Reactionaries such as the US Proustian Roger Shattuck fear that dwelling on Proust's sexuality at all might reduce the 'universality' of his message. He doesn't lump them together but takes them up individually, just as one would treat comparable heterosexual affairs in writing another life. This knowledge allows him to trace the development of Proustian themes and reconstruct how Proust wrote his book, step by step. Les Plaisirs et les Jours, which sold just 329 copies in its first 22 years of publication. Moreover, if Proust had identified with other Jews, that would have been all the more reason at the time to stay silent on Dreyfus, whereas Proust was one of the most outspoken champions of the falsely accused soldier.
Every page produces a new trouvaille.
On the subject of humour, we learn that Proust and the poet Anna de Noailles were invited everywhere not because they were talented but because they were the funniest pair in Paris. But for dedicated Proustians this biography will become their bible.