Swann’s Way (In Search of Lost Time, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

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

Shelves: _france, novels, 1900-1939, 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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Dec 24, 2020 Vicky rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: novel, french, favorites, own-pre-konmari, on-love, on-writing, on-reading

A novel I never thought I would have interest in reading, then once I did have it in 2013—since it is Anaïs Nin's favorite novel and right in time for the 100th anniversary of its publication—I never thought I would be able to finish this first volume because I kept abandoning it 3-4x between pages 70-100. The narrator as a young boy describing in slow detail the whole process of going to bed without a goodnight kiss from his mother was really hard to get through, but arriving to "Swann in Love, ...more

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Oct 14, 2015 Travellinckx rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, classics, french-literature

Well...what can I say. It took me more than a month to finish this book. I have to admit that I am a slow reader, and this is the kind of book that you can't read fast, otherwise you'll be lost in its phrases or lost in its long sentences which are interwoven beautifully.

This is a book which is written for the beauty of the french language. The description of (almost) everything crafted so finely that makes you think the whole book is actually puzzle of poems. And this is just the first of seve Well...what can I say. It took me more than a month to finish this book. I have to admit that I am a slow reader, and this is the kind of book that you can't read fast, otherwise you'll be lost in its phrases or lost in its long sentences which are interwoven beautifully.

This is a book which is written for the beauty of the french language. The description of (almost) everything crafted so finely that makes you think the whole book is actually puzzle of poems. And this is just the first of seven books. So I can't wait to continue my journey in Proust's world

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Kesulitan paling berat membaca (dan mungkin juga menerjemahkan) A la recherche du temps perdu karya Marcel Proust adalah kalimat2nya yang cenderung panjang dan bercabang-cabang. Masalah ini bertambah dengan penggunaan tenses waktu yang beragam dan sangat mempengaruhi atmosfir dan nuansa peristiwa yang dideskripsikan. Konsentrasi penuh dibutuhkan agar pembaca tetap berada di rel yang tepat. Konsentrasi kendur sedikit, jejak peristiwa bisa lepas dari kendali dan kadang kita terlempar ke sebuah masa yang membingungkan atau bertemu karakter yang (sepertinya) tiba-tiba muncul entah darimana. Jika hal ini terjadi, kadang pembaca harus kembali ke awal kalimat, awal paragraph atau bahkan di halaman awal.
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Bukunya sendiri bercerita, sesuai judulnya, tentang proses mengais-ngais ingatan seputar kenangan-kenangan masa kecil dan masa remaja sang narator. Kenangan-kenangan ini timbul tenggelam, kadang jelas, kadang meragukan, kadang mengecewakan dan sering berpindah dari satu peristiwa ke peristiwa lain terpicu dari hal-hal kecil yang terjadi di masa sekarang.
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Cahaya matahari, nyala lilin, lonceng gereja, kue atau teh yang dicelup hingga aroma bunga bisa membangkitkan kembali kenangan-kenangan yang terkubur dan ingatan-ingatan lain yang kadang tidak berhubungan sama sekali. Misalnya saat sang narator berlutut di depan altar dan mencium aroma pahit nan lembut kacang almond yang berasal dari rangkaian bunga dan memicu ingatannya ke pipi Mademoiselle Vinteuil yang berbintik-bintik merah.
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Di Du côté de chez Swan, buku pertama dari tujuh volume ini, Proust juga menulis puluhan halaman tentang bagaimana ia tidak bisa tidur gara-gara ia tidak mendapat ucapan selamat malam dan ciuman selamat tidur dari ibunya. Terpicu oleh suasana remang-remang, sang narrator kemudian terkenang seorang borjuis, Charles Swann, yang menyebabkan ibunya mengabaikan kebiasaanya untuk menemani sang narator hingga ke tempat tidur. Swann inilah yang menjadi semacam akar tempat cabang-cabang ingatan sang narrator tumbuh.
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Mulai dari gosip tentang bagaimana Swann bertemu dan jatuh cinta dengan istrinya (Odette) yang berbeda strata sosial hingga bagaimana sang narator mengamati orang-orang di sekitar Swann dan istrinya, termasuk anak mereka, Gilberte. Sang narator juga mulai sadar seksualitas saat ia menyaksikan adegan percintaan sepasang kekasih lesbian dan sejak itu mulai mengamati dengan lebih teliti tentang tingkah laku perempuan-perempuan yang selalu menjadi motor penggerak imajinasi sang narator.
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Episode kue madelaine yang sering jadi rujukan setiap kali membicarakan A La recherche du Temps perdu juga terjadi di buku ini. Kue madeleine pada dasarnya kue bolu kecil yang biasa dimakan sambil minum the atau kopi. Kue Madeleine jadi istimewa di buku ini gara-gara cara Proust mendeskripsikan bagaimana kue yang dicelup dalam teh ini lumer di mulut dan rasa madeleine yang lembut ini membuatnya terkenang ke sebuah masa di mana ia menemami tantenya minum teh sambil makan madeleine. Dari sensasi kue yang lumer di mulut hingga daun-daun teh yang mengembang dalam celupan air panas di dalam cangkir, sang narator seperti tersedot mesin waktu dan kembali ke desa kecilnya, Combray (bukan Combray di Normandy tapi sebuah desa imajiner berdasarkan desa kelahiran Proust, Illiers) lalu bertemu orang-orang yang nantinya akan sangat berpengaruh dengan jalan hidup sang narrator.
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Deskripsi menjadi kekuatan utama dalam A la Recherche duTemps Perdu. Pengamatan terhadap gaya hidup, aksi-reaksi, gesture, dan hal-hal detail dari orang-orang yang ditemui sang narrator bertransformasi dalam rangkaian kalimat-kalimat kompleks, puitis sekaligus spesifik. .
Buku ini juga bukan buku yang bisa dibaca cepat-cepat, apalagi dibaca sambil lalu. Buku ini semacam fine dining masakan Prancis dengan kodifikasi teknik-teknik kuno yang rumit dan presentasinya di atas piring yang butuh penataan khusus sehingga harus dikonsumsi dengan cara yang khusus pula. ...more

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