From the Bookshelf of The Year of Reading Proust…

The Guermantes Way (In Search of Lost Time, #3)

Marcel Proust,

C.K. Scott Moncrieff (Translator)

Start date: April 29, 2013

Finish date: June 30, 2013

Discussion: The Guermantes Way, vol. 3

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The Guermantes Way, vol. 3

Through Sunday, 30 June: The Guermantes Way
By Jason · 121 posts · 155 views

last updated Jan 03, 2015 06:05AM

Through Sunday, 12 May: The Guermantes Way
By Jason · 79 posts · 139 views

last updated Dec 15, 2014 11:30PM

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Jun 05, 2013 Darwin8u rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

“But to ask pity of our body is like discoursing in front of an octopus, for which our words can have no more meaning than the sound of the tides, and with which we should be appalled to find ourselves condemned to live.”
― Marcel Proust, The Guermantes Way

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In 'The Guermantes Way', Proust pushes several social forces together. He examines the cult of aristocracy, meditates on the role of the military in French society, examines French antisemitism through the Dreyfus affair, French art, and the ...more

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Jun 24, 2013 Marieke rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobooks, 2013, fiction, french-lit, proustiana

Whoa...I was listening and then boom it was done. I think I won't waste time picking up with the next volume... ...more

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Dec 30, 2014 Chris Walker rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I am determined to read the whole of In Search of Lost Time but I found this volume a struggle. I found it strangely constructed: Part 1, Part 2 Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. There are many pages where the type fills all available space without even the benefit of a paragraph. The best bits are where action is taking place which moves the story forward, such as the move to the flat in a wing of the Hotel de Guermantes and the reaction of the wonderful character, the servant Francoise, to it, the gran I am determined to read the whole of In Search of Lost Time but I found this volume a struggle. I found it strangely constructed: Part 1, Part 2 Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. There are many pages where the type fills all available space without even the benefit of a paragraph. The best bits are where action is taking place which moves the story forward, such as the move to the flat in a wing of the Hotel de Guermantes and the reaction of the wonderful character, the servant Francoise, to it, the grandmother's subsequent illness and death, the section on Saint-Loup's affair with the actress/prostitute Rachel, the visit from Albertine, the meeting with the enigmatic Charlus and Swann's brief reappearance at the end of the book as an ill man. The difficult bits are the dinner parties at Mme de Villparisis and at the Guermantes. I couldn't quite believe that the main character would have been invited to the latter, despite his friendship with Saint-Loup, since he had been totally infatuated with and had stalked Mme de Guermantes to her clear annoyance. The dinner parties were difficult because of the references to a host of artists, politicians, musicians, royals, philosophers, historians, quotations and so on who/which were new to me (thank heavens for the notes in the back) and to the characters' penchant for genealogies and for either dissing or lauding their royal rellies. I got the point of all this (Proust is showing us the snobberies and shallowness of the times amongst the upper classes in those pre-World War 1 years - and the fact that the royal families of Europe were all so closely related to each other). I also found the discussion of the Dreyfus affair interesting (this comes up again and again - if you don't know something about it you would be wise to read up on it before attempting this book) it is nevertheless tedious to wade through and there are pages of it. But just when you are ready to fling the book into a corner in frustration, Proust will put some total gem on the page that makes the struggle worthwhile. Then you are stopped in your tracks at some wonderful description or piece of insight that makes the 100 years since this book was written seem as nothing. The poignant last few pages where the Guermantes are dealing with hearing about Swann's approaching death while trying to get out the door dressed to the nines for a grand dinner party before they can officially hear that a cousin of the Duc's has died and they have to go into mourning is a wonderful example of Proust's skill in irony. ...more

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