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.

These pictures and quotes really add to the appreciation of the book!

Sort of an endless hall of literary mirrors eh? He said, then she said what he said, then he said what she said that he said, then Proust wrote what he said that she said that he said she said that Proust wrote that the reader read! Can you say that sentence really fast three times? lol

Thanks Renato!

Thanks Renato, I remember reading it, I just didn't highlight it. Not sure why, I highlight most of every page with 4 different colors! lol

Thanks Renato, I've been meaning to look that episode up also. A fun, youthful "roll in the hay", but for me it only served as a foil to his inability to have "emotionally mature" relationships with women.

Thank you Renato, its great to have others to talk to about Proust. Given Proust's rapture of the telephone, I can only imagine the mythic and artistic references and raptures he might write about the Internet!

Oh, I also meant to mention that there is apparently a significant quote about friendship back right before or at the beginning of the restaurant scene. I have not gone back to look for it.

Renato wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "Also, why are the Guermantes both interested in the narrator now? Are they trying to warn him of Charlus? Why doesn't Charlus want the narrator to go to the Guermantes? Is it becau..."

I believe they warn him out of a vague sense of social obligation. They all know Charlus'' reputation" and by warning the narrator vaguely to avoid him, they can feel like the "did all that they could." I can relate to this, I went to boarding school and received this type of warning about certain members of the faculty. I took the advice and avoided those mentioned. But then my life would never be considered a masterpiece of literature, so we shall see how our narrator copes.

Renato wrote: "I enjoyed this week’s reading with Saint-Loup’s appearance and everything that went down on the restaurant - as you guys already mentioned -, such as: the narrator’s encounter with the revolving do..."

I've come to the conclusion that the narrator's role is more often like a camera in social settings. He speaks rarely and usually only when spoken to. His "contribution" is his interior monologue describing and explaining. He's smart, but we have almost no knowledge of his education. We have no description of what he looks like that I can remember. Although I may be suppose to separate author and narrator, I have given up on that and in my mind's eye he looks like the pictures of Proust I have seen.

Renato wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "Also, why are the Guermantes both interested in the narrator now? Are they trying to warn him of Charlus? Why doesn't Charlus want the narrator to go to the Guermantes? Is it becau..."

I've spent some time rooting around earlier in the volume to try and figure why the Guermantes took a liking to the narrator. As best I can figure it starts with the narrator's father says this: "Old Norpois told me that Mme. de Villeparisis had taken quite a fancy to you, and that you would meet all sorts of interesting people in her house. He paid a great tribute to you; you will see him if you go there, and he may have some good advice for you even if you are going to be a writer. "
- Then when the narrator is at Mme. Villeparisis', she invites him to dinner in front of her niece the Duchess. The narrator declines because he is chasing Mme Stermaria and has obligations with his parents. Mme de Villeparisis says something like -Oh, you are a hard one to get hold of and walks away. Then the Duchess invites him to dinner at her house.
- I interpret the Duchesses motivation as "trumping" her aunt socially by getting someone to come to dinner whom her aunt could not catch. This starts the comedy ball rolling that continues at the Duchesses house -no one knows who he is, but he must be important because others think so highly of him.
-This delicious comedy seems to confirm the old saying, "its not what you know, its who you know.

SPOILERS Now that Proust has mentored me to be at ease in his drawing or dining rooms, I find myself able to admire "writer's craft" items like structure and building suspense.
- In structure M. de Guermantes loud denouncement of Swan about the Dreyfus Affair that occurs near the beginning of the party is matched by Swan's confidential disclosure to the narrator of what M. de Guermantes had actually told him.
- At more or less the middle Swan's "life lesson" he gives to the narrator about jealousy. A significant recall of events in Swan and the narrator's life and a significant foreshadowing of the prominence of jealousy to come.
- In suspense I enjoyed the multiple lines of suspense:
- The narrator in the receiving line, will he get in?
- The narrator trying to find someone to introduce him to the host, will he succeed?
- Baron de Charlus stalking Mme. de Sturgis' sons, will he succeed?
- The narrator seeing Swann "across the room" on several occasions and wanting to ask him about the Dreyfus accusations, will he succeed? Well I already mentioned that. Swann's portrayal as a ruthless "truth-teller" at the end of Guermantes Way makes me very interested in what else he has to say.
- During the confidential conversation, suspense is maintained by constant interruption, very realistic is a social situation.

