Prerna’s Reviews > Swann’s Way > Status Update
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To know a thing does not always enable us to prevent it, but at least the things we know we do hold, if not in our hands, at any rate in our minds, where we can dispose of them as we choose, and this gives us the illusion of a sort of power over them.
— Jan 26, 2022 07:58AM
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Jan 26, 2022 09:15AM
I’m not sure whether I’m glad or sorry that you’re reading Proust (you might check out my status updates for the Guermantes Way). What do you think of him so far?
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I actually read the first five books long, long ago. When I was 19 and ambitious and far more pretentious. I lost track after the third book, but read two more out of spite and just for my ego. I loved Swann's way back then though, I'm not liking it as much this time, probably because I'm reading it alongside of the waves which is nothing short of a masterpiece. But of course, Proust is Proust and Swann's way is Swann's way. And I actually like Odette this time, last time I absolutely hated her. Ugh, I was so immature. It doesn't help that I actually relate to Proust a lot, this one thing has not changed. It's one of my reading goals to finish In Search of Lost Time this year, and I'm taking it slow. Just 15 pages per day.How has your time with Proust been?
Impressive!How has my time with Proust been? Well, it’s complicated…
Honestly, I’m barely reading him now since I just pick him up whenever I feel like it—which isn’t very often. If I still had the strength, I could probably finish the last 200 pages of GW in a week and finally move on to S&G, which I still feel something resembling excitement for. In a way, it’s comforting to have a familiar consciousness I can immerse myself in but I’ve spent far too long in this one and I’m tired :')
And yet, Proust’s shadow hangs over everything I do, because the books I’m reading now—Austerlitz; Speak, Memory; Cavafy’s poetry—are an attempt to explore Proustian themes without the exhaustion of actually reading him, and it hasn’t really been successful. I’m not sure whether I still like reading Proust (the society scenes in GW are killing me) but he hits that special spot no other other has been able to, yet.
Ooh, I did that last time. Picking him up whenever I felt like it and it didn't work for me. I'm definitely gonna take breaks between the books too, do some light reading this time.And I remember those society scenes and rants on language which I found very difficult to follow because I don't know French. And woah, those are some difficult books you're reading although I absolutely love Cavafy's poetry. This time though, I think I'm going to read some artsy Proust books to help visualise things, like that one book on paintings in Proust. And as much as I hated reading those society scenes, I distinctly remember them now because I was so frustrated. With Proust, I either love his writing or get absolutely frustrated with it, but I remember him for both.
