This very enjoyable and ironic book focuses on the attitude of snobs and snobbism with a plethora of amusing quotations taken from the A la Recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust. Marina Giusti del Giardino, author and publisher and Paolo Landi, writer, journalist and manager put their heads together to discover in the masterpiece by Proust all the words relating to snobs in order to compare and emphasize how ridiculous these nouveaux riches appear.
Proust defines the would-be jet set as the Kingdom of Nothing (cit. the Prisoner). “His hatred of snobs was a derivative of his snobbishness, but made the simpletons (in other words, everyone) believe that he was immune from snobbishness.” (Remembrance of Things Past: The Guermantes Way). Therefore, a snob often doesn’t realize who he really is. His behaviour is so radicated that he almost believes that his reputation doesn’t derive from his artificial life. You can’t beat a snob at his own game, as the two authors of this book explain. Our snob is so confident that he thinks he’s always in the right. Today, even more so than in yesteryears…Because the contemporary snob is always on the bandwagon of social media amplifying his vanity and world of appearances.
Marina Giusti del Giardino e Paolo Landi
The so-called socialites are so taken up by their worldly game that they consume everything in a flash: people, friends, and habits in the name of social success. The wheel of life is in an eternal frenzied spin. Ready to renegate yesterday’s friend to enter the court of a new acquaintance who seems to be at the top of the social ladder. Unfortunately, the wind often turns and the carousel starts again and again. From the Authors’ point of view, it emerges that the snob, in the end, is a worthless person who would do anything to be noticed and to attract the attention of a “superior”, even if only for an instant.
Proust is reading the book. Photo credits Luca Trucca
This entertaining book is actually the fruit of profound research into Proust’s works related to snobbism. The two writers pay a tribute to their cult author on the centennial of his death (18th November 2022). It is a pocketbook that one can consult at any time, appreciating Proust’s poetics. Perhaps it may induce the reader to begin the great adventure of reading the Recherche, an eternal masterpiece.
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Article edit by Laura Astrologo Porché
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