Marcel Proust: a life - Edmund White

 

I have never read any Marcel Proust. All I know about him, before reading this short biography by Edmund White, is that at some point he bit into a madeline and his life rushed back towards him and he decided to write it all down in seven volumes of very poetic dense writing... or so I have heard. I have watched a film starring Catherine Deneuve based on his writings, but have never read any of it.

That being written, this was an interesting read for sure. When you have such a famous novelist like White writing about a fellow queer writer - links between history and current times are certainly made. It is a short, quick read and I found it very good. Not something I would need to re-read, but it was enjoyable. Now, White's huge biography of Genet? That is also something I will never re-read, but a keeper for sure. Mainly because Genet resonates with me more than Proust. I'm not exactly sure why, but he does.