2022 Thread 3: Combray ctnd. for Jan 22/23

[Traveller]

Discussion to start on Sunday Jan 23 and through the week ending Sunday Jan 30, we will discuss:

Except on such days as these, however, I would as a rule be left to read in peace. But the interruption and the commentary which a visit from Swann once occasioned in the course of my reading, which had brought me to the work of an author quite new to me, Bergotte, resulted in the consequence that for a long time afterwards it was not against a wall gay with spikes of purple blossom, but against a wholly different background, the porch of a Gothic cathedral, that I saw the figure of one of the women of whom I dreamed. ……

To


….a letter of introduction, the prospect of which would never have inspired him with such terror had he been absolutely certain—as from his knowledge of my grandmother’s character, he really ought to have been—that we would never have dreamed of making use of it..
We used always to return from our walks in good time to pay aunt Léonie a visit before dinner.

( P 188 in my edition)

[Nidhi]

Thanks Traveller. Have you read Bergotte ? Like most readers I am intrigued by the authors who inspired the author we are reading, but I don’t know French so translation in English will do.

[Traveller]

Nidhi wrote: "Thanks Traveller. Have you read Bergotte ? Like most readers I am intrigued by the authors who inspired the author we are reading, but I don’t know French so translation in English will do."

I completely understand how you feel, Nhidi, but Bergotte was not a real person. He's obviously based on one or more of the writers that Proust admired. There are quite a few Proust experts who believe that Bergotte might have been modeled on the writer Anatole France. It seems like the Narrator loved Bergotte's style as Marcel Proust loved the style of Anatole France.

Anatole France was a pretty well-known writer in Europe, I will post some more about him soon, but we had quite a detailed discussion on the subject here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

There's a lot on the subject of Bergotte from that post onwards down the thread. As you'll see on that discussion, it's not 100% certain exactly who Bergotte is supposed to be.

[Traveller]

Dear Proustians, I am sorry for my lack of attention, but I did mention I wouldn't have time for Proust in 2022. I would really be glad if one or more of you took over in giving the discussions a bit of oomph by posting anything really as you go along. I don't mind at all continuing to set up the threads. I set up the next thread last week already, in case you missed it, it's here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

You can also get a birds-eye view of all the discussions from here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/list_.... You can get there yourselves, by clicking on the link to the top right of the page, named "Discussions".