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

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

I don't know how many of you are following "A Century of Proust" in the NYT that Marcelita recommended, but today's excerpt makes for an interesting read.

Anka Muhlstein is the author of many books, most recently “Monsieur Proust’s Library.” Here she writes about the books that influenced Proust.



teaser: The only remedy is to keep reading and rereading Proust!

May I be the first to propose 2014: the year of rereading ISOLT?!


http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/20...

Marcelita wrote: "Here is a world-wide platform...just waiting for your insights on "Swann's Way." Time sensitive....one week only...interactive blog, not unlike The Guardian's.

"Staffers from The Times and other..."

This is brilliant! Let's see who comments. Of course Beckett as an absurdist would have this reaction. Priceless! LOL

So, I'm thinking perhaps the narrator has us hoodwinked with his obsession with the glitz and glamour of the opera set.

"However that might be this sudden glimpse that Jupien afforded me of the real world apalled me.And yet it concerned only Francoise, about whom I cared little. Was it the same with all one's social relations? And into what depths of despair might this not some day plunge me if it were the same with love? That was the future's secret." (MKE 81)

Was he showing us this side, the appearances of the Guermantes set, only for us to later discover how deceiving appearances are and what the truth really is about these people. Also, reading about his obsessive infatuation with Mme de Guermantes, I couldn't help but think that he goes from one infatuation to another and to wonder if Proust suffered from depression that he had the narrator escape" his own" through these obsessions.

What do we know about Proust, the melancholic?

I believe this may be of interest:

Star Wars: Online review culture is dotted with black holes of bad taste.

http://www.wilsonquarterly.com/articl...

My take on reading the novel. Posting it now before the light of day leads to the delete button.

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I don't see the fixation with the cheeks as being a fetish. I think that as an asthmatic, sickly man, pink cheeks were a sign of health to him, of being infused with the possibility of living a full life.

Marcelita wrote: "ReemK10 (Got Proust?) wrote: "Looks to see if Jeremy is around, posts this because I'm sure there is a good chance that readers of your caliber would be interested in it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2..."

He just followed me, so I'll share your suggestion with him. :)

Looks to see if Jeremy is around, posts this because I'm sure there is a good chance that readers of your caliber would be interested in it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/23/boo...

I was just looking at a Talbot flyer that came in the mail and saw a heading titled "The Matelassé Way" which you know has to be a play on The Méséglise way. Witty those Talbot people!

Fionnuala wrote: "Eugene wrote: "As M Campagnon says "What can you say new about Proust" but everybody hears music differently."

Yes to differently!
There may be nothing 'new' to say but there is so much for us to..."

Absolutely, everybody does hear music differently.I believe that we are trying to do with ISOLT is to try to experience in ourselves what the narrator has felt, as written by Proust. We're trying to see if we can see the way he sees. But, for many of us, we lack the knowledge base to do so because we haven't lived in that era, haven't read the books he read, the music he listened to, the plays, the travels, the people he's met...so we're seeing through very foggy glasses.What this group has done, is point out those parts that need more depth of understanding which helps us to travel through this novel.

The music we hear is when what we know to be true mixes with what Proust shares with us about what he knows to be true and how it affects the way we see the world, the people around us.

I think that if we just pray at the altar of Proust, we miss out on what we( having read so many other authors) bring to our reading. Proust may open the door, but it is we who walk through it.

wow. Wow. WOW. This level of analysis and interpretation is simply astounding. I think ISOLT as a novel is read at different levels of understanding. There are those of us who read it at a very superficial level and can still enjoy it. Others who try to come up with theories that allow the novel to resonate in a meaningful manner, and then those of you who bring such vast knowledge with you to your reading of ISOLT that you see it from all those amazing cubist angles.

I ask myself, did you understand those posts and I think at least it got me to think differently than I did before.

The more you bring to the table, the more you get out of the novel. I tip my hat to you seasoned, experienced readers!!!

These are for Marcelita: http://www.diamond-all.com/Diamond%20...


and these are for Cheryl
http://pics1.whiteflash.com/articlefi...

Karen wrote: "OH MY GOODNESS!

Thank you Kal, that is absolutely stunning! Breathtaking!

Truly, a feast for the eyes. And feasts for the eyes are easy on the waistline.

Thanks to you too, Reem! Flowers, yes, g..."

okay Karen, how about these very simple diamond stud earrings. It's your birthstone!http://www.skymall.com/images/product...

Happy Birthday Karen!!!! Running on the same theme, here is some flower power!!!

http://fashionbride.files.wordpress.c...

and these reminded me of you:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/laboitea...

Fantastic cake Kalliope!! Love it!!!

Marcelita wrote: "Kalliope wrote: "Marcelita wrote: "The fashion pages tucked in this weeks's reading:
"But I hear that a Venetian artist, called Fortuny, has rediscovered the secret of the craft, and that in a few ..."

I can just imagine the thrill of getting dressed in such gorgeous outfits! Thanks for sharing them Marcelita. So pretty!

Fionnuala wrote: "Ce Ce wrote: ".. I like Ondaatje...just a radically different experience. Adjusting is a bit disorienting...I'm having to work at it!"

I really liked that book but I understand about the adjustmen..."

I know what you mean, and that is why it is sometimes so difficult to read modern day books. There is always something to mark and note down from the classics.

Kalliope wrote: "ReemK10 (Got Proust?) wrote: I was curious by this description as being literary. Perhaps Proust was labelled as being literary in the same derogatory way and expressed it here.


I think you may b..."

Yes, I would agree that he is trying to redeem himself and perhaps he might have also felt that writing this novel for 14 years others had considered this to have been a waste of his time. Oh there is Marcel "being literary" scribbling in his notebook again. He should do something useful.

Fionnuala wrote: "Kalliope wrote: ".But in a similar way to a Cubist painting, it is worthwhile to identify the different planes and sections and fragments and to try and understand how the artist has thereby repres..."



I loved this view of ISOLT as a cubist painting! I agree that the use of the word literary is being used in a derogatory manner, and wonder why it is used like this. I did not pick up on Albertine being concerned with being judged by Bloch although I can see this now. I was curious by this description as being literary. Perhaps Proust was labelled as being literary in the same derogatory way and expressed it here.

Another reference to the word literary.What do you think it means in this context?



"Bloch said of her:"She is outstretched on her couch, but in her ubiquity has not ceased to frequent simultaneously vague golf-courses and dubious tennis courts."

He was simply being "literary," of course, but in view of the difficulties which Albertine felt that it might create for him with friends whose invitations she had declined on the plea that she was unable to move, it was quite enough to make her take a profound dislike to the face and the sound of the voice of the young man who said these things."(MKE 629)

This week's section makes for fabulous reading!

Just saw this posted on twitter by Proust Ink. Haven't seen it yet, so I have no idea if there are spoilers. vimeo.com/64406024