How Proust Can Change Your Life

In this sophisticated and insightful treatment of Marcel Proust's writings, Alain de Botton combines two unlikely genres—literary biography and self-help manual--with comic success. He weaves together the wisdom of Proust's life and work into a guide that is as practical as it is playful. Who would have thought that the author of In Search of Lost Time could provide us with such a rich source of insight into how to savor our vacation, revive a relationship, achieve original and unclichéd articulation, be a good host, recognize love, and understand why we should never sleep with someone on a first date? This book promises to be as beloved as it is emulated.