Mission Statement/First Posting

Hello Readers:
As you might have guessed by the title, this web log is designed as and intended for readings and reflections on Marcel Proust's lengthy novel In Search of Lost Time. Other reputable guides for reading Proust's masterpiece abound, but my site will differ in one important way: I will throw myself into reading the work for the first time, attempting to complete it somewhere between three and four weeks. Guides exist to reading Proust in a year; this will be a log of reading Proust in a month. For every volume of the novel that I read I hope to post 2 or 3 reflections that mix analysis, personal commentary, and general thoughts that the selection inspires. This log is by no means an attempt to be expert or definitive; on the other hand, I hope to show that reading In Search of Lost Time can be rewarding for anyone. The guides that I myself am using are Roger Shattuck's Proust's Way, Samuel Beckett's essay "Proust," Alain de Botton's How Proust Can Change Your Life, and the book of essays The Proust Project, edited by Andre Aciman. Although I have begun the novel and have by now completed about 40 pages, my heavy reading of the novel will begin around December 27, 2004, and will end by the end of January, 2005. Over this month I will be posting regularly on my progress. I hope that you readers will enjoy and benefit from my web log as much as I hope to, and I am looking forward to an enjoyable and intense reading of Proust's In Search of Lost Time.