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

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

"Some people go further, arguing that reading itself should be thought of as essentially a collaborative activity. Bob Stein, founder of the Institute for the Future of the Book, suggested that "the idea that reading is something you do by yourself is very, very recent." 5 The institute has created its own platform for collaborative reading, and a few years ago it commissioned an experiment in which seven writers and critics collectively read and annotated Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook. In the future, Stein suggests, we'll think of a book less as a physical object than as a "place to congregate," in response to which David Weinberger, a researcher at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, tweeted provocatively that "private note-taking seems selfish to me. Make it all public.""

Which is why 2013: The Year for Reading Proust makes perfect sense. Cheers :)

Eugene asked earlier on what words stood out to me: here's one particular phrase-

... characterized certain pretty, pious and unfeeling bourgeois ladies I saw at Mass, some of whom had long since been enrolled in the reserve militia of Injustice(83).

the reserve militia of injustice with a capital I

Proustitute wrote: "ReemK, I think the emphasis on the church is important given Proust's remark that his novel was structured like a cathedral, notably after he had read Ruskin's work which gave him the key to how to..."

I'm just teasing. I have great admiration for beautiful architecture and have appreciated the discussion the group has been having. However, this woman as viewed by the narrator is quite intriguing!

"Crazed with love for the lady in pink"

Just as this one, in the smoking room where my uncle was wearing his plain jacket to receive her, generously diffused her soft and sweet body, her dress of pink silk, her pearls, the elegance that emanates from the friendsip of a grand duke, so in the sme way she had taken some insignificant remark of my father's, had worked it delicately, turned it, given it a precious appellation, and enchasing it with one of her glances of the finest water, tinged with humility and gratitude, had given it back changed into an artistc jewel, into something "completely exquisite." (79-80) What a sentence.

This woman in the pink dress and pearls eating her tangerine and the way the narrator regards her makes me wonder why you all are going on and on about the church of Combray when this is where the narrator is at his finest. #just sayin ;)

@Aloha (posting in this thread)
ReemK10 (Got Proust?) wrote: "And lol@me for trying to give Eugene how to try and write like Proust tips. Too funny Reem! "

No difference from me giving tips on the church, Reem

Aloha, I have to say you exhibit such a strong empathy trait that it has me wondering about your Jungian profile! Even your user name is warm and friendly. As for the comment I made, I really wasn't trying to put myself down as much as I was seeing the humor in it all.

Nick wrote: "It's so obviously a phallic symbol, celebrated in place of the phallus as a product of Proust having to hide his sexuality from society.

Not really. Just kidding. I think it is just a celebration ..."

Nick, it might be easier to post them on twitter with the hashtag #Proust2013. Aloha, that is a beautiful photo. Lighting is superb. And lol@me for trying to give Eugene how to try and write like Proust tips. Too funny Reem!

Jeremy wrote: "ReemK10 (Got Proust?) wrote: "That's a sharp drop. I guess we can write it off to the typical progression of a New Year's resolution. And then you think about the 50 Shades of Grey series that have..."

it still says that there are 761 members in this group.

Nick wrote: ""Priestess of Proust"! :)"
Priestess or Proustess, beautiful voice and always well spoken. Congratulations!

Aloha wrote: "Church of Combray:

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Bravo Aloha! How nice!!

Madame X wrote: "ReemK10 (Got Proust?) wrote: "Had he read the story of the tea and madeleines before you offered them to him? "

I have no idea. Would it shock you to hear that we didn't get along very well?

& E..." It appears that he was intentionally being rude to you for whatever reasons. It makes for a great anecdotal story though. I hope it hasn't tainted your taste for the cookies. Also, what a lovely opportunity to go visit Illiers-Combray! I'm hoping that Nick will share the pics of his visit there. I know I enjoyed seeing the photos of Tante Leonie's house.

Madame X wrote: "I've also visited Illiers-Combray, though it was years ago now. My strongest memory is of the church - small but open, warm colors, really exquisitely beautiful. I thought it was tremendously frien..."

Had he read the story of the tea and madeleines before you offered them to him?

