Books by Malcolm Bowie

A matchless close reading of Remembrance of Things Past and a lesson in how to read the great books profitably and pleasurably. Bowie asserts that Proust's novel is one of the great exercises in speculative imagining in the world's literature and that its originality lies first in the quality of Proust's textual invention -- line after line, page after page.

This book brings together essays and reviews that Malcolm Bowie published in journals and collective volumes but did not subsequently use as chapters in his books. It reflects Malcolm's love and knowledge of music, the fine rhythms and patterns of his style, and his liking for brief forms.

Malcolm Bowie (1943-2007) was described by A.S. Byatt as 'one of our best living critics. He writes beautifully, subtly and lucidly about very difficult subjects.' Bowie was Marshal Foch Professor of French at Oxford (1992-2002) and Master of Christ's College, Cambridge (2002-2006).

Malcolm Bowie (1943-2007) was described by A.S. Byatt as 'one of our best living critics. He writes beautifully, subtly and lucidly about very difficult subjects.' Bowie was Marshal Foch Professor of French at Oxford (1992-2002) and Master of Christ's College, Cambridge (2002-2006).

This book brings together essays and reviews that Malcolm Bowie published in journals and collective volumes but did not subsequently use as chapters in his books. It reflects Malcolm's love and knowledge of music, the fine rhythms and patterns of his style, and his liking for brief forms.

In this study Malcolm Bowie shows that difficulty is of the essence in a number of Mallarme's major works, notably 'Prose pour des Esseintes' and Un Coup de des jamais n'abolira le hasard. He argues that the poems are difficult because they are concerned with complex metaphysical questions and with speculative states of mind.

The views of Freud, Proust and Lacan are depicted through this staging of a series of provocative dialogues between psychological science and imaginative literature of the twentieth century.