Never too Late to Read Classics discussion
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In Search of Lost Time
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In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
Well, for one thing, taking something from 'Swann's Way, I found it remarkable that something so sad as Swann's love for Odette could absorb the narrator as profoundly as, elsewhere, he contemplates the twitching of his big toe in bed! 😊
Well, for one thing, taking something from 'Swann's Way, I found it remarkable that something so sad as Swann's love for Odette could absorb the narrator as profoundly as, elsewhere, he contemplates the twitching of his big toe in bed! 😊
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Thanks, Mike. That is encouraging.
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It's alright Mbuye. We have already decided to continue the thread for this year.
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Give him time -- he'll wait..."
Wow, Mbuye. Thanks for the encouraging words. I've planned to finish the series this year, but already I'm in doubt. But I'm hoping to at least get two done (I have four to read, including my current read, to finish Proust). As you said, I must go slowly. And yes, he'll wait. :)
Piyangie wrote: "Mbuye wrote: "Piyangie wrote: "Hi all. It's time for an opinion call. :) We mods of NTLTRC always strive to make changes for the better enjoyment of our classical reading experience for members. Th..."You don't think I pushed you into it?
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Mike wrote: "Mbuye wrote: "Don't push yourself: Proust has to be read slowly and savoured without stress.Give him time -- he'll wait."
Encouraging words Mbuye! I've tried to rush Proust a few times to no ava..."
Mike, if it helps any, I too had trouble at first with those endless sentences. I cannot imagine myself reading Proust at night, when I have to prop my eyelids open with a toothpick after half ten.
I used to read him in the afternoons, when the whole world was quiet. But even then, I was happy if I read just two or three pages of Proust a day. But that kind of lazy reading won't work for everyone.
I wish you the best of luck. Here's a tip: turn your back on the old guy, put him away, make as if you're done with him for good. After two months or maybe six, Marcel will be everywhere for you. And this time, he'll be more understanding of your needs.
I plate was too full to try it last year but after reading the Brian Nelson translation of the first volume, titled The Swann Way
, I plan to read the whole of In Search of Lost Time during this year. I thought the Nelson translation worked well for me but that is the only volume he has translated. For the remainder of the series, I plan to read the Moncrieff/Kilmartin/Enright translation rather than the Penguin series with its different translator for each volume.
The first volume was very smooth so I thought I could read one a month. I'm now about 1/3 of the way through the second volume Within a Budding Grove and this one has convinced me that it's best to follow the advice of sage Aesop that "slow and steady wins the race."
I enjoy the writing and musings so far but the characters and story aren't the most intriguing or appealing I've encountered. I will read it leisurely.
I’ve been reading this (first installment) since last year! It’s funny that you mention Brian Nelson as I’ve recently enjoyed a few of his Zola translations. They are very good.
Chad wrote: "I’ve been reading this (first installment) since last year! It’s funny that you mention Brian Nelson as I’ve recently enjoyed a few of his Zola translations. They are very good."The Brian Nelson translation came out on December 14th of 2023, just over 2 weeks before I had planned to start the Lydia Davis translation after January 1st, 2024. I already owned editions of both the Lydia Davis and Moncrieff/Kilmartin/Enright translations.
They are well-respected translations and may be better translations than Nelson's. But I had read and enjoyed Nelson's Zola translations of The Fortune of the Rougons, The Belly of Paris and The Ladies’ Paradise. It was an easy choice for me as reading a translator I already knew and liked gave me great confidence when starting this challenging read. I followed the ancient proverb "Go With What You Know."
I finished Within a Budding Grove a few days ago. I did not enjoy it quite as much as I enjoyed the first voume The Swann Way. It could have been the selected translation since after reading the Brian Nelson translation of 'Swann" I read the Moncrieff/Kilmartin/Enright translation of this one. However, I don't think the translation switch was the primary reason for the reduction in enjoyment. I really think it was because I had found easier to overlook the lackadaisical storytelling during the first novel since I was more enchanted by the writing. During the second novel, the style didn't feel as fresh so did not act as much of a distraction from my noticing the lackadaisical storytelling.
Here's my reviews of the first two novels in the series.
The Swann Way: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Within a Budding Grove: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I am plugging along with The Guermantes Way and find this volume to be a bit more tedious for a few reasons:1. The plodding plot. While the military and social scenes at Robert Saint-Loup's regiment was interesting the next major setting at Mme. de Villeparisis's party was not. This party went on forever. It had me wondering if everyone had taken cocaine or an early form of ecstacy in order to party so long and have, outside of the Dreyfus talk, such inane conversations.
2. The characters. While they may not be bad people, I have yet to find any reason to find any of them likeable. Also, I had heard there was humor in the book but I haven't found anything the narrator says in either dialogue or narrative to be that witty or humorous. I have difficulty figuring out why some creative or influential people want to spend time with him. He seems pretty bland.
