To Proust or Not to Proust?

As we've seen before, most of us feel some guilt about books we think we should have read (especially if we want to be considered a well-read person) but actually haven't, and probably won't.

Now Germaine Greer in The Guardian absolves us of the need to read Proust. She says of In Search of Lost Time (A la Recherche du Temps Perdu) :

This lacuna in your cultural development you do not need to fill. On the other hand, if you have read all of , you should be very worried about yourself. As Proust very well knew, reading his work for as long as it takes is temps perdu, time wasted, time that would be better spent visiting a demented relative, meditating, walking the dog or learning ancient Greek.

This greatly annoys Agnes Poirier on the blog :

What exactly is the problem with Proust according to Greer? It's too long, apparently, therefore too expensive to acquire, and impossible to read in the bath. Here is literary criticism of the highest nature.

I've not read it. Am daunted by the length. (7 volumes!!!) Would like to at least try it. Every time I find one of the volumes in a warehouse sale it's never the first one so I pass.

Mind you, this comic version looks fun!


What have your experiences of Proust been?