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've been trying for over an hour to find the Thousand and One Nights plates mentioned in Swann's Way when I came across this interesting bit of trivia about Yves Saint Laurent:

Apparently Saint Laurent named each of the nine bedrooms for characters in Proust’s novel. His own named after the cultivated and sensitive Charles Swann…the pseudonym that the couturier used when he traveled incognito.

http://trouvais.com/tag/marcel-proust/

Kalliope wrote: "I decided to go back to the begining because I wanted to pay more attention to the way the Narrator shifts backwards and forwards in time.

Someone earlier on in this thread had wondered whether i..."

I found this perspective that helps explain the shifts in time.

"Put simply, people seem to think that the “lost time” of the title denotes the past, but in fact it denotes the present. More specifically, it implies a present that is present to itself in all its plenitude. So why, you might ask, was there all this talk of involuntary memory? Why care so much about memory if what you really want is a full present? It is my thesis that it was not involuntary memory as such that interested Proust, but rather the problem of narrating the atemporal plenitude which that memory implied. In short, Proust raised to the level of a literary phenomenology the split between Erzählzeit (time of narrating)and erzählte Zeit (narrated time)."

http://thinkingblueguitars.wordpress....

And @Aloha, thanks hun :)

Eugene wrote: "ReemK10 wrote: "My reading style is such that I don't concern myself too much with details of the how and why of the story but enjoy reading to discover an author's/translator's play with words, u..."

If I may add this thought that occurred to me with regards to the members(which I know ought to go in the group lounge thread, but since the topic started in here, and today is the last day of this thread I'll just post it here). I'm sure that there are people that think along the same lines that we have members who are rather academic in their approach to the novel, and others like myself that are more the autodidact which makes us feel that we may be posting something that sounds rather naive. If we are to learn from you, do indulge us our expressions, and try to be mindful of the effort it takes for some people to come out of their shells to share something. My feelers are focused on the readers than the reading. (shrugs)

Eugene wrote: "ReemK10 wrote: "My reading style is such that I don't concern myself too much with details of the how and why of the story but enjoy reading to discover an author's/translator's play with words, u..."

How intriguing of you Eugene. What I do is look for patterns, and it is almost always unconsciously. I take in large amounts of information as I read of all sorts of reading material, and it all just sits in the backburner of my mind, until it suddenly makes an appearance as a " oh that's why so and so does..." The processing happens of its own accord, if that makes any sense. Ideas have to stew.

Maison de « Tante Léonie » - Place Lemoine, Illiers-Combray (28)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51366740...

Marcel's bedroom: http://www.flickr.com/photos/51366740...



the dining room: http://www.flickr.com/photos/51366740...

I'm thinking the plates on the wall may be the Thousand and One Nights plates that I was searching for!!

the house Aunt Leonie never left:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51366740...

Paris - Carnavalet Museum - Marcel Proust's bedroom http://www.flickr.com/photos/15434282...

It's a good thing this group has grown to 737 members and hopefully still growing because I think it's going to take an army to decipher Proust. The animal names may even have to do with a possible painting hanging on his bedroom wall that may have served as inspiration for the names of these characters. You just never know what he's up to and should assume that nothing is as it seems.

Nick wrote: "The best works of fiction speak to us as if they were written for us. So I very much understand the nature if what you say, Tristan. Proust has a way of speaking this universally recognisable sort ..."

Yes, it was me who thought that in the post that I (ahem)deleted. I only noticed the odd names because of the Bouilleboeuf last name, and then went in search of a possible trend. I have this sense that Proust is playing with us, and that after reading this tome, we're going to be laughing at ourselves.

BTW,I mentioned this in a personal message, so I'll repeat it again here. My reading style is such that I don't concern myseelf too much with details of the how and why of the story but enjoy reading to discover an author's/translator's play with words, use of metaphor, or to find the unusual thought, comparison, analogy that will stick with me. I would also add that the opportunity to read so many case studies of characters that have been observed so closely is very exciting to me. I regret that I can't read this in the original French, but I'm counting on those that are to share their observations and surprises.

