Germaine Greer thinks Proust is a waste of time

[DMB]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/nov/08/germaine-greer-proust

If you haven't read Proust, don't worry. This lacuna in your cultural development you do not need to fill. On the other hand, if you have read all of A la Recherche du Temps Perdu, you should be very worried about yourself. As Proust very well knew, reading his work for as long as it takes is temps perdu, time wasted, time that would be better spent visiting a demented relative, meditating, walking the dog or learning ancient Greek.

[David B]

I got through about 20 pages many years ago.

I don't feel particularly deprived from not reading the rest of it.

David

[Monad]

Proust probably would have thought Germaine Greer was a waste of time too

[Matty]

Vaguely heard of Proust. Never read any.

Dig Germain Greer, usually.

[DMB]

I bought the whole thing years ago in Livres de Poche format (not as expensive as all that) but didn't finish the first book.

[Anne]

you know, I realized the other day, refinishing floors is my madeline.

/derail

[Matty]

What, something you sold to an arab paedophile and then had to create a massive media smokescreen with the help of the Daily Express claiming it was stolen?

[Preno]

Frankly, pretentious intellectuals or would-be intellectuals fully deserve to have their time wasted on digging through the never-ending volumes of pointless words that probably constitute Proust's work. Hopefully, it will teach them a lesson.

[Christina]

See, there's yet one more advantage to not being as intellectual as most of you are. I never even considered wasting my time reading him.

(*runs off to google Proust to see what he wrote about and find out if he's really a him before DMB has to correct me...)

[Monad]

you know, I realized the other day, refinishing floors is my madeline.

/derail


mmmmm

[Ray Moscow]

OK, I haven't read it or much of Proust, but I liked one of his other books:

How Proust Can Change Your Life (http://www.amazon.com/How-Proust-Change-Your-Life/dp/0679779159)

[DMB]

OK, I haven't read it or much of Proust, but I liked one of his other books:

How Proust Can Change Your Life (http://www.amazon.com/How-Proust-Change-Your-Life/dp/0679779159)

Looks like fun.

[Bane]

I've never read Proust, or Germaine Greer. However, I don't feel deprived or stupid for it. :) I find a good mystery or ghost story much more interesting than supposedly motivational books or monologues on feminism that sound like the kind of stuff I post whilst having an episode.

[DMB]

With regard to Greer, The Female Eunuch was an iconic feminist book for an earlier generation than yours, Tanya.

Some of the struggles are long won and Greer herself changed many of her views over time.

[David B]

If memory serves, GG wrote an idiosyncratic gardening column, under the name Rose Blight, for Private Eye for many years.

A very clever lady, even if I don't always agree with everything she wrote.

David B