The Year of Reading Proust discussion
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Marcel Proust
Auxiliary Reading (w/Spoilers)
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Auxiliary Reading Chit-Chat
I've just finished Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method, which I found fascinating. Thinking of reading Narrative Discourse Revisited too...
There is supposed to be a Lecture on Proust by Nabokov, in his Lectures on Literature. Anybody knows it?
Kalliope wrote: "There is supposed to be a Lecture on Proust by Nabokov, in his Lectures on Literature. Anybody knows it?"Here is an excerpt:
http://www.catskill-merino.com/blog/n...
It bears repeated readings. Imagine what the whole lecture must be like!
Just noticed that I posted a faulty link to the Nabokov. I've corrected it.
That brief excerpt from Nabokov's lecture is truly a delight. He makes me appreciate, more than I already had, the virtue Proust makes of the grammar school vice of mixed metaphor -- a symphony of correspondances.Correspondances
La Nature est un temple où de vivants piliers
Laissent parfois sortir de confuses paroles;
L'homme y passe à travers des forêts de symboles
Qui l'observent avec des regards familiers.
Comme de longs échos qui de loin se confondent
Dans une ténébreuse et profonde unité,
Vaste comme la nuit et comme la clarté,
Les parfums, les couleurs et les sons se répondent.
II est des parfums frais comme des chairs d'enfants,
Doux comme les hautbois, verts comme les prairies,
— Et d'autres, corrompus, riches et triomphants,
Ayant l'expansion des choses infinies,
Comme l'ambre, le musc, le benjoin et l'encens,
Qui chantent les transports de l'esprit et des sens.
— Charles Baudelaire
Correspondences
Nature is a temple in which living pillars
Sometimes give voice to confused words;
Man passes there through forests of symbols
Which look at him with understanding eyes.
Like prolonged echoes mingling in the distance
In a deep and tenebrous unity,
Vast as the dark of night and as the light of day,
Perfumes, sounds, and colors correspond.
There are perfumes as cool as the flesh of children,
Sweet as oboes, green as meadows
— And others are corrupt, and rich, triumphant,
With power to expand into infinity,
Like amber and incense, musk, benzoin,
That sing the ecstasy of the soul and senses.
— William Aggeler, The Flowers of Evil (Fresno, CA: Academy Library Guild, 1954)
No, I don't read French ... I just posted Baudelaire's original for the delight of those who do.
David wrote: "That brief excerpt from Nabokov's lecture is truly a delight. He makes me appreciate, more than I already had, the virtue Proust makes of the grammar school vice of mixed metaphor -- a symphony of ..."Thank you for bringing this up. Yes, that poem by Baudelaire was crucial for all the Symbolists.. it was read and read and read...
I picked this up cheaply yesterday at the Thyssen museum. Paris. Beautiful photos by Atget to travel back in time.
Liberty wrote: "Kalliope wrote: "There is supposed to be a Lecture on Proust by Nabokov, in his Lectures on Literature. Anybody knows it?"I read it last year and liked it. He's much kinder to Proust than he is ..."
Thank you. I am also interested on the Bleak House Lecture.
Joshua, I too finished Narr. Discourse, two weeks ago. Tough, but good.
Rick: it does get pretty technical, doesn't it! I like how he introduces some precision into the sloppy terminology usually used to describe literary technique, especially the bits about focalisation, scene vs. summary etc. Did go on for ages about time though (understandably, given the Recherche was the main text he wrote about).
It must have been written before Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, though - there were points where that book was the precise example of some mode he was talking about.
It must have been written before Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, though - there were points where that book was the precise example of some mode he was talking about.
I'm a big fan of novels playing with time, with chronology (Joseph Conrad, Faulkner). There's of course some shifts and alterations of chronology in Proust. This book, "Chronology and Time in A La..." by Gareth Steel, is a good analysis. (Not sure if the link will work. I haven't done links on this site yet.) http://books.google.com/books/about/C...