@Nick: I do like the fairytale explanation for the names.

Cheryl wrote: "We all read differently and will bring our own unique perspectives to the novel. What I think might be more troubling are those who are tempted to hold back on their thoughts allowing the more verb..."

Well if enough of us do just that, we can have a great time and make a few friends along the way.

It's our first week of reading, and it will take a while for us to get our foothold in here. I actually find it very refreshing to see people getting their feathers ruffled because it just means we are all getting to know one other and our different personalities. We all read differently and will bring our own unique perspectives to the novel. What I think might be more troubling are those who are tempted to hold back on their thoughts allowing the more verbal ones to talk. I know I shared a few thoughts, found no reactions, so I deleted my posts. So, like I said it will take a while, but think what a glorious opportunity it will be to meet so many diffrent people from around the world all agreeing to commit one year of their lives doing the exact same thing at the same time! Good reading! Relax and enjoy. Cheers :)

I was just reading an article that gives us the lessons that we can take from Sherlock Holmes, and they seem to me appropriate to reading and understanding Proust as well, so I'm sharing them with you. Reading Proust involves changing the way we see the world, as he also gives us lessons in not just seeing but the importance of observing and being constantly mindful of our surroundings by using our senses to increase mindfulness. I beleive that is what we are to take away from reading ISOLT.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/l...

Jim wrote: "Mercedes wrote: I was sort of amazed how he transmitted the game between the conscience and the memory, he describes memories as if they were right here and now in his conscience..."

And so the qu..."
I would agree with Jim's version of things, and would imagine that Proust probably also had a little trick up his sleeve for us to discover along the way.

Proustitute wrote: "ReemK, those are questions I think well worth keeping in mind while reading Proust and asking it of the text."

Yes, I think so. Will do.

Proustitute wrote: "ReemK10 (Got Proust?) wrote: "What Proust was doing, was an exploration of trying to preserve time, to capture the moment, the era"

To me, "remembrance" is a passive thing: memories that somehow j..."

That's actually a very good point! Does memory have to be active to be preserved? Do we have to actively be remembering to hold on to our memories? Or do we have to experience life very mindfully to be truly living in the moment?

Aloha wrote: "ReemK10 (Got Proust?) wrote: "I've just come back from a walk with my dog, and my thinking now is that the better title is actually Remembrance of Things Past. What Proust was doing, was an explora..."

But was he trying to get it back? Did he want to repeat the past?

I've just come back from a walk with my dog, and my thinking now is that the better title is actually Remembrance of Things Past. What Proust was doing, was an exploration of trying to preserve time, to capture the moment, the era, and write a great big ode to himself. He was always conscious of never having done anything worthy and decided he would freeze time, preserve memory as his legacy. By documenting in excrutiating minutae everything about and around him, which is why he was so obsessed with detail, he did do just that.

I think what I'm trying to say is that we are to feel our way through the novel, that the only cues we are to follow are how he feels about what took place and not what actually took place because his memory is not a perfect memory and that it is an altered recollection. We tend to remember how we felt about an occurrence in accurate detail, but not the details of what actually took place.

If Proust's remembrances are an exploration of his favorite subject, that being himself, and if he believes that memory is imperfect(" corrupted by the lies of the remembering process"), then he has given us a reading of a somewhat fictional account of his childhood. Could he be playing with memory/recollection to prove somme other point( beyond the obvious) that we are to intuit somehow, particularly since he has provided us with detailed description of his mental state of mind?

Proustitute wrote: "Kalliope wrote: "I have liked the way the Narrator’s grandmother sees a danger in the way photography reproduces art, and how engravings are a preferable way to reproduce paintings. The Narrator i..."

A thread where readers could share their Proust "ah-ha" moment(s) would be terribly satisfying.

So Proust is presenting us with an account through the eyes of a child and the in hindisght perspective of an adult that can now interpret his experiences growing up of his somewhat troubled childhood. Would you say that he is looking back at things through a depressed state of mind?