from Library Journal; 1/15/2006, Vol. 131 Issue 1

Weinstein, Arnold.
Recovering Your Story:
Proust, Joyce, Woolf, Faulkner, Morrison.
Random. Mar. 2006. c.528p. bibliog. index.
ISBN 1-4000-6094-X. $26.95. LIT

Noted critic Weinstein (comparative literature, Brown Univ.) makes some of the most difficult authors of the 20th century accessible to the general reader in a volume that demonstrates not just knowledge but wisdom and sensitivity. Firm in his belief that reading is essential to the discovery of self, he focuses on eight novels of five eminent modernists: Marcel Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu, James Joyce's Ulysses, Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse, William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury and Absalom, Absalom!, and Toni Morrison's Sula and Beloved. Weinstein brings much of himself to his readings of these works, and, in turn, he believes that art is not merely a reflection of life but a means by which we live more fully. As a result, his work is far removed from the typical guidebook that readers might expect. In fact, one need not have read these works at all to appreciate Weinstein's piercing ponderings. But one is infinitely more likely to want to read one of these admittedly complex narratives after being exposed to Weinstein's brilliant overture. An essential addition to all academic libraries and recommended for larger public libraries as well.

Literature as self-illumination

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By Anthony Pucci, Notre Dame H.S., Elmira, NY