Jonathan wrote: "Dave wrote: "To me the most significant thing about the restaurant was the disclosure about St Loup and his friends. I don't have page numbers, but the passage begins "The Prince de Foix, who was r..."
You raise excellent questions Jonathan. We should revisit them in future weeks when we gain insight into each one.

Jonathan wrote: "Dave wrote: "Jonathan, I "passed over lightly" the whole Courvoisiers vs Guermantes distinction. I gather, like you, it had to do with one-upmanship in aesthetic taste. The main thing I got out of ..."

I mentioned in a previous post on this week how much of the second half of this volume was taken up with this dinner party. As I interpret the reading schedule, that is all the weeks of the 14th and 21st. The reading for the 28th begins at 89% to the finish.

I interpret this dinner party as the climax of this volume. Proust is clearly not an advocate for these people and their vapid self-absorbtion. At times I feel only an animated movie could approach capturing the lunacy - a Parisian Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

To me the most significant thing about the restaurant was the disclosure about St Loup and his friends. I don't have page numbers, but the passage begins "The Prince de Foix, who was rich already, belonged not only to this fashionable set of fifteen young men, but to a more exclusive and inseparable group which included Saint Loup." This goes on for a paragraph which includes a very intriguing sentence which begins "A fifth (for in these groups of four there are never four only) had joined this Platonic party..." This disclosure gives the reader inside knowledge which sets up lots of dramatic irony about when this disclosure will become known. Halfway through next volume I'm still waiting.

Jonathan wrote: "I thought the first half of this week's reading was as good as anything else in this volume, i.e. St-Loup's arrival and their visit to the restaurant.

When St-Loup arrives at the point of the nar..."

I liked his encounter with the revolving door - reminded me of his first encounter with the telephone. Like you Jonathan, I've had some anxious encounters with new technology. I also liked how the proprietor was insolent to the narrator until he learned of Saint Loup's affection - then he became fawning.

Jonathan wrote: "Sunny in Wonderland wrote: "Didn't someone say somewhere that a lot of people never read further than The Guermantes Way? For me, this week's reading is supporting that statement. I'm so BORED wi..."

Jonathan, I "passed over lightly" the whole Courvoisiers vs Guermantes distinction. I gather, like you, it had to do with one-upmanship in aesthetic taste. The main thing I got out of the Duchesses dinner party was more development of the characters of the Duc and Duchess, that they were in a loveless marriage, that the Duc had mistresses, and the Duchess was painfully aware of these mistresses. There were plenty of comedy moments -for example, The Duchess was going to wear " nothing at all" to the Greek Minister's party ( meaning she wasn't going to the party) and and the shock that the Duchesses would miss a good portion of the season to go on a cruise to the Norwegian Fiords.

Thank you Marcelita for all these wonderful resources. I love Proust's long sentences. And this reading is greatly expanding my vocabulary. Sometimes, listening to the audio and sensing the beginning of a long sentence, I touch the screen to highlight and follow the words down the page through the phonetical bramble and grammatical hedgerows in pursuit of elusive period.

Somehow I missed something in this section and didn't take the time to find the answer. Saint Loup had written a letter (?) to the narrator recommending Mme Stermaria? I never went back to see what was said. From his thoughts and actions, the narrator seems to believe Mme Stermaria is what has been referred to in the US as a "sure thing.". That proves not to be the case. There seems to be a pattern developing of Saint Loup being "unreliable" in word and deed. Am I on the right track here?

I can relate Marcelita! While my wife watches TV, I sit in an adjacent room reading and listening on my headphones. Suddenly I burst out in gales of laughter. Whats so funny she calls out. Proust I holler back, wiping the tears of hilarity from my eyes. Oh..... she says in a tone that clearly communicates "how weird!" Well, we've been married a long time and she realized I was weird long before Proust. Oh well, now what was the narrator relating?

I went to check out Marcelita's Pinterest and found I was already following her. Great job Marcelita! Thanks for joining us MMR.

I'm sympathetic Sunny, and very admiring of anyone who can read this book. Without also listening to the Audiobook simultaneously, I had never been able to get 20 pages into Swann's Way. The different voices that the reader creates in the Audiobook make it less of a challenge. And the audio pronunciations of the names helps me a lot also. The titles, yes I find them confusing too. But I really don't pay much attention to the titles. Proust is capturing an era and its social norms, but I see him capturing it through parody and satire. The characters are full of themselves, but they are vapid, vain, and pompous and not to be taken seriously.