Dave’s Comments (group member since May 24, 2014)

Dave’s comments from the Reading Proust's In Search of Lost Time in 2014 group.

I watched The Trial decades ago, never read the book. All I remember is Orson Welles and a huge pile of books. Your Kera Knighly issue is exactly my problem.

Jonathan wrote: "I'm just re-reading the opening scenes of the party and I'm amused by the narrator's snooty attitude towards Prof. E:...for nobody of his sort had ever been seen before or was ever to be seen again..."

This is an aspect that makes the parties so interesting to me. Face to face folks are polite and sometimes even fawning, then they walk away (or think in the case of the narrator) and become judgmental and catty. Totally consistent with social gatherings I've experienced all my life.

Jonathan wrote: "Does everyone else 'read' the episode in the Champs-Elysées between M de Châtellerault and the usher as another homosexual encounter?"

Yes, I did also.

I enjoy movies but I've given up watching movies where I loved the book. The strong visual element along with soundtrack etc always supersedes the mental images of the book. I have invested too much time and effort into creating my own ISOLT world in my mind. If somebody wants to take from me what Proust has created they are going to have to pry it from my cold, dead brain.

Renato wrote: "Here in Brazil The Captive and The Fugitive are only found separately. I didn't know there was a movie made of the last volume!"

I meant read separately as a "unit" apart from the rest of ISOLT.

Be aware that looking up the Time Regained movie info may contain SPOILERS. I believe Swann's Way was also made into a movie.

Interesting, Swann's Way may be rated so high because it is often assigned in literature classes. The downward trend seems to indicate people give up (not surprising). I've read somewhere that The Captive and The Fugitive are sometimes read seperately. I rated all the volumes 5 stars so far. It is Proust. The last volume may be read more frequently because there was a movie made of it. S & G has been my favorite so far.

Although I'm not into sports Renato, my condolences on Brazil's loss in the World Cup.

As Stephen wrote above, the first half of "The Captive" is slow, bur the second half is quite entertaining. However, "The Fugitive" is like quicksand. Very little plot development until the last quarter of the book. Just page after page of interior monologue and worse, about the same thing over and over. My bet is that this is the make or break point for Proust readers. My response was to keep reading in larger than normal sections to get through it. Others may have different strategies. I'm a third of the was through "Time Regained" and it is quite interesting.

Happy Birthday Marcel. Good choice of champagne Marcelita. My birthday is in October Jonathan.

So Proust's sun sign was Cancer. What to make of that?

Unlike you folks who have decided to slow down, I have sped up. Its really hot in Texas now and I have no interest in televised sports. I am now in the final volume and have come across what I think will become my favorite Proust quote. Writing about how the newspapers write of nothing but French victories in WWI, the narrator comments drolly, "As for myself, I was alarmed by how rapidly the theater of our victories was approaching Paris."

The volume ends on an interestingly ironical note, the foreshadowing that Gilberte will become the Duchesse de Guermantes indicates, I assume, that St Loup will become become the Duc. So the cream of Parisian Society will be reigned over by a Jewess and a Homosexual. That appeals to my sense of justice. Well done, M. Proust!

Venice was a let down. After talking and dreaming of going there the entire novel, the short section seemed of little purpose - but perhaps the purposes I saw were more important than I realize. The first purpose established a timestamp based on historical events. M. Norpois' conversation with Prince Foggi leads to Prince Foggi traveling to Rome "that very evening" to recommend to the King that Signor Giolitti be named Prime Minister. Giovanni Giolitti was Prime Minister of Italy five time between 1892-1921. The time that fits events here is the fourth time when he was appointed, March 30, 1911. The second purpose of Venice is as a symbolic "other woman." All through "The Captive" Venice was the alternative to Albertine. He could go there if he dumped her or if she left him. I don't suppose it should be any surprise that when he finally gets there he is bored, as he has been with the other loves of his life. And the final purpose, to illustrate the strange mother/son relationship between the narrator and his mother. His mother "brought" him to Venice for a few weeks. How old is the narrator now? Late 20's? On departure he is mooning over a seventeen year old "rosy-cheeked young glass-vendor" which he dreams of bringing to Paris for "his sole convenience". When mama take the luggage and goes to the train station he defiantly remains behind, only to come racing to the train in a panic and just getting onboard to find his mother near tears. I had a hard time relating to this type of mother/son relationship.

