No kidding: Proust comic books!

[Patrick]

I have always enjoyed reading graphic novels as well as books. But what's great these days is that libraries often stock trade paperback graphic novels on their shelves just like regular books (good thing, too, because graphic novels are really expensive these days).

One day last fall, just as I had started Swann's Way, I was exploring the section of the 740's in the Buena Park, CA library and I found, to my astonishment, a comic book adaptation of the second half of Within A Budding Grove. I checked it out and read it a few months later after I finished the book itself.

Here's some info on this:

http://www.readingproust.com/prcomix.htm

[Patrick]

At this point, it appears that the publisher has only come out with comic book adaptation of Swann's Way and Within a Budding Grove.

That library only had volume 2 of Within A Budding Grove (I don't see what the point of that was, and neither did the librarians). Still, it was neat to see the book expressed in another medium, and it helped me clarify my understanding of some of what happened in the book.

I will admit here that, while I read as diligently as possible, often times I find myslef losing track of what's actually happening in some scenes since the narrator so frequently starts to discourse on some observation he wants to make. In addition, since I'm not familiar with French names and cultural matters, a lot fo things seem to blend together, especially when a scene runs to over a hundred pages to describe the "action" taking place.

So, I found this one comic book I found to be a little helpful in that regard. But I think the best thing for me was to read the book all the way through, and then go back and read the comic (which will take you less than an hour - they're really short).

I kind of consider the comics to be reading guides, sort of like Cliff's Notes.

[Patrick]

Here's a better website on these comic versions of the first two voumes of Proust's ROTP:

http://www.nbmpub.com/comicslit/prous...

I think this is the actual publisher's website.

[Robert]

I think a comic-book adaptation of entire thing has been - or will be - published in France, but there was so little interest in the American editions of 1 and 2 that I'm afraid the rest will probably never appear. Like Patrick, Volume 2 of "Within a Budding Grove" was the only one I could find.

[[deleted user]]

Great concept for relating difficult literature. Obviously it can't convey the subtleties of the actual work but it certainly can help the reader get a general feel for a book.

Like, Patrick, I've often gotten a bit lost in the writing. Some of this may be Proust's way of presenting us with the nature of memory, how it wanders in and out of various times in our lives, but quite a bit of it is simply his style. These comics could definitely be helpful.

Thanks for the links, Patrick. I've bookmarked them.