Antiabecedarian's review

In Search of Lost Time, Volume I: Swann's Way (Modern Library Classics)
by Marcel Proust

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12750.In_Search_of_Lost_Time_Volume_I_Swann_s_Way?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="In Search of Lost Time, Volume I: Swann's Way (Modern Library Classics)" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166509578m/12750.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12750.In_Search_of_Lost_Time_Volume_I_Swann_s_Way?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">In Search of Lost Time, Volume I: Swann's Way</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/233619.Marcel_Proust">Marcel Proust</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7999184?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 5 of 5 stars<br/>I have this book on my shelf because it was passed down from a long lost friend to another friend of mine, who left it in his house with all the rest of his possessions after Katrina.  This friend let me have the first scavange, and I picked up Swann's Way, among other treasures.  I remember these two gentlemen discussing philosophy and films every morning over coffee and their first cigarettes.  One was too erudite and the other not a fool, but the erudite one took the upper hand, making the not-a-fool dance in his declarations and delineations of ideas.  So the erudite one got the not-a-fool into reading Proust...  I learned a lot about the higher realms of useful dreamworlds from these two, and now Swann's Way represents a point in the past that cannot exist again.  Not that any point in the past could exist again, but I enjoyed their coming together, and my luck in crossing their paths.  What I think of Proust and his Madeleines and mother's kiss and those cheesy photos on the covers of this particular 6 volume issue....  I read a story- a short story- by Borges about a man who fell off a horse and became bedridden on account of his memories.  He spent the rest of his life remembering every single molecular detail of everything he had ever encountered, most vividly.  From Latin to the print on the paper in latin, the cracks in the binding of the books, the cracks in the walls, the hairs and hair follicles, the fractious and complete whole of his life repeated and recalled ad infinitum (literally) until he was able to breath his LAST BREATH- except that the narrator witnessed this to tell.  Memory and repetition fascinate me.... so now that I've read a Jane Austen book and have primed myself for proper literature, Swann's Way looks pretty good for a start.  And as for Madeleines, the only thing that sends me into automatic reverie is the smell of the sweet olive trees in bloom--  I remember how it was when I first moved to New Orleans, and wake up a little from the stinky tedium and all the wanderings of the last 8.9 years rush into my head.  Maybe.  I am writing babble about BOOKS instead of working.  Reverie is not an excuse.  If I ever lose my sight or am bedridden then the only thing is to put up in a place where there are a lot of sweet olive trees by the window, and sleep most of the year.  
<br/>
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/564103?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Antiabecedarian's review
rating:

bookshelves: pretty
recommended for: fools
status: Read in December, 2007

I have this book on my shelf because it was passed down from a long lost friend to another friend of mine, who left it in his house with all the rest of his possessions after Katrina. This friend let me have the first scavange, and I picked up Swann's Way, among other treasures. I remember these two gentlemen discussing philosophy and films every morning over coffee and their first cigarettes. One was too erudite and the other not a fool, but the erudite one took the upper hand, making the not-a-fool dance in his declarations and delineations of ideas. So the erudite one got the not-a-fool into reading Proust... I learned a lot about the higher realms of useful dreamworlds from these two, and now Swann's Way represents a point in the past that cannot exist again. Not that any point in the past could exist again, but I enjoyed their coming together, and my luck in crossing their paths. What I think of Proust and his Madeleines and mother's kiss and those cheesy photos on the cove...more I have this book on my shelf because it was passed down from a long lost friend to another friend of mine, who left it in his house with all the rest of his possessions after Katrina. This friend let me have the first scavange, and I picked up Swann's Way, among other treasures. I remember these two gentlemen discussing philosophy and films every morning over coffee and their first cigarettes. One was too erudite and the other not a fool, but the erudite one took the upper hand, making the not-a-fool dance in his declarations and delineations of ideas. So the erudite one got the not-a-fool into reading Proust... I learned a lot about the higher realms of useful dreamworlds from these two, and now Swann's Way represents a point in the past that cannot exist again. Not that any point in the past could exist again, but I enjoyed their coming together, and my luck in crossing their paths. What I think of Proust and his Madeleines and mother's kiss and those cheesy photos on the covers of this particular 6 volume issue.... I read a story- a short story- by Borges about a man who fell off a horse and became bedridden on account of his memories. He spent the rest of his life remembering every single molecular detail of everything he had ever encountered, most vividly. From Latin to the print on the paper in latin, the cracks in the binding of the books, the cracks in the walls, the hairs and hair follicles, the fractious and complete whole of his life repeated and recalled ad infinitum (literally) until he was able to breath his LAST BREATH- except that the narrator witnessed this to tell. Memory and repetition fascinate me.... so now that I've read a Jane Austen book and have primed myself for proper literature, Swann's Way looks pretty good for a start. And as for Madeleines, the only thing that sends me into automatic reverie is the smell of the sweet olive trees in bloom-- I remember how it was when I first moved to New Orleans, and wake up a little from the stinky tedium and all the wanderings of the last 8.9 years rush into my head. Maybe. I am writing babble about BOOKS instead of working. Reverie is not an excuse. If I ever lose my sight or am bedridden then the only thing is to put up in a place where there are a lot of sweet olive trees by the window, and sleep most of the year.
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message 1: by Atyg

07/27/2008 07:05PM

Sounds like you inherited not just those very books, but their true legacy--your own serendipitious memories--what a gift!