Peter Washington
Remembrance of Paintings Past
Paintings in Proust is a book with a simple but fruitful purpose: to list, illustrate and comment on all the pictures referred to in A la recherche du temps perdu. Given the length and sophistication of the novel and the extent of its author’s interest in painting, that is no small task, but Eric Karpeles makes an excellent job of it.
Proust was deeply interested in all the arts, especially painting and music. In early life his interest took the form of an aestheticism which he later satirised in his novel as a sort of spiritual disease, though whether he ever quite recovered from the sickness himself is a
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'It is the ... sketches of the local and the overlooked that lend this book its density and drive, and emphasise Britain’s mostly low-key riches – if only you can be bothered to buy an anorak and seek.'
Jonathan Meades on the beauty of brutalism.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/castles-of-concrete
'Cruickshank’s history reveals an extraordinary eclecticism of architectural styles and buildings, from Dutch Revivalism to Arts and Crafts experimentation, from Georgian terraces to Victorian mansion blocks.'
William Boyd on the architecture of Chelsea.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/where-george-eliot-meets-mick-jagger
'The eight years he has spent in solitary confinement have had a devastating impact on his mental health ... human rights organisations believe his detention is punishment for his critical views.'
@lucyjpop on the Egyptian activist and poet Ahmed Douma.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/ahmed-douma