3. The length. After 2000 pages, the beauty of the prose can no longer mask the fact that the story is about privileged and shallow people talking about and doing uninteresting things.
But I will read on with some hope. I understand that the next book should be more interesting, something I would expect a book titled Sodom and Gomorrah might be.
Since I can't really like you, at least you can start committing some interesting sins, you privileged and shallow people.
I have similar views about this third part of the book Brian. I only liked the train journey and the scene with the milk girl. Right now I am going through the dinner party at the Guermante's and the detailed dissection of that tribe, its manners and behaviours, short comings and qualities, Proust insists on character study whatever happens.
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I am so impressed with your dedication, Brian, Nidhi and Piyangie. I echo Brian's thoughts re “privileged and shallow people talking about and doing uninteresting things”. I couldn’t take it anymore. I still own them and will try again later…
I have finished The Guermante's Way. It is one of those books where the end influences my impressions and rating, I rated this book 5 stars because the end is iconic, I could finally see the point of all this scribbling. I will begin the next part after a month gap.
Brian’s last comment alone makes me want to dive back into In Search of Lost Time and make my way towards Sodom and Gomorrah. A book with that title sounds deliciously depraved.
Li wrote: "I am so impressed with your dedication, Brian, Nidhi and Piyangie. I echo Brian's thoughts re “privileged and shallow people talking about and doing uninteresting things”. I couldn’t take it anymor..."I forgot to add that I am also impressed with the dedication of Brian, Nidhi and Piyangie to continue on and I love reading your comments!
I've made it to Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Sodom & Gomorrah. I've not made much progress since I last posted in February, just struggling to find time when I'm in a mood to wade through the prose. I have enjoyed it so far, but currently I'm not awake enough in the morning before the kids raise and I'm too tired when I finish working after the kids are in bed. I hope to make progress when I have some time off work when I might have the chance to read during the day.
Melanie wrote: "Brian’s last comment alone makes me want to dive back into In Search of Lost Time and make my way towards Sodom and Gomorrah. A book with that title sounds deliciously depraved."There is a scene early on that fits the depraved label, but what I found much more interesting is that the narrator is so fascinated he watches throughout!
I finished The Guermantes Way and rated it 2 stars.Here's my review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
While some Proust lovers admit that the constant scenes of superficial dialogue can be tedious, they feel it a tedium necessary for Proust's portrayal of the superficiality of the social scene that Marcel is craving to enter. They also appreciate Proust's wit and insightful societal commentary.
I get that and will keep that in mind as I enter the next phase of this journey In Search of Lost Time. And, while I appreciate Proust's long-term plan and rationale for the extended dialogue scenes, they did bore me and I have to honestly rate my reading experience as 2 stars. And while I found some of Proust's alleged wit and insightful comments in the first volumes, the tedium must have made me overlook it here as I rarely observed any.
But while I've gone from 4 stars to 3 stars to 2 stars through the first 3 books, I don't anticipate the series progressing further downward. I think it hit its nadir and I actually look forward to the next volume.
I will start Sodom and Gomorrah in July or the end of June after taking a month break. I will be reading A.J. Cronin's The Stars Look Down in June and both I and my lap prefer to read only one door-stop paperback at a time.
To be fair to Proust, I often rate great authors at 2 stars when they have disappointed me in some way. For instance I gave 2 stars to both:
Anna Karenina - because the sections on Tolstoy's alter-ego Levin were tedious and even irritating to me;
Moby-Dick or, The Whale - because the technical whaling aspects were overdone and became tedious.
In contrast, when I find a less skilled and more mediocre author to be tedious, there isn't the high expectation level so I'm more apt to say it was just 'meh' and give it 3 stars.
Mike wrote: "Melanie wrote: "Brian’s last comment alone makes me want to dive back into In Search of Lost Time and make my way towards Sodom and Gomorrah. A book with that title sounds deliciously depraved."T..."
Sounds good, Mike!
It's really interesting to read the comments as you journey through the book. I finished the whole book this March, exactly 12 months from beginning The Way by Swann's. I am glad I stuck at it, volumes 3-6 I dug in to finish before I forgot what had happened in vol 1. I think that was a moment of realisation for me. The book, for me, needs to be read in its entirety over a minimum period of time to understand the narrative arcs that are at play through the book as a whole. Next reading I will treat all six volumes as one book and read end to end. I found the notes in each volume really useful and helped with context and ironically placing the narrative in a time frame. I also think to give the novel full justice I will read around the subject and into the background of the more publicly focussed sections. That would help with the context and colour of the threads. I hope you all do enjoy it as I did. For me it is a little like Ulysses, it needs to be read several times and I need to do a great deal of reading outside the pages to fully get the flavour. (Who knew the pretender to the French throne lived in Tottenham, London. Fantastic.)
