Blending the critical essay with poetry, Gate of Lilacs is a collection of verse written by Clive James in response to - and profoundly inspired by - the work of Marcel Proust.

'James picks out the characters, the motifs and the moments that set his memory ablaze, just as Marcel was able to conjure such visions from a tisane-infused madeleine' - Literary Review

Over a period of fifteen years Clive James learned French by almost no other method than reading A la recherche du temps perdu - commonly translated as In Search of Lost Time, or Remembrance of Things Past. Then he spent half a century trying to get up to speed with Proust's great novel in two different languages. Gate of Lilacs is the unique product of James's love of and engagement with Proust's masterpiece.

With A la recherche du temps perdu, Proust, in James's words, 'followed his creative instinct all the way until his breath gave out', and now James has done the same. In Gate of Lilacs, James, a brilliant critical essayist and poet, has blended the two forms into one.

I had always thought the critical essay and the poem were closely related forms . . . If I wanted to talk about Proust's poetry beyond the basic level of talking about his language - if I wanted to talk about the poetry of his thought - then the best way to do it might be to write a poem.

In the end, if A la recherche du temps perdu is a book devoted almost entirely to its author's gratitude for life, for love, and for art, this much smaller book is devoted to its author's gratitude for Proust.

Clive James (1939-2019) was a broadcaster, critic, poet, memoirist and novelist. His acclaimed poetry includes the collection Sentenced to Life and a translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy, both Sunday Times bestsellers. His passion for and knowledge of poetry are distilled in his book of criticism on the subject, Poetry Notebook, and, written in the last year of his life, his personal annotated anthology of favourite poems, The Fire Of Joy.

Praise for Clive James:

'He will be seen, I think, as one of the most important and influential writers of our time' - Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times

'Wise, witty, terrifying, unflinching and extraordinarily alive' - A.S. Byatt, critic and author of Possession: A Romance

'Clive James is a true poet' - Peter Porter, London Review of Books

Filled with Clive James's typical wit, warmth, erudition and enthusiasm, this is a brilliant and original tribute to one of his great literary loves, Marcel Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu.

About the Author
Clive James was the author of more than forty books. As well as essays, he published collections of literary and television criticism, travel writing, verse and novels, plus five volumes of autobiography, Unreliable Memoirs, Falling Towards England, May Week Was In June, North Face of Soho and The Blaze of Obscurity. As a television performer he appeared regularly for both the BBC and ITV, most notably as writer and presenter of the Postcard series of travel documentaries. He published several poetry collections, including the Sunday Times bestseller Sentenced to Life, and a translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy, which was also a Sunday Times bestseller. In 1992 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia and in 2003 he was awarded the Philip Hodgins memorial medal for literature. He held honorary doctorates from Sydney University and the University of East Anglia. In 2012 he was appointed CBE and in 2013, an Officer of the Order of Australia. He died in 2019.

Reviews
James writes with exquisite perception and surgical precision; he is a poet of powerful argument and emotional force * The Times *
A writer whose commanding voice contains a constant variety of colour and tone -- Robert McCrum * Observer *
After writing poems for 50 years, his technique is deft and assured * Independent on Saturday *
He is a unique figure, a straddler of genres and a bridger of the gaps between high and low culture. He will be seen, I think, as one of the most important and influential writers of our time -- Bryan Appleyard * Sunday Times *
Part of a great burst of late fruition . . . graceful in its thought, moving in its insights, and often written with a fluidity that makes me wish he had done more of this sort of thing. I'll also put it on my students' reading list to remind them that, whatever the universities tell us, we can't understand something until we have responded to it creatively * New Statesman *
James picks out the characters, the motifs and the moments that set his memory ablaze, just as Marcel was able to conjure such visions from a tisane-infused madeleine * Literary Review *



Book Information
ISBN 9781509812356
Author Clive James
Format Hardback
Page Count 112
Imprint Picador
Publisher Pan Macmillan
Weight(grams) 206g
Dimensions(mm) 204mm * 137mm * 18mm