First the En Route to Proust Part:
I was thrilled earlier this year to audit Andre Aciman’s Proust class at CUNY Graduate Center. I hadn’t taken a class in fifteen years, and it was a privilege to experience Proust via his refraction. Prior to this, I had only read Swann’s Way years ago. Amid the dumbing down of every cultural bellwether through which we are now living, it was like being in an oasis to sit in a class full of master’s and Phd students –also some old people like myself. I told myself that as an auditor I should keep my mouth shut, but that proved difficult as always. “I’m sorry I talk so much,” I said to Professor Aciman. “I like people who talk,” he said.
OF COURSE, I didn’t talk that much and I was a very attentive listener!!
Professor Aciman is so learned that he was constantly referencing other books I haven’t read but have always wanted to.