The Steel book is hard to find. I went to the local college's library and got it.And a couple of articles: "The Architecture of Time," by Richard Macksey
"Proust and Human Time," Georges Poulet
Liberty wrote: "Kalliope wrote: "LThank you. I am also interested on the Bleak House Lecture..."He really liked it, from what I remember. It's worth getting a real copy so you can see the prints of his notes, in..."
Ok, thanks. Just ordered it.
Found this interesting essay that gently links Proust to our digital age: http://caterina.net/2012/09/05/how-to...
Glad to be a part of the group! Can't wait for 2013.
Panel on Proust and Music from the always fascinating Radio Proust:http://www.radioproust.org/multimedia...
David wrote: "Panel on Proust and Music from the always fascinating Radio Proust:http://www.radioproust.org/multimedia..."
William Carter is one of the panel speakers.
Glad you liked them, David.I love how he describes his style in that sentence too, Proustitute.:)
Would you prefer I move this whole thread into the "Information & General Threads" folder?
You can't merge threads but you could just put it into the 'General' folder. It's probably fine to have a separate chit-chat thread if the chit-chat is specifically about auxiliary reading, no?
Proustitute wrote: "From "Proust: In Search of the Present" by Daniel Hartley:It is precisely this maintenant, this “now”, which is at the heart of Proust’s entire project. The “now” in which he does not know and no ..."
que?
Fascinating. Haven't read the full article yet but I will do when I get home (just starting work).
I suppose the subjective present is, in neuroscience terms, illusory, in that time is taken to process our sensory impressions and to think about what it is we are seeing or feeling, so what we experience as the present is actually the very-recent past.
At the risk of reacting to an extract that is better explained when read in full, I'm not sure though that Hartley's claim stands up, at least in fiction. It assumes that the time taken to narrate something takes time within the narrative. That's only true if we're dealing with a real person talking. But since the 'I-utterer' is fictional, no such limitation applies, except inasmuch as it stretches or breaks the reader's credulity. Else future-tense and other such counter-intuitive narrative modes would be impossible. The narrative can just 'freeze time' to accommodate the difference between the time it takes to describe (really, to read the description of) thoughts, impressions, etc, and the time it would take for the events in the narrative to take place (if they were really happening). I don't see that as a hairline fracture between character-narrator, and narrator qua narrator; that grants too much reality to an intrinsically artificial phenomenon (literature).
I suppose the subjective present is, in neuroscience terms, illusory, in that time is taken to process our sensory impressions and to think about what it is we are seeing or feeling, so what we experience as the present is actually the very-recent past.
At the risk of reacting to an extract that is better explained when read in full, I'm not sure though that Hartley's claim stands up, at least in fiction. It assumes that the time taken to narrate something takes time within the narrative. That's only true if we're dealing with a real person talking. But since the 'I-utterer' is fictional, no such limitation applies, except inasmuch as it stretches or breaks the reader's credulity. Else future-tense and other such counter-intuitive narrative modes would be impossible. The narrative can just 'freeze time' to accommodate the difference between the time it takes to describe (really, to read the description of) thoughts, impressions, etc, and the time it would take for the events in the narrative to take place (if they were really happening). I don't see that as a hairline fracture between character-narrator, and narrator qua narrator; that grants too much reality to an intrinsically artificial phenomenon (literature).
Now I've read the full article. Hartley's point makes more sense in context; I suspect the 'split internal to the now' was more of a rhetorical flourish than an ontological claim.
On the lost present, and the anxiety of that loss: many times while reading the Recherche, I've wondered if Marcel would benefit from discovering The Dhammapada...
On the lost present, and the anxiety of that loss: many times while reading the Recherche, I've wondered if Marcel would benefit from discovering The Dhammapada...
Proustitute wrote: "@Jim I linked to the rest of the article, which should answer your "que?" I hope the link works... it does for me."Absolutement... I hadn't clicked the link yet and was scratching my head about what the quote was saying.
I've been contemplating reading a bit of Swann's Way in French next year - only a page or two at a time since I'm just learning the language. Verb tenses in French are a challenge even for native speakers, so it will be a big adventure for me to read a bit of Proust en français.
