A witty, refreshing, and fun book on the experience of reading Marcel Proust. What would the world be like without this work? Where would we be if it hadn't happened? This is how Michael Wood found himself writing about Proust's work as an event and about events in relation to that work itself. The event that created the figure we know as Proust in one sense took a whole lifetime; in another sense we can date it to within certain months, perhaps certain weeks, of a certain year, 1908. That was when Proust the interesting occasional writer and full-time socialite turned into an ostensible hermit and a real novelist. This short book says something about the event as a lifetime affair and shows what the sudden change of 1908 looks like. It explores the work of Marcel Proust as an event in the world, something that happened to literature and culture and our understanding of history. This event has more aspects than we can count, but this book offers detailed critical snapshots of seven of them: the birth of Proust as a novelist, what he teaches us about the mythology of beginnings, about metaphor as a kind of rebellion, about love as a permanent anxiety attack, about the Dreyfus Affair, about the concept of justice, and about the mythology of endings.

"Michael Wood's book enjoys a certain freedom, offering a light-footed canter through a diverse range of subjects that interest Proustian scholars...His contribution to the answer is as well researched as it is readable, offering a refreshing take on how to read Proust today. It will be of interest to anyone wishing to explore why the author's work continues to hold our attention." - Eleanor Lischka, French Studies

"[A]n engaging book for readers of Proust. ... I am grateful: this short book has extended my Proust." - Andrea Goldsmith, Australian Book Review