ReemK10 (Paper Pills)’s Comments (group member since Dec 26, 2012)

ReemK10 (Paper Pills)’s comments from the The Year of Reading Proust group.

Jocelyne wrote: "Joyeux Anniversaire, dearest Reem.

I thought of sending you my own recording of Joyeux Anniversaire on the Theorbo, but since time is of the essence, here is to you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?..."

Oh this all too much! Thank you Jocelyne, thank you Karen and thank you Kalliope, this is just a perfect cake for me! It feels really good to have friends like you all! Ce Ce, Marcelita and Fionnuala, all of you have touched my heart. I'll do like Queen Elizabeth does, when she thanks people, she gives them a framed photo of herself. I am going to bite the bullet of self- consciousness and share with you my tumblr page that I started this morning. Yes, I have joined the me, me, me crowd. Let's blame it on reading Proust!

If you're on tumblr, do follow me, and I'll follow you back!Oh, and you will notice that I stole Elaine and Ce Ce's you tube video shared with us last Saturday. And be warned, I will steal ( borrow) interesting posts you share here!

http://aportraitofawomanreading.tumbl...

Thank you for making my birthday so much better!

Fionnuala wrote: "Have a good birthday day, Reem."

Thank you Fionnuala! :)

@Ce Ce, I just noticed that the cupcakes were drawn by you! You did always excel at making home baked goodies!!!

Thank you so much ladies! I love the cakes and the birthday greetings and my new family of friends on Goodreads!!! Getting to know you all has been the most incredible gift ever!!

Libra in the house! All other Libras step up! I know Patricia has a birthday on October 7th!

Phillida wrote: "Jocelyne wrote: I like the expression "to be born with a nervous breakdown". Sometimes I think it fits me.

That's not how you come across, Jocelyne."

I agree with you Phillida. I think the sun follows Jocelyne wherever she goes.

Proustitute wrote: "Swann is modeled on Charles Haas.

Some images:




James Tissot, Le Cercle de la rue Royale, 1868

(Haas is all the way on the right; click to see it larger)


Charles Haas"


I did find this interesting bit about Swann:

"Raczymow also published an intriguing essay. He turned his attention, like others before him, to Swann, the half-Jewish Proustian hero. But the approach is new. The title of the book, Le cygne de Proust (1989), gives a clue of the direction chosen. Referring himself to one of the known models for Swann, namely Charles Haas, a dandy of the day (a German Jew), the essay pinpoints what links Swann to him and what separates Swann from his presumed model. The author's starting point is the translation from Haas to Swann. Haas (hare in German) was both too plebeian and too German for Proust's taste. Passing over to the English (more to the snobs' liking) he coined the new name Swann, only subtly reminiscent to the French reader of its translation (swan – and not Swann – evoking in English the noble and mythical bird: "le cygnet"). Such is the starting point for the essay. The author then answers the secret: how did the idea suggest itself? He observed in a painting representing a brilliant social circle, that Charles Haas was standing "near the door, facing the others, though on the side, as if he hesitated to mingle with them and penetrate inside the circle." Observing how Haas was "part of the circle, but remained on the periphery," the author told himself: "Haas was Jewish, had no title of nobility, no prestigious heredity, no tremendous fortune." From then on, that noble "cygne" (Swann) became less distant, almost a familiar, intimate person. One can see in this study a literary illustration of social marranism. Raczymow continued his study of Marcel Proust in Le Paris retrouvé de Marcel Proust (2005). On the other hand, he looks into his own boyhood in Avant le déluge: Belleville années 50 (2005) and in Reliques (2005); in 2003, with Le plus tard possible, he evaluates his life, and "[his] experience of absolute loneliness."

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/j...

Fionnuala wrote: "Thanks for posting these moving letters, Marcelita, and for finding the text in French, Kall.
I'm intrigued by the fact that Agostinelli was using the name Marcel Swann when he died. Does this fac..."

I just did a quick search because I remembered that Yves Saint Laurent also used the name M. Swann as a pseudonym when travelling. Anostinelli probably did the same.

Of YSL: "In pictures from the family albums she also looks rather terrifyingly sunny, at least from the point of view of a fragile and depressive homosexual son who identified so passionately with Proust that he sometimes travelled under the pseudonym M. Swann and of whom Bergé has said, “He was born with a nervous breakdown.”

YSL says "It was Marcel Proust who taught me that ‘the magnificent and pitiful family of the hypersensitive are the salt of the earth.’

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2002...

@Kalliope so wonderful that you found the link useful!!
@Marcelita, if you ever find out who bought these letters, do let us know.

