Does any book in French literature, or any literature, scare away readers as easily as Proust's 3300-page novel, In Search of Lost Time? Books such as Tolstoy's War and Peace, Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, and Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain have similar reputations for difficulty and complexity, but Proust's masterpiece dwarfs each of these works. In part, the novel's length was made notorious by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Russell Baker, who penned several articles on the labor involved in reading Proust. As Baker wrote in 1969, "Volume One was comparatively easy. It required only 43 months of reading."
Even though this is (let us hope) an exaggeration, Baker's statement contains a grain of truth. Because it features long passages of art historical digression and maddeningly minute observation, In Search of Lost Time often can seem longer than it really is. Eventually, 43 days of reading will start to feel like 43 months.
So, is In Search of Lost Time the most daunting novel you've encountered, or is another book #1 on your personal list of Most Intimidating Books Ever? Let me know, and I'll respond to a few of your remarks in my next post.
But to look even farther ahead, why should you read a book as complicated and time-consuming as In Search of Lost Time? What enjoyment or stimulation can it offer? And why, in spite of their difficulties, do authors like Proust and Mann and Tolstoy continue to win adoring readers, myself included? Stay tuned.