Chris’s Comments (group member since Jan 01, 2013)

Chris’s comments from the The Year of Reading Proust group.

Hi Ara Lucia! I'm still here, too. I'm only a few books ahead of you. I haven't tried to read them all in one hit but am savouring them over time. But I return to the thread with each one. There have been some brilliant posts on fashion, art and social history of the times which have given further life to the books.

I don't think you should get hung up on the translations, although the purists will probably disagree. I listened to a couple of the books on audio and that seemed to me to be a great way to get into Proust.

With regard to the photographs of the apartment where Proust lived, did the courtyard look out over the back of other people's apartments? I got the impression from the Guermantes Way that it was like a scene from the "Rear Window" movie but with more to see of the Guermantes establishment with carriages coming and going into the courtyard and the main entrance in clear view from other apartments. Would it all have been part of one building or would there have been a clear separation between residents and the Guermantes? If the Guermantes were so well off, why would they need a set up like this with other residents closely observing their lives?

Hello all! Today I finished The Guermantes Way! I am way behind the rest of you but I have found your posts made in 2013 still hold great interest to me and bring the book alive. Found this book a struggle (thank heavens for the notes in the back) with flashes of pure descriptive brilliance and genuine pathos. The grandmother's death and the Swann episode at the end of the book made me want to weep. I was also reminded of Marcel Du Champ's multi faceted Nude Descending a Staircase in Proust's examination of the kissing of Albertine. I am determined to finish all the volumes but it could take years. No puns please about In Search of Lost Time! I now feel I am living the books because when the author searches his memory for something that happened in a previous volume so do I!

I'm still reading Proust! Way behind everyone else but, hey, I'm still reading. With regard to the military strategy section, I was wondering if Proust was being ironic. It's just that, by the time this book was published, he'd have been through World War I and, I would imagine, all ideas of what composed great military strategy in battle would have gone up in smoke with the sordid reality of battle in the trenches. Anyone care to comment?

ReemK10 (Got Proust?) wrote: "Proustitute wrote: "Obviously ISOLT can't be totally "spoiled" with giving away the plot: as everyone knows by now, it's a philosophical text, an aesthetic text"

I have this nagging thought that i..."
Yes, to a large degree I am ignoring the side discussions about this and that (except where there are photographs of life in Paris at the time, including hairstyles and fashions, or of the art or flowers mentioned in the text) and sticking with the text and the impressions it has on me. Time for all the other details at a second reading.

Phillida wrote: "Chris wrote: "He makes you stop and think about why a particular view (or memory of a view) makes such an impact on you and of how life is made up of millions of these little changes but that only ..."
Yes, but also wistful that such a lot of these moments have passed by without record!

Valerie wrote: "ReemK10 (Got Proust?) wrote: "Would we agree that Proust diagnosed Dr. Cottard with Asperger's Syndrome before Hans Asperger discovered the disorder? Wikipedia cites 1944 and ISOLT was published be..."

Yes, I loved the section on the music, how it made Swann feel, giving him the desire (perhaps only momentarily - I will have to read on!) to take a better path in his life ('better late than never'). I had a similar connection with Chopin's Nocturne No. 1 in B Flat minor which I only discovered recently where the first few bars kept echoing in my head. Some music seems to take you to another more expansive place on a higher plain. Oliver Sachs does a good job in talking about our brain's responsiveness to music in Musicophilia. But once again Proust (100 years ago) does a great job in describing how we can connect deeply with music. (Presumably even in these days when we are totally saturated in music compared to then). I loved how Swann wants to know everything about the music and the composer but that the people at the place where the music was first played and then neither the Verdurans nor their friends can help him to do more than skim the surface. Today we go to Shazam or Youtube for help no doubt, but back then - what agony to lose the piece and what delight in finding it again!

About the landscapes - particularly the steeples section - it made me think of artists like Cezanne and how they tried to capture their impressions of fleeting moments and views and light effects. Proust is very good at setting down on paper what these artists were grappling with in paint. He makes you stop and think about why a particular view (or memory of a view) makes such an impact on you and of how life is made up of millions of these little changes but that only a few of them actually "stick" in our minds before we blunder on!

OK, so now I've passed the passage about Mlle Vinteuil and her friend and I'm walking along the riverbank and I've passed the fisherman on the riverbank who the narrator doesn't know and wants to talk to but whose family prevents him, and suddenly I feel like I'm in a Haruki Murakami novel or perhaps in the movie Spirited Away where everything is rather too beautiful and it feels like at any moment a character is going to turn towards me and reveal itself to be a dressed up pig. The ruins of the castle are a bit creepy and I'm not sure about the girl at the pleasure house in her long gloves. Anyone else feeling a bit spooked at this juncture?

OK, so now I've passed the passage about Mlle Vinteuil and her friend and I'm walking along the riverbank and I've passed the fisherman on the riverbank who the narrator doesn't know and wants to talk to but whose family prevents him, and suddenly I feel like I'm in a Haruki Murakami novel or perhaps in the movie Spirited Away where everything is rather too beautiful and it feels like at any moment a character is going to turn towards me and reveal itself to be a dressed up pig. The ruins of the castle are a bit creepy and I'm not sure about the girl at the pleasure house in her long gloves. Anyone else feeling a bit spooked at this juncture?

Andrew wrote: "My favorite comment so far is one of Proustitute's, that Proust's recollections, so detailed and dramatic, force us into recollections of our own, but not really force because we WANT to recollect...."

The Saturday lunch sequence's gentle humour reminded me of The Diary of a Nobody.

Nick wrote: "Looking for pictures of the Pre-Catelan in Illiers-Combray, I found these nice blogposts, which may be of interest for readers of this thread :)

http://www.democratdad.com/for_a_long...-..."
Thank you for this. The dining table seems hardly big enough however.

Ian wrote: "We need a badge to identify us!"

Yes, it would also be interesting to see how far we are spread across the world.

Marcelita wrote: "ReemK10 (Got Proust?) wrote: "Proustitute wrote: "Marcelita, there is indeed an inimitable "voice" in the original French, one that sadly can't be conveyed in any translation."

It's true that we a..."
Yes, I'm listening to the John Rowe reading. I think it's very good.

Rosemary wrote: "ReemK10 (Got Proust?) wrote: "http://www.flickr.com/photos/34977978...

They speak for themselves."

I visualise the pink hawthorn as more delicate than that - around here (so..."
Yes, I imagined them as this shade of delicate pink which would still stand out from the white.

Book Portrait wrote: "La_mariane wrote: "Il y a aujourd'hui une émission sur Proust à la radio, sur France Culture."

Merci pour le lien! Raphaël Enthoven est tellement brillant que c'est toujours un plaisir de l'écoute..."

Thank you for this link! A great website. Victor Hugo is also featured including the whole of Les Mis on audio in French. Splendid!

I would love to hear the French spoken. Can anyone recommend an audio book of this in French?

Aloha wrote: "Chris, I think this is the passage you were referring to in Uncle Adolphe's apartment. Let me see whether I can find clothing photos from this period.

"Once or twice a month, in Paris, I used to ..."

Thanks for that! Yes, isn't that a great description? The servant in purple and white. Chairs of yellow satin. Gilt mouldings. Sky blue ceiling. Pink and fleshy goddess. So vivid! And the bit of humour at the end of the passage. Sorry for stumbling over Adolphe's name. One of the hazards of an audio book.

J.A. wrote: "Chris wrote: A madeleine is so much more evocative to the senses than a piece of burnt toast!

That was my initial reaction too, Chris. But then I remembered what a wonderful sensation eating toas..."
Gosh! I can see I haven't lived enough yet!