Elaine wrote: "Raczymow's comments re: Swann reminds me of how much a novice such as myself has to learn, as did the entire article, French Literature. I enjoyed this 'read' ~ Thanks Reem


:) We're both in the same boat. Ooops I shouldn't say boat around you. I hope the streets have dried up in your neck of the woods. If not, I can send another floating bouquet. ;)

Elaine, I don't think so. I've been googling and nothing is coming up to back this. I did however find this interesting bit about Swann:

"Raczymow also published an intriguing essay. He turned his attention, like others before him, to Swann, the half-Jewish Proustian hero. But the approach is new. The title of the book, Le cygne de Proust (1989), gives a clue of the direction chosen. Referring himself to one of the known models for Swann, namely Charles Haas, a dandy of the day (a German Jew), the essay pinpoints what links Swann to him and what separates Swann from his presumed model. The author's starting point is the translation from Haas to Swann. Haas (hare in German) was both too plebeian and too German for Proust's taste. Passing over to the English (more to the snobs' liking) he coined the new name Swann, only subtly reminiscent to the French reader of its translation (swan – and not Swann – evoking in English the noble and mythical bird: "le cygnet"). Such is the starting point for the essay. The author then answers the secret: how did the idea suggest itself? He observed in a painting representing a brilliant social circle, that Charles Haas was standing "near the door, facing the others, though on the side, as if he hesitated to mingle with them and penetrate inside the circle." Observing how Haas was "part of the circle, but remained on the periphery," the author told himself: "Haas was Jewish, had no title of nobility, no prestigious heredity, no tremendous fortune." From then on, that noble "cygne" (Swann) became less distant, almost a familiar, intimate person. One can see in this study a literary illustration of social marranism. Raczymow continued his study of Marcel Proust in Le Paris retrouvé de Marcel Proust (2005). On the other hand, he looks into his own boyhood in Avant le déluge: Belleville années 50 (2005) and in Reliques (2005); in 2003, with Le plus tard possible, he evaluates his life, and "[his] experience of absolute loneliness."

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/j...

Elaine wrote: "ReemK10 (Paper Pills) wrote: "We Have Never Been Well-Read: Franco Moretti’s Pact With the Devil

http://quarterlyconversation.com/we-h..."
..."

Very clever research and connecting of the dots Elaine!! You may be right about this!

We Have Never Been Well-Read: Franco Moretti’s Pact With the Devil

http://quarterlyconversation.com/we-h...

·Karen· wrote: "Reem, I'm still just about here. Hanging in by the skin of my teeth.

Good to see those roving reporters back. Jocelyne, it's just too funny that you met that charming old guy too - as Fi says, he ..."

Wonderful to see you Karen!! We've missed you too! You need to slow down to smell these flowers. I hope you aren't allergic. I seem to have become TYORP florist!

Marcelita wrote: It is possible to put it in the GR's "Videos?" That way, it won't get lost...and we can watch, and remember, anytime we desire.


Marcelita, you should also post your pinterest collection in the archive!!! Seriously, can you imagine how delighted new readers would be to go through your collection?!

http://www.pinterest.com/marcelitaswann/

and Kalliope needs to make one of all the paintings and music she's shared with us!

Ce Ce wrote: "Fionnuala wrote: "And this evening, I'll have a nice glass of hearty red along with some pages of full bodied Charlus - bound to be a good match."

Ha Ha...Half a world away, I will be joining you!..."

Ce Ce, as much as I adore your talent as an artist, I would like to see a little more color in your avatar!

@Fionnuala, Allergic to flowers?! Then the handbag is perfect for you!

Ce Ce wrote: "Jocelyne wrote: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JVhZ...

"J'ai plus de souvenirs que si j'avais mille ans", as Baudelaire said, I have more memories than if I were a thousand years old, but he..."

I hadn't clicked on this! Truly, it was beautifully done! And this was our Jocelyne who couldn't post an image before?! There is something very poignant about seeing the places that we could only read about. Thank you Jocelyne! This is the best gift!

Marcelita wrote:

Thank you, ReemK10...straight to my library to re-read that page.

You know Marcelita, it's been a real treat to read Proust alongside you. There is something very special about your love, your adoration for Marcel Proust that rubs off on us and makes us want to read more! I thank you for that.

Fionnuala wrote: I just got back home last night after a month away - nice to be back at my computer - there's only so much you can do with an iPad.

Fionnuala hun, I can't keep up with your comings and goings. How about a flowery handbag instead? ;)




Good to have you back!! Where is Karen these days?

Kalliope wrote: "ReemK10 (Paper Pills) wrote: ".."

Reem.... You have outdone yourself... What a wonderful little bouquet..."

Thank you Kalliope. Your flowers are very pretty and delicate.

Jocelyne wrote: "Hello, hello, my dear Proustian friends. How I missed you!
CeCe, you got a facelift? I see that Reem is still as kind and sending lovely flowers to everyone. Elizabeth, hello! Fionnuala, I could ..."

JOCELYNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, you've been missed! Welcome back hun! I'm so glad that you had such a great trip. Thanks for sharing so many details with us. I see Kalliope beat me to the flowers with her pretty flowers, but I had to get you the biggest bouquet that I could find.



It's so good to have you back!!!

Some bits on Proust:

http://theamericanscholar.org/examine...

Elizabeth wrote: "More on snobbery. Apologies to those of you who already know this: when Oxford & Cambridge were established in the early Middle Ages (11th or 12th century), only aristocrats (and only males, of c..."

Interesting Elizabeth, I love when you share this trivia.

Some interesting statistics on how we read these days:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles...