The Year of Reading Proust discussion
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Sodom and Gomorrah
Sodom and Gomorrah, vol. 4
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·Karen· wrote: "That's funny, 'cos I had just assumed that the whole etymological rigmarole (which I did find wearying, yes) was a joke, satirising pompous know-it-alls who spout academic blah blah that no-one wou..."LOL Karen...I so much appreciate your frankness. My eyes rolled back in my head as well. Whether from lack of interest or recognition of a blowhard, I don't know.
Just as the Duc de Guermante avoided news of the death of his relative so as not to miss the night of the ball and his assignation with a new mistress, the Verdurin's avoid the death of Dechambre with an elaborate dance designed to preserve their Wednesday salon at all costs...and introduce a new talent, Morel. I found it darkly humorous…even as I felt the profoundly disturbing echo of emptiness.Mme Verdurin is too fragile (she's recently been ill) and too sensitive to dwell on Dechambre's death. ..."'No, but I swear to you, when she heard that Dechambre was dead, she almost wept,' [M Verdurin speaking of Mme Verdurin]...Hearing him. one might have concluded that it implied a form of insanity to regret the death of a friend of thirty years' standing..."
“Ah well, there we are. It’s no use crying over spilt milk, talking about him [Dechambre] won’t bring him back to life, will it?” Later…”You don’t seriously expect us to die of hunger because Dechambre is dead.”
M. Verdurin, hero that he is, tells a tale that he had to shield Mme Verdurin from her "insistence" on going to Paris to the funeral by lying to her that funeral is local. Adding another layer, Dechambre's talent was denigrated. He played well but that was largely due, we learn, to the environment of the Verdurin salon..."transplanted he ceased to exist".
In fact, "in the interest of his own reputation he died at the right moment".
Aside from the dark humor of Proust's writing and the wilting heartlessness of human connection within the constantly shifting and jockeying world of salons, I wonder if we are seeing the foreshadowing of the end of time..contemplation of the significance of a lifetime…and mortality.
Quotes from ML pp 404 - 407
Very well put, Cece. Madame Verdurin is a piece of work, and so finely drawn.
Ce Ce wrote: "Just as the Duc de Guermante avoided news of the death of his relative so as not to miss the night of the ball and his assignation with a new mistress, the Verdurin's avoid the death of Dechambre w..."Nice post, Cece.. you have almost reached us...
Mme Verdurin is a wonderfully drawn character.. Proust must have had fun when writing about her.
I'm sure he did have fun making her up, and even if she resembles certain ladies of the time, she is such a pantomime character that no single individual could have inspired her. The same goes for Cottard and Brichot, etc. They are all hilarious exaggerations.
Fionnuala wrote: "I'm sure he did have fun making her up, and even if she resembles certain ladies of the time, she is such a pantomime character that no single individual could have inspired her. The same goes for....They are all hilarious exaggerations. ."
If I had thought of it before, I could "quote" statements that I have actually heard (maybe a little nuanced) in my various lives. That is the brilliance of Proust....we have heard or have even voiced these sentiments.
For example, I used to be like the Madame Vedurin of "Swann's Way." When someone gave me a gift, whether it was "my taste" or not, it represented the friendship.
"...but she made a point of keeping on view the presents which the "faithful" were in the habit of making her from time to time, so that the donors might have the pleasure of seeing them there when they came to the house." MP (SW)
My husband insists that his decision to move to Manhattan had nothing to do with space, but all "the presents" are in storage.
Marcelita wrote: "If I had thought of it before, I could "quote" statements that I have actually heard (maybe a little nuanced) in my various lives. That is the brilliance of Proust....we have heard or have even voiced these sentiments.For example, I used to be like the Madame Vedurin of "Swann's Way." When someone gave me a gift, whether it was "my taste" or not, it represented the friendship."
It is true that the brilliance of Proust's characters is that they reflect all of us...in our perfectly imperfect humanness. I've had so many startled moments of recognition...of myself and others in my lifetime...both flattering and definitely not so.
It is one reason I think I did not make it through "Remembrance of Things Past" decades ago...I was young and not yet comfortable with being fully human and all that entails...including the complexity of accepting myself and others simply for who we are. Seeking integrity rather than perfection.
Ce Ce wrote: "Just as the Duc de Guermante avoided news of the death of his relative so as not to miss the night of the ball and his assignation with a new mistress, the Verdurin's avoid the death of Dechambre w..."When I spoke of the evolution of reaction to death in this section, I was thinking of the depth of grief the Narrator allowed himself to feel about his grandmother's death upon arriving in Balbec. We saw an ebb and flow...and finally having embraced the loss...facing toward life.
That is in stark contrast to the Duc's denial of the news of his relatives passing & his avoidance of mourning...as well as the Verdurin's coldness regarding Duchambre's death.
The Narrator has aspirations to be a writer...but has not yet actually begun writing. He is being introduced to Salons and learning to navigate complex circuits of social strata, the fickleness of the meaning of friendship in these groups...and now the emptiness of mortality when someone with close ties passes from this earth (and their lives).
I wonder if we are seeing the seeds of recognition of purpose in life...how precious hours are spent and with whom...and mortality.
Ce Ce wrote: "how precious hours are spent and with whom...."That is interesting, Ce Ce. Yes, I think that thought must have started to play on his mind around this time. It would explain why he withdrew almost completely from society.
Yes, in this weeks section there is a reference to the shallowness of the "exaltation de la vie mondaine"
Ce Ce wrote: "Ce Ce wrote: "Just as the Duc de Guermante avoided news of the death of his relative so as not to miss the night of the ball and his assignation with a new mistress, the Verdurin's avoid the death..."I wonder if we are seeing the seeds of recognition of purpose in life...how precious hours are spent and with whom...and mortality. .."
After reading Carter's biography on Proust, and discovering that his favorite teacher was Darlu, philosophy jumped to the forefront in my mind. (I think of Proust using literature to arrive at 'his' philosophy of life.)
From a Johns Hopkins' journal article:
"'I still believe that anything that I do outside of literature and philosophy will be so much time wasted.'
Thus did the twenty-two year old Marcel Proust (1871–1922) write to his father, reluctantly agreeing to consider a career in the foreign service as an alternative to the legal profession otherwise being urged upon him. ('I should vastly prefer going to work for a stockbroker,' was his comment.)
Happily for us all, Proust was obliged to do neither, and in fact was able to do both philosophy and literature. As André Maurois puts it, '[Proust's] great novel is philosophy incarnate.'
Certainly, 'In Search of Lost Time' is saturated with philosophy, the appreciation of which cannot help but enhance our understanding of this great work. The thesis here will be that a loosely phenomenological account of the work's central concept of memory gives us the structure of the work as a whole."
"Proust and the Phenomenology of Memory"
Thomas M. Lennon
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/phl/summ...
Marcelita wrote: "Ce Ce wrote: "Ce Ce wrote: "Just as the Duc de Guermante avoided news of the death of his relative so as not to miss the night of the ball and his assignation with a new mistress, the Verdurin's av..."This article reminds me of the GV book 'Proust connu et inconnu,' in which which GV mentions the interest Proust showed in Kant.
The Year of Reading Proust
Books mentioned in this topic
The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss (other topics)Le dernier des Camondo (other topics)
Proust connu et inconnu (other topics)
Sodome et Gomorrhe II (other topics)
Kalliope, as you have referred to your audio version over the months I have gradually decided that my next reading of ISOLT will be in audio. I've stopped questioning if I will ever reread ISOLT...I simply know I will.