Albertine's letter's before her death seem to be calculated to torment or tease the narrator. Whether for revenge or for sadisim is not yet established. The Aunt's letter reporting her death seems fraudulent (my guess was Andrée wrote it). But the narrator never focuses on the death but remain's focused on Albertine's sexuality. It brings to mind in previous volumes when the inability to really know someone else was commented upon. So the narrator never seriously considers the possibly of a staged death, but is never able to find a decisive answer on Albertine's sexuality. So is the "truth" of who someone else really is "The Fugitive"?

The agents: St Loup, Aime, Andrée. St Loup's mission to bribe Albertine's aunt was confusing. But it was clear to the reader that St Loup recognized Albertine when shown her picture and the narrator did not pick up on that recognition. Aime did not seem to me a reliable source given his willingness to do whatever was necessary to support his family as disclosed in S & G. The Balbec Bathhouse Attendant's disclosures are neutralized by memories of Aunt Leonie's criticism of the Attendant's exaggeration and untruthfulness. The Touraine Laundress' veracity is colored by her sleeping with Aime (which also colors his report). Andrée's three visits to the narrator. are like the Ghost of Lovers Past: three completely different and contradictory versions - my conclusion is she is Albertine's agent come to mess with the narrator's head or determine the state of his obsession.

"Albertine was dead." I am not convinced that is true. I lost track of how many times that phrase, or one close to it, was repeated. Verbal irony? Now I did wonder if it was ironic in a psychological sense rather (or in addition to) the physical sense. She wasn't dead psychologically (or in memory) because he continued to obsess just as when she was alive and continued to spy on her after her "death." At some point (I believe after Aime's trip to Touraine) the phrases "Albertine was dead" began appearing in close proximity to "Albertine was alive" and the narrator at least entertained the possibility that she had staged her own death. The whole volume was like a vast psychological storm swirling in a "vicious circle" (Proust's phrase) that finally spends all its energy over the course of five years. This whole "storm" may be irony. I can't be the only reader who believes she is still alive.

Proust seems to have no use for the social conventions of death (or marriage). Funerals are not discussed or attended (except a second hand account that grandmother's funeral was lightly attended). Flowers (for grief) are not sent. Condolence calls not paid nor condolence letters written or received. Graves are not visited or discussed. Formal mourning dress and withdrawal from social events seem the only conventions alluded to. Perhaps all this is due to one of Proust's many quirks. But it had an effect on my perceptions.

My thoughts and comments on "The Fugative" SPOILERS

I feel ambivalent about this volume. The first 75% of this volume was the hardest for me to get through since the first volume. I started "The Fugitive" with the sense of hostility toward the narrator I brought from the ending of "The Captive." As the volume progressed my hostility faded to frustration which faded to uncertainty toward the narrator and ended with a return to neutral observation of the narrator. It occurs to me that these emotions mirror the narrator's own emotions toward Albertine. If that was a response Proust was seeking to evoke in readers, once again his brilliance shows through. If I am off the mark, well it wouldn't be the first time.

Then you may have to take tranquilizers to contain your excitement Renato!:)

Jonathan wrote, "Now that's a story we'd like to hear about, isn't it?" That does sound like an interesting story Jonathan. Charlus went from being the strongest character to my favorite character.

Renato wrote, "Hopefully we'll get more outbursts of jealousy in the future! " I read somewhere Renato that about 1,000 pages of ISOLT are devoted to jealousy. I hope I have gotten through them because I am sick of the topic. But then my personality is the opposite of what a jealous person is.