Author: P Segal

P Segal, nee Roberta Pizzimenti, was born and raised in San Francisco's North Beach. where the remaining Beat poets, regrettably, inspired her to pursue the literary life. A Cacophony Society event, the Marcel Proust Support Group, led to the obsession recorded in these pages.

AI Flunks the Proust Test

My brilliant friend Dr. Rolph-Morales was fascinated by recent developments in artificial intelligence, and did some research to investigate how helpful it might be. While she was at it, she looked up Proust quotes to see what would turn up, and she sent me this one: Everything great in the world comes from neurotics. They alone  have founded our religions and composed our masterpieces. So yes, this is a Proust… Continue reading AI Flunks the Proust Test

Proust Speaks: Part 3

Proust rises from the grave to attend the 100th Anniversary Wake The hastily made dead Proust cake, with feet collapsed in transit,the requisite platter of madeleines, and a Proust portrait by Alex Segal In this last part of Proust’s speech, at his 100th Anniversary Wake, the re-animated author concludes with a pitch. It was also… Continue reading Proust Speaks: Part 3

Proust Speaks: Part 2

Proust rises from the grave to attend his 100th Anniversary Wake In the second part of the speech, to have been delivered at the Marcel Proust Support Group’s 100th Anniversary Wake, re-animated Proust goes on to talk about the suffering of the writer’s life, and the wide range of possibilities in the afterlife, his own… Continue reading Proust Speaks: Part 2

Proust Speaks: Part 1

Proust rises from the grave to attend his 100th Anniversary Wake It was inconceivable for The Marcel Proust Support Group to let the 100th anniversary of the author’s death go by without observation. So a few months before the date, I sent a letter to the owner of the Savoy Tivoli, my all-time favorite North… Continue reading Proust Speaks: Part 1

Who Am I?

It’s fascinating when a Dadaist writes your bio for you. My friend Dr. Really? started this blog because he thought Proust Said That—which is to say, me—deserved a home, and I, a platform. He has fanciful impressions, mixed with fact, to explain who I am, and he’s Dada to the nth degree. The only thing… Continue reading Who Am I?

A Wake for Marcel Proust

The last weeks have passed in the arduous effort to raise money for ArtHouseSF.org, my nonprofit for co-op artists’ housing and venues in San Francisco. The annual anniversary of Proust’s death, November 18, 1922, slipped by without observation. I will surely throw another wake for Marcel in 2022, to observe the 100th anniversary of his… Continue reading A Wake for Marcel Proust

A Case of Intellectual Property Theft

In the course of a routine internet search, to see who’s posting things about me these days, I found this ad. It came as something of a shock to know that an issue of Proust Said That had been included in a volume of two of the books of In Search, published in India, for… Continue reading A Case of Intellectual Property Theft

Karl Ove Knausgaard: A Proustie for Our Times

I was on page six of Knausgaard’s last book of the series, My Struggle, when I saw the first mention of Proust. Of course, I thought. Of course. There would be many mentions of Proust. It rolled over me in a wave of comprehension: Knausgaard has done exactly what Proust did, if certainly differently, nearly… Continue reading Karl Ove Knausgaard: A Proustie for Our Times

Let’s Talk About Writers

Recently, I’ve been thinking about writing, and how essential writers are to the knowledge of  everything. Authors produce almost all sources of information, in one way or another. Books, textbooks, magazines, websites, and other written materials were produced by writers. Maybe a person doesn’t really read, and they get their information from lectures, news, documentaries,… Continue reading Let’s Talk About Writers

Introducing: the One and Only Dr. Really?

My esteemed friend, the remarkable, mega-Dada Dr. Really?, decided I needed a website to make Proust Said That readily available to the public—all ten issues are on this site— and to give me a forum for my incessant musings. This is actually his site, as much as mine, and I never know what will show… Continue reading Introducing: the One and Only Dr. Really?