From the Bookshelf of The Year of Reading Proust…

Sodom and Gomorrah (In Search of Lost Time, #4)

Marcel Proust,

C.K. Scott Moncrieff (Translator)

Start date: July 1, 2013

Finish date: September 1, 2013

Discussion: Sodom and Gomorrah, vol. 4

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Sodom and Gomorrah, vol. 4

Through Sunday, 1 Sept.: Sodom and Gomorrah
By Jason · 95 posts · 122 views

last updated Sep 07, 2013 06:29PM

Through Sunday, 25 Aug.: Sodom and Gomorrah
By Jason · 135 posts · 99 views

last updated Sep 01, 2013 07:34AM

What Members Thought

Mar 30, 2012 David rated it it was amazing

Shelves: lgbt, france

I think this volume may be the most laugh-out-loud funny installment of Proust's masterpiece yet.

If I had to summarize this volume, it would be that you find out that EVERYONE IS GAY. Well, pretty much everyone. The first half is about M. de Charlus, who is hilarious, and his affairs with Jupien and other men, but more interestingly how he postures himself to try to hide his "secret" which more-or-less everyone suspects. For the second half, M. returns to Balbec with Albertine, and he becomes ob ...more

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Oct 26, 2014 Leo Robertson rated it liked it · review of another edition

- 1/5 insightful psychological insight + flowing genius!!
- 1/5 bizarre out of date views about gay people, comparing them to deviant flowers and calling them "inverts" (but I'm reading in English of course- what was the French word: faguette? Ahahahahaha! If you're reading this and don't know me, me and my husband are allowed to use the F word I just made up as part of a neohomosexual post-fictional semantic ironic reappropriation movement, or Neo-ho-po-sem-iro-pro #NeoHoPoSemIroPro)
- 1/5 relati ...more

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Jun 20, 2012 Kekuni Minton rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

This book (or this translation) bogged down a bit. Endless social dynamics described in detail. There is classic proust though: deep insights into the psychology of love, jealousy and fear of sharing the truth with a loved one. most of the book he (and everyone else) is perfectly willing to self-deceive about one's own feelings of love and the status of the object of love. As a result the real feelings and fears are shoved under the rug of social correctness and snobbery. No one is able to reall ...more

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May 30, 2013 Fredrik rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, proust

IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME: BOOK 4 - Sodom and Gomorrah

P?? :: "…to believe that amiability to be real was to lack breeding."

P?? :: A rout is a chaotic and disorderly retreat or withdrawal of troops from a battlefield, resulting in the victory of the opposing party, or following defeat, a collapse of discipline, or poor morale.

A routed army often degenerates into a sense of "every man for himself" as the surviving combatants attempt to flee to safety. A disorganized rout often results in much higher ...more

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Jul 01, 2013 Natacha Pavlov rated it it was ok

Shelves: classics, french

When I purchased the book nine years ago, I had the eagerness but not the literary background—and set it aside after page 75. Nine years later, I have the literary background and lingering curiosity… none of which created a huge shift in my reaction to the book. I do realize that I chose to start my Proust experience with this book, which is the 4th volume of a 7-book series, and while some may think it isn’t ideal, this was the volume I was most motivated to buy and read—and there wasn’t much t When I purchased the book nine years ago, I had the eagerness but not the literary background—and set it aside after page 75. Nine years later, I have the literary background and lingering curiosity… none of which created a huge shift in my reaction to the book. I do realize that I chose to start my Proust experience with this book, which is the 4th volume of a 7-book series, and while some may think it isn’t ideal, this was the volume I was most motivated to buy and read—and there wasn’t much to convince me otherwise. Mostly though, I know I’d bought the book to view its ‘modern’ exploration of homosexuality, which I only ended up feeling wasn’t its main topic. Instead, I feel like I got to know more about endless parties and characters of high class society, most of them vapid in their own ways.

The next thing obviously has to be its writing style; I mean this IS Proust.

Seriously though: why paragraph—if not PAGES—long sentences?! I realize it may be one literary way of mimicking the natural stream of memories, but there are ways of making it at least a bit more readable. And yet, even then, after a while, you get so used to that too that you might actually start writing like him and explaining so many minor details that you almost, if not entirely, forget what the original premise of the sentence was meant to be, because there’s so much going on all at once that in light of all the meditative stuff I’ve been reading, I can’t help but think that in some ways this could be an indirect—or shall we say direct?—indication of either the character’s and/or author’s own overwhelmed mindset. Phew! I can’t believe I just did that, but I did… LOL!

But hold up now: I can look at things from multiple angles.

Indeed, I do realize—and can appreciate—how much focus (if not offbeat skill) must be required to create such novels. But the end result is the same: it’s just not really my cup of tea.

In a nutshell, I can definitely say that it wasn’t what I expected. It did have its moments of humor and the enjoyable passages of introspection where the narrator speaks about himself as opposed to everything and everyone else around him—which I felt were all too rare in a 724-page book. Despite the cliff-hanger ending—which, again, I felt was a bit annoying after having dragged through the lengthy book—I’m just not that curious to know how it turns out (although I can very well make an educated guess as to what happens). And while I’m glad I read it and I’m not completely boycotting ever reading anything else by the author, I cannot add Proust’s work to my list of ‘soul shattering’ authors. ...more

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