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Swann’s Way (In Search of Lost Time, #1)

Marcel Proust,

C.K. Scott Moncrieff (Translator)

Start date: January 1, 2024

Finish date: March 31, 2024

Discussion: Old School Classics, Pre-1915

Why we're reading this: 2024 1st Quarter Long Read
[close] 2024 1st Quarter Long Read

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Old School Classics, Pre-1915

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What Members Thought

Feb 10, 2024 RJ - Slayer of Trolls rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books-read

“I just don’t understand why a man should take thirty pages to describe how he turns over in his bed before he goes to sleep; it made my head swim.”
- Publisher Alfred Humblot, who rejected Swann's Way in 1913

I don't understand either, and despite the lovely meandering prose I found myself skimming the pages at times, not really caring about what I was reading, and trying my best not to simply get up and throw the book in the trash before sitting down and watching reruns of The Simpsons to sc ...more

32 likes · Like · see review

Oct 16, 2009 Laura rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: french-literature, audio-books, fiction-20th-century, read-2013, read-2009, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you

Starting to read with my dear friend Lee.

Chapter I - Combray

Single facts, such as the feeling of insomnia of a patient in a hospital, a kiss of good-bye to his parents, the reading of Georges Sand's books and the famous description of eating a piece of "madeleine" with tee, give free rein to fancy of the main character.

I am loving to reading this book and I don't understand how I waited for such a long time to do it. Once we start to read it, we immerse into the story, the details give us the jo ...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Jun 30, 2009 Suvi rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1900-1939, novels, _france, cities_paris

Sometimes you really wan't to like a book, but it's not always successful no matter how hard you try. Maybe with this one I tried too hard, because I had certain expectations. There's not really a plot in here, but this is a kind of a collection of memories and of characters who more or less show up in them. The lack of a plot wasn't a problem, especially when Proust could probably be able to describe taking a dump beautifully, but in the end this was too easy to put down and too hard to pick up Sometimes you really wan't to like a book, but it's not always successful no matter how hard you try. Maybe with this one I tried too hard, because I had certain expectations. There's not really a plot in here, but this is a kind of a collection of memories and of characters who more or less show up in them. The lack of a plot wasn't a problem, especially when Proust could probably be able to describe taking a dump beautifully, but in the end this was too easy to put down and too hard to pick up again. I did understand, that like recollections are usually sprawling, this was meant to imitate that. In practice though reading was way too heavy. Although at times beautiful scenes and Proust's use of words made me sigh from delight, but mostly it was tough to read his ramblings. Not to say ramblings can't work, just look at Tropic of Cancer (1934). Long sentences are also ok, as long they are understandable, and not the kind you have to read all over again just to figure out what the author is trying to say.

My favourite scene was (in addition to that legendary madeleine scene) when Proust described a childhood reading session in the garden. It was straight from my own childhood. During the summer I used to read in our garden so focused, that I didn't realise the day getting darker. The transitions between different memories were also executed well and naturally, as if the words were flowing from one place into another. As a whole though the novel was in need of editing, because now this is just way too long. I also kind of felt that while there's nothing wrong with Proust's writing talent, he just had some problems in constructing a whole novel. Like he didn't know what he was doing, but was trying feverishly to write all his ideas down. At least I have my limits with stream of consciousness.

I'm going to take a look at the second installment, but if that feels as sticky as this one I'll give up with the whole series. There's far too many books out there for me to torture myself with an uninteresting series. There's still hope, though. At least what I've gathered, this was a sort of introduction to the whole series, so as a whole the story hasn't properly begun yet. Or at least I hope that there will be at least a some kind of glimpse of a point.

Despite my negativity this still deserves three stars, for Proust's writing and for the potential for good stuff later on. So, for the most arrogant Proust fans whose comments I've seen here on Goodreads: stop being pretentious and eloquent jackasses. Not all classics are liked by everyone. To each his own. ...more

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