised.