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.

Hi Joni. I admit Casanova could get a bit boring but I don't think it's just about his seductions. He travelled about Europe, got involved with court intrigues and politics, met famous people etc. Also, I like the period and I like reading highly subjective memoirs. I just think his name has become associated with his sexual exploits.

Marcelita, that's interesting. I hope that Proust isn't like a detective novel as I normally don't like them. I usually think that any book that can be spoilt by finding out the ending isn't worth reading. Though I think there may be something about reading it 'innocently'.

midnightfaerie wrote: "The Iliad was a big one for me as well as War and Peace, both of which I wasn't too impressed with. I loved Gormenghast! All of them! The 3rd one was difficult to get into, and it definitely was..."

Wow! An impressive list. I don't usually commit myself to 'complete works' as an author usually produces a lot of forgettable material that I'm happy to ignore. :-)

I finally read 'The Iliad' a year or so ago and really liked it - how can a book about a single battle be interesting - but it is; Don Quixote is fun - how can a single joke be entertaining for 900 pages? But it is.

I've actually never read any Austen or any of the Brontes though I'm aiming to read some soon. Shakespeare just bores me for some reason.

For years I've been toying with reading Casanova's memoirs in full - 12 volumes I think! Maybe after Proust...

Welcome Midnight! I think everyone's getting excited now about diving in to Proust; I know I am. Did you like Gormenghast? I loved 'Titus Groan' & 'Gormenghast' but didn't care for 'Titus Alone'.

I seem to like having a big reading project and have tackled a few over the years. I'm interested to know of others' big projects - failures as well as successes. One of my failures was Heidegger's 'Being & Time'. I got about halfway through from sheer perseverance but realised that I wasn't really taking anything from it - so I quit and was relieved to do so.

I've just taken 'Paintings in Proust' out from the library and next to it was A Night At The Majestic - when Joyce met Proust; I didn't take it out though...maybe next time...

Given that we're about to read a translated work by a French author, members may find this article interesting - it's about the state of current French publishing.

No problem Alia. I wanted to find the places myself so I thought I'd share them with the group. I tried to keep the formatting as close to yours.

I'm planning on reading the Vintage Kindle edition rather than the Modern Library version as it's readily available here in the UK. As the pagination seems to be different than the Modern Library edition I have been sorting out where the schedule points appear in my copies and I thought I'd add it here just in case anyone else will be reading this edition. I have only bought the first two volumes so far, but will add further info when I buy the subsequent volumes. I have included page numbers and the Kindle location.

The Vintage Volume Set Schedule

The books this relates to are Swann's Way, Within a Budding Grove, The Guermantes Way, Sodom and Gomorrah, The Captive & The Fugitive and Time Regained.

January
Week Ending 01/04: Swann's Way, to page 56 (location 911)
Week Ending 01/11: Swann's Way, to page 119 (location 1844)
Week Ending 01/18: Swann's Way, to page 190 (location 2900)
Week Ending 01/25: Swann's Way, to page 254 (location 3832)

February
Week Ending 02/01: Swann's Way, to page 322 (location 4858)
Week Ending 02/08: Swann's Way, to page 387 (location 5826)
Week Ending 02/15: Swann's Way, to page 448 (location 6730)
Week Ending 02/22: Swann's Way, to page 513 (location 7672) (end of Swann's Way)

March
Week Ending 03/01: Within a Budding Grove, to page 70 (location 1068)
Week Ending 03/08: Within a Budding Grove, to page 142 (location 2121)
Week Ending 03/15: Within a Budding Grove, to page 210 (location 3132)
Week Ending 03/22: Within a Budding Grove, to page 281 (location 4157)
Week Ending 03/29: Within a Budding Grove, to page 353 (location 5219)

April
Week Ending 04/05: Within a Budding Grove, to page 425 (location 6276)
Week Ending 04/12: Within a Budding Grove, to page 493 (location 7279)
Week Ending 04/19: Within a Budding Grove, to page 560 (location 8269)
Week Ending 04/26: Within a Budding Grove, to page 618 (location 9124) (end of Within a Budding Grove)

May
Week Ending 05/03: The Guermantes Way, to page 79
Week Ending 05/10: The Guermantes Way, to page 155
Week Ending 05/17: The Guermantes Way, to page 231
Week Ending 05/24: The Guermantes Way, to page 306
Week Ending 05/31: The Guermantes Way, to page 380

June
Week Ending 06/07: The Guermantes Way, to page 455
Week Ending 06/14: The Guermantes Way, to page 532
Week Ending 06/21: The Guermantes Way, to page 614
Week Ending 06/28: The Guermantes Way, to page 691 (end of The Guermantes Way)

July
Week Ending 07/05: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 71
Week Ending 07/12: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 140
Week Ending 07/19: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 209
Week Ending 07/26: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 278

August
Week Ending 08/02: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 347
Week Ending 08/09: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 416
Week Ending 08/16: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 483
Week Ending 08/23: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 545
Week Ending 08/30: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 616 (end of Sodom and Gomorrah)

September
Week Ending 09/06: The Captive, to page 93 (loc.1188)
Week Ending 09/13: The Captive, to page 187 (loc.2368)
Week Ending 09/20: The Captive, to page 277 (loc.3499)
Week Ending 09/27: The Captive, to page 368 (loc.4644)

October
Week Ending 10/04: The Captive, to page 462 (loc.5834)
Week Ending 10/11: The Captive, to page 559 (loc.7048) (end of The Captive)
Week Ending 10/18: The Fugitive, to page 637 (loc.7990)
Week Ending 10/25: The Fugitive, to page 708 (loc.8872)

November
Week Ending 11/01: The Fugitive, to page 783 (loc.9800)
Week Ending 11/08: The Fugitive, to page 860 (loc.10754)
Week Ending 11/15: The Fugitive, to page 936 (loc.11700) (end of The Fugitive)

**revised schedule for the last volume**
November
Week Ending 11/08: Time Regained, to page 77 (loc.1005)
Week Ending 11/15: Time Regained, to page 152 (loc.1963)
Week Ending 11/22: Time Regained, to page 226 (loc.2903)
Week Ending 11/29: Time Regained, to page 302 (loc.3847)

December
Week Ending 12/06: Time Regained, to page 379 (loc.4813)
Week Ending 12/13: Time Regained, to page 456 (loc.5766)
Week Ending 12/20: Time Regained, to page 531 (loc.6704) (end of Time Regained, end of In Search of Lost Time)

Thanks Guy. I intend on making use of 'Paintings in Proust'. I just wonder if that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Thanks for the link Joni.

Hi everyone! For me, I've been aware of Proust for about twenty years now but I never seriously considered reading him. I remember seeing the yellow hardback copies racked up on the library shelves together with the massive three volume set and it looked forbidding, scary even. But since then I've tackled some 'big' reading projects, such as Gibbon's 'Decline & Fall' and more recently Zola's Rougon-Macquart series and Ulysses. There have been a few others; some I liked, some I didn't, whilst others bored me to tears - but the important lesson is that these intimidating books CAN be conquered...and even enjoyed!!

So why now? It just feels right I guess. I finished Zola's R.M. in the middle of last year and was really in the mood for more French writers, I noticed the 2013 Proust group and was disappointed that I'd missed that and very nearly started the first volume when I saw this group, so I thought I'd hold fire and start with the rest of the group.

I'm planning to read the Vintage 6 volume set of the Moncrieff/Kilmartin/Enright translation on Kindle as it seemed the best option for me and is easily available here in England. I've got the first two volumes but I may switch translations along the way if I feel that would be better.

I've never actually tried Proust before so I'm excited about diving in. I've literally only read a few random sentences or quotes in other books so I'm not sure what the experience will be like. My main concern is that there will be too many art and literature references that I won't understand - if that's the case I will probably just use my 'Ulysses' approach - which was 'read it slowly, try to take it all in but if you don't understand it then move on to the next sentence'. It seemed to work for me...

I'm preparing a cork-lined reading room as well. :-)

I've also come across the suggestion of reading the Penguin vol.1 then switching to MKE. At least the translation 'problem' doesn't seem too bad with Proust. I recently finished Zola's Rougon-Macquart series and the translation issue was a real minefield.

I've also been reading 'around' Proust lately; I recently read the Alain de Botton book, Embracing the Ordinary: Lessons From the Champions of Everyday Life and I've had a look at the 'Paintings in Proust' book in my library which looks really useful...and beautiful. I've also got Marcel Proust's Search for Lost Time: A Reader's Guide to The Remembrance of Things Past which I'm hoping to start before the new year.

I haven't read Proust before but I get the feeling that it's not to be rushed. I'm looking forward to getting stuck in.

Hi Joni, I can't say why the Moncrieff/Kilmartin/Enright (MKE) version was chosen as such as I'm not the moderator, but I agree with the choice. I guess some reasons may be that some people may already have copies, they're probably easier to obtain from libraries or second-hand bookshops etc.

Personally I don't particularly like the idea of each volume being translated by a different person so I decided to avoid the Penguin versions myself - though I have read that the Penguin Vol.1 is particularly good.

In the end I hope it shouldn't make too much difference which translation everyone reads, though it might be interesting comparing them.

Do you plan to read all the Penguin versions? Have you read any Proust before?