Word: proust
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...hard to exaggerate the effect music can have on the human brain. A mere snippet of song from the past can trigger memories as vivid as anything Proust experienced from the aroma of his petite madeleine. A tune can induce emotions ranging from unabashed joy to deep sorrow and can drive listeners into states of patriotic fervor or religious frenzy--to say nothing of its legendary ability to soothe the savage breast...
...Proust had his yummy Madeleine to trigger the imagination. Antrim serves blueberry pancakes to jump-start the wackiness in his latest comedy of bad manners. Last time it was a raucous family reunion (The Hundred Brothers). Now it's a gathering of psychoanalysts putting mind over batter at the Pancake House & Bar. Stuffing themselves with comfort food, the shrinks cross egos and libidos while pondering such subjects as Self/Other Friction Theory. Antrim's brand of social satire is an acquired taste, but it takes only a few pages to acquire...
...intense regard for detail and the relentless probing of recollection in the novel has led it to sustain comparisons to Proust. Unlike Swann, the ultimate pretender, Maumort strives to be true to himself, to make his decisions lucidly and to eschew disordered thought. He laments the rare instances where his recollection reveals that his motivations were not as definite as he sensed they were. He lingers over the decisions he makes in his life, wavering, but exquisitely aware of his equivocations. Whenever possible, he takes both roads at once, for example in his choice of careers. Driven by his distant...