Proustitute wrote: "Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick made an interesting claim as far as reading the Recherche as a Buddhist text in her last published collection, The Weather in Proust."So glad you mentioned this book! I'd mentally marked it as "to-read," and then it got lost in a sea of other things, but I love Sedgwick so much, and I look forward to adding this to the (rapidly growing) pile of auxiliary reading.
If anyone is looking for a good general reader's guide, check out Patrick Alexander's Marcel Proust's Search for Lost Time: A Reader's Guide to The Remembrance of Things Past. Alexander is a Proust lover rather than an academic and has written readable, no-nonsense summaries for each volume, short profiles of the major characters, and basic information about Proust and his times. Very accessible and handy, especially for first-time readers. Naturally, the summaries are loaded with spoilers, but with Proust's work, that isn't a real problem since this isn't exactly a cliff-hanger murder mystery, LOL!
I came across a nice article just now (by way of this blogpost: http://bookdesign.wordpress.com/2007/... in my own quest to complete my set of the Vintage edition of ISOLT. What can I say? the spines form a nice picture of Proust on the shelf...)Called simply: Reading “In Search of Lost Time"
http://www.salon.com/2005/08/28/prous...
it's a gentle coercion and inducement for those interested, to go ahead and read him. Those who of us who have read him will agree that it's an achievable enterprise and deeply rewarding. Smiley's target of 70 days to do the whole thing is maybe a tad optimistic for those of us with lives to lead, and makes our own schedule look leisurely (don't get me wrong, I like the schedule we have!) but it probably can be done.
My first reading of the Search, I was unemployed and decided to finish the final 3 volumes after having read the first few on and off a few years prior. I blazed (and at times stumbled enchantedly) through, in utter intoxication. Drug-like, is how our best reading reaches us, or acts upon us. Addicting! Yes, at times it was hard, as Smiley says. The Guermantes why can be hard going, with the mega long dinner parties, but what vistas open up to us from there, and the books that follow!
I would now want to wish those who'll just start their reading of Proust in 2013 all the best: you are entering a beautiful world. Every day I thank myself and count myself lucky that Proust is in my head and heart. He is so worth it.
I'd like to throw a little recommendation out there for Proust's "Contre Sainte-Beueve". Mine is a Penguin version:(http://www.amazon.co.uk/Against-Saint...)
so it's basically a collection of essays. If anyone can find a similar collection of his essays, I would recommend 'em. Mine has his "On Reading" in it too.
"These essays represent a vital episode in the intellectual development of Proust - without them, a full understanding of "A la Recherche du Temps Perdu" would be incomplete. The best essays are the ones that date from 1908 - when Proust, aged 37, already felt that his life was drawing to a close, and the urgency of writing his masterpiece was fully upon him. Although these essays mostly accuse the then famous critic Sainte-Beuve of being, among other things, an incompetent judge of Baudelaire, Stendhal, Flaubert and Balzac, collectively they make a robust statement of Proust's overriding aesthetic beliefs and concerns. Through them he defines the task of the artist as releasing the creative energies of past experiences from the hidden store of the unconscious - the aesthetic that was to lie at the heart of his great novel."
Too right! It would be a good Coda. My copy has Proust's "On Ruskin" too which is an insightful read. You can really tell how much he admired the man.
I'm coming late to the party, and am a complete neophyte on all things Proust. I read the Flaubert a couple of years ago and will be reading the Ruskin with the group. Upcoming, I have planned a reading of several books that take place in France, primarily in the 19th Century (Balzac, Zola, Stendhal ...) and I could add a Flaubert if you thought it would contribute.Mostly, I think I would benefit from a companion piece, but as I have other reading I'm leaning toward the Paintings in Proust: A Visual Companion to In Search of Lost Time. Given the above, do you think this is where my time would be best placed - in lieu of some of the textual companions?
The French edition of the main essay, on Sainte-Beuve, is this one, but I think I would be more interested on some other essays, such as the one "On Ruskin". Proustitute is this a sort of preface to his translation of Ruskin's "Sésame et les Lys"?
