The Writings of the Young Marcel Proust (1885-1900)

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of young Proust's evolving conception of the world, from his early friendships and educational experiences in the 1880s to the turn of the twentieth century. It looks in detail at his early fictional and critical writings, his associations with various literary periodicals, and the social milieus in which he moved. Its primary purpose is to understand Proust as a worldly figure with concrete attitudes and ideas about such issues as social class, the relationship between art and society, the responsibilities of the writer, and the debate between materialism and idealism as seen in the context of mid- to late-nineteenth-century thought.

Autorentext

The Author: Frank Rosengarten is Professor Emeritus at the City University of New York. He received his Ph.D. in Italian from Columbia University and his Ph.D. in French from the Graduate School of the City University of New York. In addition to more than sixty articles, essays, and book reviews, Rosengarten is author of Vasco Pratolini: The Development of a Social Novelist; The Italian Anti-Fascist Press (1919-1945); and Silvio Trentin: Dall interventismo alla Resistenza. He is the editor of Antonio Gramsci Letters from Prison, 2 vols., and a co-editor of New Studies in the Politics and Culture of U.S. Communism.

Zusammenfassung
«Frank Rosengarten has accomplished a rare feat: he has produced a study that is a 'sine qua non', for both Proustian specialists and for those who are interested in broader questions concerning the relationship between literature and ideology. His study of young Proust is a major contribution to our understanding of the genealogy of the 'Recherche', while his critical analysis of the complex ways in which ideology informs, and is informed by, Proust's aesthetics provides us with an exemplary instance of a non-reductive inquiry into the worldliness of artistic endeavor.» (Joseph Buttigieg, Department of English, The University of Notre Dame)