Proust, Plato, Nietzsche

Daniel Mark Epstein, writing in the The New Criterion about the pleasures of reading Proust, argues that "there is the strange influence of Platonism, Plato direct, and Plato via Kant. Plato hovers over Proust’s pages, as daemon, as tutelary spirit, just as Aristotle and Aquinas accompanied James Joyce on his journey." Joshua Landy's Philosophy As Fiction challenges the view of Proust as Platonist. His study, unfortunately expensive to buy and difficult to find in community libraries, persuades me that Proust's view is closer to the perspectivism of Nietzsche than it is to Plato. Landy discusses Proust with Robert Harrison, host of Stanford University's radio program, "Entitled Opinions." The hour-long program is informative and entertaining.