Question: It happens that I am nearing the end of “Madame Swann at Home”; still early in the marathon of “Remembrance of Things Past”, and as far as I can tell, “Proustian” refers to the ability to recall something and, then, describe it in intricate and inventive detail. It, “Remembrance”, actually reads faster than you might think, and is very funny.

Ron – I actually am reading Proust after years of hemming and hawing. The enormity of it put me off at first, until I realized that no one would be standing over me to make sure I finished it. At the rate I’m going, I’ll never get to War and Peace, but I’m really enjoying Remembrance… and my first reaction after several hundred pages was “why didn’t anyone tell me this was a funny book?” > At the rate I’m going, I’ll never > get to War and Peace, but I’m really enjoying Remembrance… and my first > reaction after several hundred pages was “why didn’t anyone tell me this was a > funny book?”

Answer: 1. Don’t worry about War and Peace. It’s basically a long book about some Russians and some French people. I read it twice, almost. Both times, I quit before I finished it. I think it’s famous for Tolstoy’s view of history, but jeez, he preaches it up one side and down the other and it was like, OK, OK, stop hitting me, I get it!!!

2. Proust is funny? No wonder we didn’t read it in college. Although I will forever have a warm space in my heart for Anne Hoffman, professor of literature at CSULB, who prescribed “The Palm Wine Drinkard.” Maybe literature classes have more freedom to entertain than the “core curriculum” courses that try to introduce you to “just a few of the highlights of the past 25 centuries.”

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