I get addicted to Proust 's writting and unconsciously start comparing other classic writers with him. Now, Proust is an acute observer of manners, behaviours and psychology of people of his age but he can can't be compared to Dickens and George Eliot, whom I admire very much. This is the reason I take break from Proust.
I finished Sodom and Gomorrah. It was the most swift read because there were no digressions and the narration just stuck to the plot development. The main theme of this part is homosexuality, the disquiet, strife and jealousy it causes among social circles.Next two parts are relatively short, I hope to begin in mid September.
Nidhi wrote: "I finished Sodom and Gomorrah. It was the most swift read because there were no digressions and the narration just stuck to the plot development. The main theme of this part is homosex..."I'm almost finished with Sodom and Gomorrah. It was certainly an easier and better reading experience than its predecessor volume but, despite the homosexuality, I found it to be more tedious than interesting.
I have finished Sodom and Gomorrah
, the 4th volume of In Search of Lost Time. I rated it 3 stars, an improvement over the 2 stars I gave the previous volume, The Guermantes Way.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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I started The Captive, i wonder who is captive.... Albertine or the author, of his own suspicious nature, he is prejudiced and jealous. I don't know what happened but my all notifications from this group were somehow tuned off.
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I am halfway through the The Captive and I am really enjoying the writing. I can see what makes Proust, Proust.
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Piyangie wrote: "I just started The Figutive. I'm determined to see to the end of this series."Piyangie, you’re almost there! After The Fugitive, you’ll reach the summit with Time Regained. In my opinion, that’s when you’ll truly understand why so many consider Marcel Proust’s writing extraordinary. I envy you so much! I might even reread Time Regained alongside you when you get there.
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I do not want to move it to the Archive section if anyone is still interested?
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I am still on volume 5 and won't be able to finish the whole series before March. Does moving to Archives prevent commenting? If it doesn't effect commenting you can move it.
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Will be happy to leave it here for both of you for 2025!
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I finished The Captive. It stood out for me for three reasons.First, author declares himself as 'Marcel' for the first time in the book.
Second is his reflections on art and music in astoundingly beautiful passages. For me these passages alone make the book worth reading.
He writes:
It is inconceivable that a piece of sculpture or a piece of music which gives us an emotion that we feel to be more exalted, more pure, more true, does not correspond to some definite spiritual reality, or life would be meaningless.
........
A page of symphonic music by Vinteuil, familiar already on the piano, revealed, when one heard it played by an orchestra—like a ray of summer sunlight which the prism of the window decomposes before it enters a dark dining-room—all the jewels of the Arabian Nights in unsuspected, multicoloured splendour. But how could one compare to that motionless dazzle of light what was life, perpetual and blissful motion?
.........
I wondered whether music might not be the unique example of what might have been—if the invention of language, the formation of words, the analysis of ideas had not intervened—the means of communication between souls. It is like a possibility that has come to nothing; humanity has developed along other lines, those of spoken and written language.
The third reason is that I could understand what Proust lovers mean when they say Proust avenges time through memory.The scene at Verdurins' dinner party, the description of their old furniture, the furniture's' history through Verdurins' lifetime and their various homes, where they entertained society... it is like time could not flow over the furniture and that it has captured time, to be revisited again and again.
I finished The Fugitive. I will take my habitual break from Proust, and start the last and lengthiest part around mid March.I am really looking forward to your views on finishing this book, Piyangie.
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I am really looking forward to your views on finishing this book, Piyan..."
Thanks, Nidhi. It's good to take the break. I'm also returning to Proust after a month. I had a bit of a struggle with the first section in the Time Regained but now that's passed, I'm finding it interesting. I'm reading a different translation this time. I read the others in Moncrieff's translation. So, I have to mentally adjust a bit. :)
Piyangie, did you have any idea that homosexuality will play such a major role in this book? All i knew about this book was that there are reflections on art, music, time in long winded sentences. None of the youtube videos ever hinted on this topic. It is unusual for the time period when book was written.
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Never too Late to Read Classics
Books mentioned in this topic
The Ladies' Paradise (other topics)In Search of Lost Time (other topics)
Time Regained (other topics)
Time Regained (other topics)
The Captive / The Fugitive (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Marcel Proust (other topics)Marcel Proust (other topics)
A.J. Cronin (other topics)
Eric Karpeles (other topics)
Edmund White (other topics)
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Give him time -- he'll wait."
Encouraging words Mbuye! I've tried to rush Proust a few times to no avail. My prime reading time is late at night and that often doesn't work well for Proust, just too tired to be able to hold one of his sentences in my head. Yesterday morning with a coffee however, a good 20 pages while the children had breakfast and watched cartoons.