Anka Muhlstein Speaks On Proust the Reader At NY Society Library 4/6

Scholar and biographer Anka Muhlstein draws out themes from Marcel Proust's reading habits in his great work La Recherche du Temps Perdu. The event will take place on Tuesday, April 6, 2010, at 6:30 p.m. at The New York Society Library.

The New York Society Library is located at 53 East 79th Street (just east of Madison Avenue; 6 train to 77th Street).

Ticket information is available at www.nysoclib.org/notes/2010/proust_reader.html. Library nonmembers and members are welcome; nonmembers should register by phone at 212-288-6900 x230. There is a $10/person fee.

Marcel Proust often commented that people did not know how to read, and indeed, few people read as he did. He avidly consumed novelists, poets and playwrights, memoirists like Saint-Simon, letter-writers like Mme. de Sévigné, and even writers he did not enjoy except for their style, like Flaubert. Quoting French classical literature was second nature to him but he was also particularly attuned to American, English and Russian literature. Among his favorites were George Eliot, Hardy, Stevenson, Poe and of course Ruskin. He referred to Dostoyevsky frequently in his novels.

Proust's reading is a constant underscore to his great work. If La Recherche du Temps Perdu were an opera, the mother and the grandmother would always be announced by the theme of Mme. de Sévigné; Racine would always accompany the Narrator; Balzac would hum alongside M. de Charlus, and the Duchesse de Guermantes would sing to Victor Hugo. In this event, scholar and biographer Anka Muhlstein will draw out these themes in Proust's work and life and lead discussion of the proverbial work that the readers of today find challenging, yet always rewarding.

Anka Muhlstein is the author of Astolphe de Custine, LaSalle: Explorer of the North American Frontier, and Elizabeth I and Mary Stuart: The Perils of Marriage, among other titles in English and French. She is a contributor to the 2004 collection The Proust Project, edited by André Aciman.

The New York Society Library was founded in 1754, and is the city's oldest library. In the eighteenth century, an organization labeled "Society" meant that it was open to all-available to everyone throughout society. The Library is open to all for reading, reference, and most events, with circulation and other services by subscription. The beautiful landmarked building dates from 1917 and includes reading rooms, spaces for study, stacks, and an exhibition gallery. The Library has approximately 275,000 volumes and hosts a variety of special events, reading groups, workshops, as well as the New York City Book Awards.

More information on the Library: www.nysoclib.org.