Jonathan’s Comments (group member since Oct 24, 2013)

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

Sunny in Wonderland wrote: "Clues? No, wait! I don't know how it ends yet. Don't tell me, don't tell me! :)"

I'm guessing that the narrator saves the world from an alien invasion.

I'm just thinking about adding some more bookshelves as it seems quite popular. I'm thinking of adding the following shelves:
-'Proust ISOLT' i.e. the books scheduled to read this year
-'Proust Other Works'
-'Biographical & Criticism', i.e. anything About Proust
-'Historical', e.g. Dreyfus Affair, French history
-'Influences', I really mean stuff that influenced Proust and/or appears in ISOLT, i.e. Ruskin, Anatole France, Mme Sévigné.

What do others think? I don't think there's much to be gained by having too many shelves but these can be changed or modified as we go along.

Sunny in Wonderland wrote: "I'm as confused as the narrator right now. What exactly IS a 'renter'? As in:

"At any rate he is a man, not one of those effeminate creatures one sees so many of nowadays, who look like little r..."

I just checked my Penguin edition and a library copy of the Vintage edition and both use the more modern term 'rent boy'. In full the Penguin version is:

At least he's a proper man, not one of those effeminate creatures one comes across everywhere nowadays, who look just like rent boys capable of bringing their innocent victims to a sorry end at the drop of a hat.

I think that St-Loup genuinely likes the narrator, I just wonder whether the narrator has overstayed his welcome. It sounds like his visit was lasting for months. BTW I'm not so sure that the narrator genuinely likes St-Loup as he's only there to get an invitation to Mme Guermantes.

Life just seems to be full of misunderstandings and misinterpretations. I think this is where Proust excels.

Renato wrote: "That quote is stunning! I took it that he called them ‘amphibious’ as they could live both in daytime and nighttime, like those species who inhabits both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems...."

Oh, good point Renato, that makes sense. I was originally thinking that they looked like frogs, ha ha!

Why did St-Loup deny that he was engaged to Mlle d'Ambresac? I'm tempted to take a sneak ahead...but I will resist the temptation.

Renato wrote: "No problem. I know Stephen is reading ahead and maybe some other people as well. I figured they can post their thoughts and we'll discuss them when we catch up."

Yes, that should be useful. I think we're all reading at different rates and have adopted different reading strategies.

Although I didn't really enjoy the 'sleep' portion I did like this quote:

Why, when we regain consciousness, is it not an identity other than the one we had previously that is embodied in us? It is not clear what dictates the choice nor why, among the millions of human beings we might be, it is the being we were the day before that we unerringly grasp.

I don't think Proust can really be confused over this but as a literary piece it's quite interesting. I recently read a book of short stories by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky who delighted in this sort of identity confusion.

Renato: thanks for adding all the discussion threads.

Renato wrote: "I liked the bit where the narrator came back and saw his grandmother sitting there, before she noticed him, and felt he was watching his own absence:

Of myself - thanks to that privilege which doe..."

I've only read a couple of pages into this week's reading as the narrator's homecoming seemed a more natural break point. The phone call to his grandmother and his return home was actually quite touching. When he loses the phone connection it reminds him of being lost as a child and when he sees her reading a book, unaware of the narrator's presence, she's described as 'a crushed old woman whom I did not know.'

I'm curious as to how long the narrator's visit lasted as it sounds like it was for weeks. Any ideas?

Maybe I'm just cynical but I got the feeling that St-Loup arranged the telephone call between the narrator and his grandmother knowing full well that it would make the narrator homesick and he'd eventually go back to Paris. Visitors soon become a pain after all.

I dunno, but I found this week's reading a bit dull; there were too many longueurs. For example, the bit at the beginning about sounds, the sleeping troubles bit and the military tactics conversation. I almost considered skipping that part as it was sending me to sleep.

The highlights, for me, were the conversations about Mme Guermantes and the photo, the narrator wandering about Doncières and the telephone conversation with his grandmother at the end.

My favourite quote from this section was (kindle loc1689/10944):

Occasionally I looked up towards some vast old apartment with its shutters still open and where amphibious men and women, adapting themselves each evening to living in an element different from their daytime one, swam about slowly in the dense liquid which at nightfall rises incessantly from the wells of lamps and fills the rooms to the brink of their walls of stone and glass, and as they moved about in it, their bodies sent forth unctuous golden ripples.

I'm not sure what to make of the 'amphibious men and women' but I like it. It reminded me of the Marquis de Palancy quote from the last section.

Renato wrote: "Also, I was quite shocked that the narrator went as far as asking Robert to give him the picture! He started the talk about Oriane all nonchalant, like it wasn't really an important deal to him and then bam!, let that out before he could think twice, haha. ..."

This part was the best bit of this week's section. As before the narrator is particularly selfish and creepy. He's really quite smarmy when he's trying to lead the conversation towards getting St-Loup to give him the photo. Mind you, I'm sure we've all been guilty of trying to wheedle something out of someone by sweet-talking them! Which would also appear creepy to a third person.

It's interesting that St-Loup balks at this request.

Following on from the previous week's read where the narrator stated that it would make him happy if all sorts of calamities would fall upon Mme Guermantes so that he could come along to help her; well, this week we had him being relieved that some bad news was for his 'best friend' St-Loup rather than for himself...nice.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I understood that it was only he [St-Loup] who had cause for unhappiness and that the news was from his mistress.

I just checked out some of the Dreyfus links supplied. The BBC radio programme was very good. Thanks again Marcelita!

Welcome back Dwayne. I like the way Proust reveals more and more info about a character; very often concentrating on different aspects at different times. The characters, at times, appear almost cartoonish and then, bam, we see the character in a new light.

I found it interesting that Françoise was pining for Combray and the hawthorns even more intensly than the narrator.

Thanks Alia. I hope you remain as a group member and moderator even if you're unable to contribute further.

I was just as shocked by the fact that the narrator actually made a trip on his own to see Saint-Loup. Though by the way it was introduced it looks like his only reason is to get Saint-Loup to put in a good word to Mme Guermantes.

Sunny in Wonderland wrote: "Also, is anyone else as SHOCKED as I am that our narrator is in love? With a perfect stranger? Again?

Stalker alert! LOL!"

Yes he's stalking again. He can't stop even when he knows that she knows he's stalking her.

The quote that Renato gave in msg3 is particularly creepy as well.

Sunny in Wonderland wrote: "Can anyone tell me what is meant by "faggots" in my translation? Here's the quote, from when he's getting ready to walk into Saint-Loup's barracks:

"But it was only the freshly lighted fire begin..."

My physical dictionary (yes I still use one occasionally) gives it as a fuel: a bundle of sticks tied together. It's probably more of a British word. I also grew up eating faggots, i.e. a sort of meatball...not twigs...or anything else....

My Penguin translation just has: 'It could not keep quiet; it was shifting the logs about, and very clumsily.' I guess that a modern translator would be aware that an American reader might misconstrue the word 'faggot'.

I'm sorry about that Alia as you did a great job setting it up. I can help out as a moderator as well.