2022 Thread 2 : Swann's Way Combray for Jan 13

[Traveller]

Discussion thread 2: from Thursday Jan 14 to Friday Jan 21, we will discuss:

Combray at a distance, from a twenty-mile radius, as we used to see it from the railway when we arrived there in the week before Easter, was no more than a church epitomising the town, representing it, speaking of it and for it to the horizon, and as one drew near, gathering close about its long, dark cloak, sheltering from the wind, on the open plain, as a shepherdess gathers her sheep, the woolly grey backs of its huddled house…… (P. 65 in my Enright)

To

And in front of every house, even those where it was not the custom, the servants, and sometimes even the masters, would sit and watch, festooning the doorsteps with a dark, irregular fringe, like the border of shells and sea-weed which a stronger tide than usual leaves on the beach, as though trimming it with embroidered crape, when the sea itself has retreated. (P.123 in my Enright)

[Ellen]

I enjoyed the image of the boy reading while I was reading about his reading and having my own reading experiences which both differed and were similar to his.

I find that I remember much of the book even though it's been many years since I read it. It's like revisiting a dream (only with more thought and effort involved!)

The images of Combray and the views, of the church, of the line of people watching the soldiers are all very vivid--I felt I was there. And the discussion of war by Francoise was a glimpse into the hearts and minds of the people at the time (and maybe every time) about war and its devastation--but just a light touch that does not overwhelm the rest of the scene.

[Traveller]

Ellie wrote: "I enjoyed the image of the boy reading while I was reading about his reading and having my own reading experiences which both differed and were similar to his.

I find that I remember much of the b..."

The image of him sitting there, reading, while we're sitting reading, is indeed a companionable scene, especially since we're all companions in reading the scene of him reading as well! What a lovely 'meta' moment. :)

Re the war discussion, indeed, Proust throws many references out there, regarding art, music, politics, nature, psychology, philosophy... I can see why his work became so popular and widely read.

There's some lovely atmospheric descriptions as well- later on they become too many to mention, but I'd captured this early one in my notes, describing the feel and smell in Aunt Léonie's rooms:

The air was saturated with the finest flower of a silence so nourishing, so succulent, that I could move through it only with a sort of greed, especially on those first still cold mornings of Easter week when I tasted it more keenly because I had only just arrived in Combray: before I went in to say good morning to my aunt, they made me wait for a moment, in the first room where the sun, still wintry, had come to warm itself before the fire, already lit between the two bricks and coating the whole room with an odor of soot, having the same effect as one of those great rustic open hearths, or one of those mantels in country houses, beneath which one sits hoping that outdoors there will be an onset of rain, snow, even some diluvian catastrophe so as to add to the comfort of reclusion the poetry of hibernation; I would take a few steps from the prayer stool to the armchairs of stamped velvet always covered with a crocheted antimacassar; and as the fire baked like a dough the appetizing smells with which the air of the room was all curdled and which had already been kneaded and made to “rise” by the damp and sunny coolness of the morning, it flaked them, gilded them, puckered them, puffed them, transforming them into an invisible, palpable country pastry, an immense “turnover” in which, having barely tasted the crisper, more delicate, more highly regarded but also drier aromas of the cupboard, the chest of drawers, the floral wallpaper, I would always come back with an unavowed covetousness to ensnare myself in the central, sticky, stale, indigestible, and fruity smell of the flowered coverlet.

Oh dear, I had still wanted to comment on the madeleine in the previous thread, but things became pretty busy in RL for me this past week.

[Nidhi]

Yes that is a beautiful scene, every book lover will enjoy it.

I loved the description of food prepared by Francoise .

I was wondering about the age of the boy when he meets the lady in pink silk, 14 yrs. I think because he knows the words courtesan and immorality.

I am reading Life of Charlotte Bronte by Gaskell, she says that in small villages structures like church play a very important role in daily life of folks, as Proust describes in such beautiful unforgettable detail.

[Traveller]

Nidhi wrote: "Yes that is a beautiful scene, every book lover will enjoy it.

I loved the description of food prepared by Francoise .

I was wondering about the age of the boy when he meets the lady in pink sil..."

Indeed, Nhidi, his descriptions are indeed lovely, very vivid, aren't they, and I really liked his attention to detail in the architecture and aesthetics of the church. I also like how he uses the church steeple as a landmark, which might also be a metaphor for the importance of the church, since, as it guides people geographically, perhaps he implies that it does so spiritually as well.

About the lady in pink ; remember that scene. Proust makes references to characters that appear later on in the later volumes of the novel, so that many of the people that you meet in Combray, bear some significance later on in the story as well.

Ok, and I have now made a thread for the next section, on which you can start commenting right away, even if it's only marked for Sunday.
You can find it here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Nidhi]

Here I am posting two excerpts from the book, I hope this is the right thread, I would love to read them when I revisit these threads during our long journey.

