The first book to address everyone who relishes reading Proust and wants to know more about how his writing works. This is a matchless close reading of a literary masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time, and a lesson in how to read the Great Books profitably and pleasurably. ‘Read this excellent book’ Stuart Jeffries, Guardian ‘Very refreshing… a splendidly tough-minded and generous introduction’ Gabriel Josipovici, Independent ‘Brilliant’ Peter Conrad, Observer ‘A splendidly thought-filled book’ Eric Griffiths, Evening Standard A book that recalls that Proust’s novel is one of the great exercises in speculative imagining in the world’s literature; and that its originality lies first in the quality of Proust’s textual invention, page after page, line after line. Art, death, sex, politics, loss, guilt, morality – all Proust’s major themes are here in all their glory, but revealed close up.