Wherever possible, Hitchens writes as an oppositionist, which means that his panegyrics are delivered in the form of a bodyguard’s shove against intruders; and in this case he had decided on a book-length riposte to Alain de Botton’s ”How Proust Can Change Your Life.”

panegyric (n) : a formal expression of praise [syn: encomium, eulogy, paean, pean] – He Knew He Was Right