“But my grandmother would have thought it sordid to concern herself too closely with the solidity of any piece of furniture in which could still be discerned a flourish, a smile, a brave conceit of the past. And even what in such pieces answered a material need, since it did so in a manner to which we are no longer accustomed, charmed her like those old forms of speech in which we can still see traces of a metaphor whose fine point has been worn away by the rough usage of our modern tongue.”


2.“And so it is with our own past. It is a labour in vain to attempt to recapture it: all the efforts of our intellect must prove futile. The past is hidden somewhere outside the realm, beyond the reach of intellect, in some material object (in the sensation which that material object will give us) of which we have no inkling. And it depends on chance whether or not we come upon this object before we ourselves must die”

[Nidhi]

A very senior GR member commented in another group reading this book, that we should not bother about spoilers .... this is not that kind of book lol.


This book has unique impression on each reader.

[Traveller]

Nidhi wrote: "And so it is with our own past. It is a labour in vain to attempt to recapture it: all the efforts of our intellect must prove futile. The past is hidden somewhere outside the realm, beyond the reach of intellect, in some material object (in the sensation which that material object will give us) of which we have no inkling. And it depends on chance whether or not we come upon this object before we ourselves must die..."

Yes, he is there expounding on his famous observations on how human memory works, how memories are triggered by the senses when something in our environment reminds us of events from the past.

Nidhi wrote: "A very senior GR member commented in another group reading this book, that we should not bother about spoilers .... this is not that kind of book lol.

This book has unique impression on each reader."

I must say that I beg to differ from this very senior member... in Combray it might not matter so much, but certainly later on it does start to matter, and especially in Swann in Love, it matters very much, since there are a few twists in the story. ...and regardless, I know that there are many people who hate spoilers, which is why I have taken care to make separate threads for each section, and have given page numbers to serve as a guide.

Obviously it's not a problem if you quote from or comment on a few pages outside the parameters, but it would do many of those who care about spoilers a disservice if we give away events from much later on, too early on in the threads.

So if you did want to comment, say, about something 50 or 500 pages on, I would ask you to use spoiler tags, like so (You basically use HTML formatting) :
this is how you do it:
< spoiler >... Hello, hello, I'm a big old spoiler < /spoiler >

Write your text inbetween the two words "spoiler", but write the words 'spoiler' inside sharp instead of round brackets, like this: use only a single < ....> on each side, without a space like I did for demonstration purposes, for example like I bracket this 9 : <9> and then, at the end, make sure to do a / in front of the second word spoiler at the end, like so: (/spoiler) (but in sharp brackets).

Click on the green legend saying (some html is ok) on the right-hand side above your text window while typing a message, to see formatting tips including spoiler tags.

[Nidhi]

This HTML tag doesn’t work in app.☹️

[Traveller]

Nidhi wrote: "This HTML tag doesn’t work in app.☹️"

I'll investigate and get back to you, Nidhi. Do you have an iPhone or an Android phone?

[Nidhi]

I use iPhone. This is the fourth group where I am facing this problem, I don’t post much but some books like Brothers Karamazov were too thought provoking too contain thoughts to just ourselves.

I will be careful in future, post just reflections.

[Traveller]

Nidhi wrote: "I use iPhone. This is the fourth group where I am facing this problem, I don’t post much but some books like Brothers Karamazov were too thought provoking too contain thoughts to just ourselves.

I..."

That sounds very annoying, Nidhi. That is something specific to iPhone. Can you not simply access Goodreads on your phone's browser, in which case you might have access to the formatting features?

I wonder if it will help if I open a few threads ahead, so that you can already comment there if you're ahead of the group? Ugh, that must be very frustrating! If I could edit your posts, like you can on some sites, I would offer to cover your spoilers for you, but on this site, mods can only delete other people's posts, not edit them.

Well, don't feel too constricted, just take care not to give away plot points, you know? I will also open a few threads in advance so that people who are reading this faster can comment if they feel the need to while they are reading.

This whole thing is frustrating to me as well, because a discussion group is there to discuss what we're reading, after all.

[Nidhi]

I tried the website too, we can’t ‘reply ‘ , can’t edit our comments using tags is out of question.

Yes it’s frustrating for the books which I love otherwise reading is a solitary occupation we are on GR to share thoughts.

I can make personal notes and post them later when I get internet connection in my PC. This will definitely work.

[Traveller]

Nidhi wrote: "Yes it’s frustrating for the books which I love otherwise reading is a solitary occupation we are on GR to share thoughts...."

Indeed, I have always found that GR discussions have enriched my reading. Other readers often see things I don't, and vice versa.

Nidhi wrote: "I can make personal notes and post them later when I get internet connection in my PC. This will definitely work.."
Yes, please do that, wont you? Looking forward to a more involved discussion. Just because we have already covered a section of the book, doesn't mean we can't go back to any of the threads and comment on them even after the time has expired for that section.