the exercise of reading In Search of Lost Time

[Dwayne]

Have you guys noticed this? One of the things about reading In Search of Lost Time is that it's not just a psychological exploration of life and memory, but it's an *exercise* in both as well.

I remember I read something somewhere about how it's an exercise because you're not the same person you were when you started, once you finish. Literally. It takes a very long time to read. Things happen. And so your perceptions and experiences color the work as you go along.

I notice this on the micro- level when sometimes I go back to a passage I was bored by, but then read again and tease out insight.

Sometimes, I do not want to read Proust. I want to read something else. So maybe I'm a little cranky about it. I basically glance over a paragraph (though I admit I do not do this often, because it makes me feel guilty and frankly, I don't want to miss anything.) It's like going to the gym. "Well, since I'm HERE, I might as well DO this ..."

Sometimes I am really into it and all the insight bubbles up easily.

And memory -- goodness ... keeping these characters straight is an exercise in itself.

But, in these ways, it's just like life. It's an exercise. There's an opportunity for the reader to gain insight about him/herself, not just about the text. I love it for that!

Would love to hear others' experiences with this.

Cheers!

[Jonathan]

I haven't thought if it quite like that Dwayne. But I have noticed that it's a form of exercise in concentration. More specifically, I now try to read one of Proust's sentences by taking note when he's making asides and try to keep track of his initial point so that when he returns to it I don't have to scan back to the beginning of the sentence. This was very difficult at first but it made me realise just how lazy my reading habits had become - essentially relying on the writer not to swerve off from the main topic within a sentence.

The other 'trick' that I've found is just re-reading a section a few days afterwards which helps clarify material that was difficult at the time. It's surprising how different the text is on a second 'sweep' through.

[Dwayne]

Jonathan wrote: "I haven't thought if it quite like that Dwayne. But I have noticed that it's a form of exercise in concentration. More specifically, I now try to read one of Proust's sentences by taking note when ..."

Awesome observations, Jonathan, and thanks for taking time to reply!

Though I didn't engage your method intentionally, I think I've picked up the skill of concentration in reading as well. And now, I find that I fly with ease through less convoluted writing.

I also found myself writing longer sentences recently, as well, which kind of made me laugh. In today's world of rapidly digested web content, that's not necessarily a virtue. (I'm in marketing and deal with content.)

[Jonathan]

Dwayne wrote: "I also found myself writing longer sentences recently, as well, which kind of made me laugh. In today's world of rapidly digested web content, that's not necessarily a virtue. (I'm in marketing and deal with content.)"

The funny thing is that I used to write long sentences when I was younger as it just seemed quite natural. But university, then writing emails, then writing text messages has forced me to write shorter and shorter sentences. It's got to such a point now at work that if I send an email I have to make sure it has one point, and one point only, as all subsequent points in the email will be ignored by the reader who has presumably got too tired reading it. I did consider starting to write Proustian emails just to deliberately confuse everyone - but I probably won't.:-)

[Sunny]

I sometimes find that it is an exercise in staying awake. The long 'Proustian' sentences tend to make my eyes cross and my head nod and the book fall out of my hands and the next thing I know it's an hour later and I'm waking up and searching for my book and in need of re-reading the last five pages because I don't remember a thing about what I thought I'd just been reading.

Or, perhaps Proust discovered time travel. I haven't yet decided.

[Jonathan]

Sunny in Wonderland wrote: "I sometimes find that it is an exercise in staying awake. The long 'Proustian' sentences tend to make my eyes cross and my head nod and the book fall out of my hands and the next thing I know it's..."

Ha! Ha! I have that problem generally though. I usually give up at that point. I find I have to read Proust at the weekend and preferably in the morning; ISOLT doesn't come across as an 'evening read' to me.