Author(s): Marcel Proust

Writing Guides

Collected in this unique volume are rare Proustian reflections on this most cherished of activities, together with the work he arguably held dearest, and which was to influence his own philosophy profoundly: Ruskin's 'Of Kings' Treasuries'. 'To understand a profound thought is to have, at the moment one understands it, a profound thought oneself; and this demands some effort, a genuine descent to the heart of oneself...Only desire and love give us the strength to make this effort. The only books that we truly absorb are those we read with real appetite, after having worked hard to get them, so great had been our need of them.'