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I'm coming late to the party, and am a complete neophyte on all things Proust. I read the Flaubert a couple of years ago and will be reading the Ruskin with the group. Upcoming, I have planned a r..."For a "complete neophyte on all things Proust" a good general reader's guide is Patrick Alexander's Marcel Proust's Search for Lost Time: A Reader's Guide to The Remembrance of Things Past. It includes synopses of all seven volumes, character profiles, and general info about Proust and his times, all written in easy to read layman's language.
That being said, the Karpeles book is excellent and focuses in on the paintings mentioned throughout ISOLT. If time and budget allow, I would recommend both of these books as companion reads for the coming year.
Proustitute wrote: "@ElizabethI know many people are swamped with 2013 reading projects. The Paintings in Proust volume is one a lot of people here voiced interest in; I know I'll be re-reading Proust this time arou..."
Thank you Proustitute. I'm so glad for this thread, and I think I will substitute Sentimental Education for one of the others I had planned.
Roshan wrote: "Unpacking Proust's Libraryhttp://www.theparisreview.org/blog/20..."
Thank you. This is fascinating. I am currently reading Carter's bio, and I am amazed at how much he read in his early youth. I plan to keep track of all the authors that keep coming up. This book Monsieur Proust's Library just seems perfect. He read a great deal of history as well, with Michelet and Renan being among the historians he favored.
Another possible book to list as Auxiliary reading could be Against Nature (in French "A rebours"). The main character, Jean des Esseintes, was also based on Robert de Montesquiou.
Hmm...I have a copy of Against Nature on my bookshelf but have never read it. I think I should give it a go!
Another possible novel to read on the side is:Le Disciple.
It was published in 1889.
It seems it had a bearing on Proust as a sample of the "roman d'analyse" genre, very much in vogue. I also think that Bourget and Henry James exchanged letters.
Proustitute wrote: "Review of Anka Muhlstein's Monsieur Proust's Library:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001..."
thanks for that, Proustitute! i had forgotten that someone (Kalliope!) here had recommended this book and amazon just recommended it to me when i was placing an order for a book for a different group...so i was going to ask if anyone here had read it yet to figure out if i should get my hands on it. no need to tell me now! i will get my hands on it. :)
Marieke wrote: "Proustitute wrote: "Review of Anka Muhlstein's Monsieur Proust's Library:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001..."
thanks for that, Prous..."
Thanks Marieke, because I remembered that there had been some discussion of this already and I could not remember where it was or with whom had I had it (sorry..!!)...
I love my library. Going on a Proust binge. Reserved Carter's bio, Beckett's "Proust" and Heuet's little graphic novel of RoTP. So grateful they are to be found and reserved in the catalogue! Especially with Beckett's Proust. I read it a long time ago and it is so hard to find now. Excited!!
Nick wrote: "I love my library. Going on a Proust binge. Reserved Carter's bio, Beckett's "Proust" and Heuet's little graphic novel of RoTP. So grateful they are to be found and reserved in the catalogue! Espec..."I just added Beckett's. I did not know about it. Thank you.
Proustitute wrote: "As 2013 draws closer, feel free to make dedicated threads for any auxiliary reading. Hopefully several others will also consider joining in on some of those texts. We should definitely start one fo..."Yes, the Karpeles deserves its own thread. Another could be for "parallel" writers, such as A. France, P Bourget, Huysmanns, Gide... etc...
This is a fantastic project.
No worries Kalliope! It really is an amazing book, very profound. And short :)
Nick wrote: "No worries Kalliope! It really is an amazing book, very profound. And short :)"Short. :)
Good to average Carter !
The Year of Reading Proust
Books mentioned in this topic
Narrative Discourse Revisited (other topics)Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method (other topics)
The world and the book: A study of modern fiction (other topics)
Proust Among the Stars (other topics)
The Proustian Quest (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Gabriel Josipovici (other topics)Jacques-Henri Lartigue (other topics)
Anna Kavan (other topics)
Thanks Rick, I had not heard of that one.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/69...
It looks absolutely fascinating ... and it's a one-click purchase away at Amazon. Dangerous for me.