That's a sharp drop. I guess we can write it off to the typical progression of a New Year's resolution. And then you think about the 50 Shades of Grey series that have been flying off the shelves, and you think damn! Messed up world.

Aloha wrote: "You'll love it, ReemK10. I'm going through the Combray church detail with a better eye now. I'm wondering about Proust's Narrator's description of the apse of the church of Combray (Moncrieff):

..."

Well that's just it and why it will take a large group such as this, to decode Proust.Spending time in the presence of a great mind and having our thoughts awakened!

Thanks Aloha and Nick. That's why I just love you guys as there is so much to learn from you! It sounds like such a fascinating subject to explore whether it is memory as space, or memory using space. I just ordered the book!

Aloba writes: "In the theater of the past that is constituted by memory, the stage setting maintains the characters in their dominant roles. At times we think we know ourselves in time, when all we know is a sequence of fixations in the spaces of the being's stability -a being who does not want to melt away, and who, even in the past, when he sets out in search of things past, wants time to "suspend" its flight. In its countless alveoli space contains compressed time. That is what space is for."
Amazing find and so thought-provoking. Can this be related to the memory palace?

Nick wrote: "Good links, Reem. The reader who has read Swann, and come to know Combray, will find a trip to Aunt Leonie's house quite a revealing one. Also, the Pre-Catalan is gorgeous whatever the season.

And..."

Thanks Nick. I found these photos on flickr, but then was delighted to read in more detail the article in Architectural Digest that Proustitute gave us that provides more background info about the family.

It's actually funny, I think we may be reading ISOLT in a manner similar to reading Kit William's Masquerade, searching for clues that will lead to the treasure. A novel of that length has to lead to something!

And I may be totally off on some wild goose chase, but I'm trying to see if Kit William's golden hare has anything to do with Edmund De Waal's Hare with Amber Eyes and "his art connoisseur ancestor Charles (a model for Proust's Swann)"

Just having some fun....

There is obviously an issue, possibly a very serious issue with memory, especially that of Proust's short term memory that factors into this novel that has me wondering if Proust ever kept any notebooks in which he documented things, so as not to forget them.

"And even today, if in a large provincial town or a part of Paris I do not know well, a passing stranger who has "put me on the straight path" shows me in the distance, as a reference point, some hospital belfry, some convent steeple lifting the peak of its ecclesiastical cap at the corner of the street that I am supposed to take, if only my memory can obscurely find in it some small feature resembling the dear departed form, the stranger, if he turns around to make sure I am not going astray, may, to his astonishment, see me, forgetting the walk I had begun or the necessary errand, remain there in front of the steeple for hours, motionless, trying to remember, feeling deep in myself lands recovered from oblivion draining and rebuilding themselves; and then no doubt, and more anxiously than a short time before when I asked him to direct me, I am still seeking my path, I am turning a corner... but... I am doing so in my heart..." (68)



Remaining there for hours when it was probably only moments, he comes off as if he is a bit of a scatterbrain which is at odds with his intense focusing skills. There is something very absurd about all this.

Eugene wrote: "ReemK10 wrote : "Listen to this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTIXKU... over and over..."

It would even put the narrator to sleep ;-)

Yes Neville Jason is excellent; Proust writes in "a convers..."

:) I doubt that. Just pick up the rhythm and then start writing with the speed of the words and the way they sound in your head. If you have the audio, then listen to it as you read. You'll soon be speaking like Neville Jason too. Cheers.

Eugene wrote: "ReemK10 wrote: "...Sometimes a fresh eye is better than someone who came to the book with preconceived notions. You might notice things that others did not."

Gail Wrote: "...Are there any particul..."

Actually it was Aloha who said those words. I think it's a great idea to read Proust if you want to write like Proust. It should be fun to see you master his writing style. I would suggest that you read aloud to educate the ear.

Listen to this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTIXKU... over and over, and over again and learn the rhythm.

Aloha wrote: "The reception is incredible! I'd love the Madeleine Castaing chair amid the walls of Monet's Water Lilies.

"

I agree. Gorgeous!