Reading Proust's In Search of Lost Time in 2014 discussion
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Swann’s Way
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Week ending 02/15: Swann's Way, to page 529 / location 7250
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Jonathan wrote: "When I first heard about Proust I imagined it was about endless parties and gatherings between the 'best' in society. "...grand party held by the Marquise de Saint-Euverte."
Last night, at my Proust reading group in the Village, our leader announced that she was "re-writing" the Saint-Euverte party, and we should pick out a favorite character...preferably one of the opposite sex and dress accordingly. ;)
Our leader and several member of this group began reading Proust in 2003 with Harold Augenbraum, the founder of The Proust Society of America (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/24/nyr...), so we tend to celebrate Marcel in interesting ways.....like going every spring to the gardens and reading the lilac passages.
Can anyone tell me if the song that is played at the Saint-Euverte party an actual composition, or is it something that was written by one of the characters? (I'm talking about the song with the Charles/Odette phrase that he loves so much.)If it's real, I was hoping to listen to it and then re-read the part when it is described in such exquisite detail at the party.
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Marcelita: Have you decided who you're going as?
The group looks like hard-core Proustians! Have you read ISOLT several times or do you read 'around' it these days?
I'm intrigued by the 're-write' of the party. I keep thinking it would be amusing to re-write some of ISOLT in the style of Hemingway or Bukowski....I haven't the skill to do it though: :-(
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I assumed that it was a fictional piece by a fictional composer. I'm not sure if Proust had any particular piece in mind though?
Jonathan wrote: "Sunny in Wonderland wrote: "Can anyone tell me if the song that is played at the Saint-Euverte party an actual composition, or is it something that was written by one of the characters? "I assumed that it was a fictional piece by a fictional composer. I'm not sure if Proust had any particular piece in mind though?"
Ah, the unanswerable question: Who wrote the Vinteuil sonata?
It's a favorite "game," especially for Proustians who arrive at the novel via the musical path. (I arrived via the visual-art path.)
Here are some "clues," but like his characters, churches, etc., there are many models. Still, like you Sunny, I was curious....so I listened to all the "suggestions."
"Proust in Perspective: Visions and Revisions"
edited by Armine Kotin Mortimer, Katherine Kolb (page 252)
http://books.google.com/books?id=_duh...
The Vinteuil Sonata...Claude Pascal. "Proust invented a composer, Vinteuil, in order to write about the emotions generated by profoundly evocative music. Proust himself wrote letters saying that there were elements of Faure, Saint-Saens, Franck, Schubert, and Wagner, among others, in his mind as he wrote about Vinteuil. In this video, we hear one of the most unusual efforts, the rarely heard "Vinteuil Sonata" by Claude Pascal (1946) in a recent Paris performance." Radio Proust
http://www.radioproust.org/multimedia...
"In Search of Vinteuil: Music, Literature and a Self Regained"
By James Holden (page 25)
http://books.google.com/books?id=eYW3...
Into the weeds.....In April 1913, after returning from a concert, Proust changed the direction of the novel. He combined two characters into one....Berget and Vington turned into Vinteuil.
"Proust as Musician" By Jean-Jacques Nattiez pp29-30. "In it we find a character named Vington, a scientific researcher, as well as another named Berget, composer of the Sonata. It is around May 1913, as the same critic shows, that the Vington of Combray becomes first Vindeuil, then Vinteuil, in the second proofs."
Proust as Musician
By Jean-Jacques Nattiez (pp 29-30)
http://books.google.com/books?id=LD_p...
Jonathan wrote: "Marcelita wrote: "Last night, at my Proust reading group in the Village, our leader announced that she was "re-writing" the Saint-Euverte party, and we should pick out a favorite character..."Have you decided who you're going as?"
Oh, I'm not "territorial." So, I will take whatever character is leftover....but hope there is some humor embedded in the portrait and maybe a top hat. ;)
Yep....been reading the novel for awhile.
Each re-read is enlightening, because my old self has "died."
(More about this idea in the next volume, Within a Budding Grove.)
Mod
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I often wish that top hats would come back into fashion. I'm not so keen on monocles though: :-)
I quite liked the General de Froberville as he's a bit of a dirty old man.
Marcelita wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "Sunny in Wonderland wrote: "Can anyone tell me if the song that is played at the Saint-Euverte party an actual composition, or is it something that was written by one of the charac..."I really enjoyed Radio Proust - thanks for the link Marcelita.
Gosh, Marcelita! Thanks for the detailed answer! That is awesome!
Sunny in Wonderland wrote: "Gosh, Marcelita! Thanks for the detailed answer! That is awesome!"Proust is a never-ending source of joy and discovery.
Here is one of my favorite discussions about Proust, from BBC Radio 4:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00548wx
Listen: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/r...
Swann decides to venture out alone to a grand party held by the Marquise de Saint-Euverte. I feel Proust's prose really comes alive when he concentrates on characters and we get it in abundance in this section as he describes the servants and guests.
I really liked the bit where Swann had arrived and was taking note of the servants, something he'd never really done before, when one servant, of a 'ferocious aspect', approaches him the narrator mentions that he was 'exhibiting at once an utter contempt for his person and the most tender regard for his hat.' Ha Ha!