Modernism, Nationalism and the Novel. By PERICLES LEWIS. Cambridge, New York, and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. 2000. x + 241 pp. 35 [pounds sterling]; $59.95. ISBN 0-521-66111-0.
This is a book written for Proust. The Frenchman comes out ahead of Joyce, Conrad, and D'Annunzio in this subtle, and strongly recommended, discussion of the impact of the idea of the nation-state upon key texts of early modernism. Proust's advantage is that the narration of the Recherche is ...