Proust's In Search of Lost Time

Calling all of those who've thought about it, started it, got bogged down in it, or managed to make it all the way through Proust's magnum opus!

With just a few days left till my semester's over, I finally received my copy of À la recherche du temps perdu from Amazon today. I decided on the Modern Library translation, in six volumes, which tops out at a whopping 4,344 pages of text -- almost 3,000 pages longer than the longest work I'd ever read before this (the wonderful Penguin translation of Les Misérables).

I should reiterate that I'm doing this strictly of my own volition. Yes, I'm a recovering Romanticist who's making the move towards Modernism and contemporary lit as my concentration, but I have not been assigned this for any class, and I'm reading more out of curiosity and literary desire than out of the need to read more good Modernist works.

So if anyone would like to share thoughts, encouragement, advice, or assistance, I'd love to hear from you as I prepare to embark on this labor of love!

I'm intending to embark on Volume One in the near future (as soon as I finish Ulysses--no mean feat in itself). I plan on breaking it up to make the venture more palatable. I'm 24 now; I figure, if I read a volume a year, I'll finish when I'm 31. That doesn't seem so bad, does it? :^)

So I wish you good luck, and please send me good thoughts in return!

Ulysses is on my to-do list as well, but I will probably wait till next winter to hit that, as I've got a fairly full reading plate already!

My plan is to read them as the mood strikes me. I plan on completing Swann's Way right off the bat, then I'll either move on to the next volume or take on something slightly easier to temper things, depending on how I feel and how much I got out of it. I'll let you know how it works out!

CURRENT PROGRESS:
64/4344 pages read; 1.473% complete

After reading the introductory material last night, I began Proust in earnest this evening. The first chapter of Swann's Way is a perfect introduction to the work: incredibly digressive, yet surprisingly coherent and direct. The amount of characters is not overwhelming, nor is the constantly wandering action.

I'm thinking the best approach to a first read of Proust is to put yourself into the Narrator's shoes and allow yourself to meander with his thoughts and musings. The philosophical ponderings are quite fascinating, and the language is quite beautiful -- particularly during the long, languid passages. This first section, for instance, revolves mostly around the Narrator's desire to elicit a good-night kiss from his mother, and he does so in a way that is both passionate and fervent but not especially erotic or incestuous. It's very well-balanced and simply stunning.

I'm not sure if I'll post daily musings or progress reports, but I figured I'd at least write now to show that I truly have begun in earnest. Onward!

Maybe I will just follow this thread until I actually can motivate myself to start.

-- M1001.

#4 - The philosophical ponderings are quite fascinating, and the language is quite beautiful -- particularly during the long, languid passages.

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I've heard this before about Proust, but yet, . . . I've never heard it actually leading to any change in behavior from the reader. Whereas, other philosophers gather great followings of converts.

I'm writing this with tongue in cheek, having read How Proust Can Change Your Life last year, and not finding my life changed one iota. As a non-serious participant in these threads, all serious participants should ignore me.

It's all good, Nickelini. Even kings needed their jesters. Best to keep things light!

It's been almost fifteen months, but something--I can't quite explain what--has called me back to Proust.

I recall the overture ("Combray I") of Swann's Way vividly, even over a year later, so I will not be doing a complete restart, but I will pick up today from where I left off, at "Combray II." We'll see how it goes!

Good luck! I intend to start collecting the various volumes of this in the near future so I can eventually begin my own trek through In Search of Lost Time. I'm nowhere near ready to start actually reading it though, so I wish you well!

I will be finishing the final volume of Proust in the next day or two. I started Swann's Way nearly a year ago. I am now a committed proustolâtre, and I cannot recommend Proust highly enough. Talk about seeing the world with new eyes.

PS Nickelini - How Proust Can Change Your Life was pretty lame. :) Definitely at the bottom of the stack of the Proust criticism I've encountered.

And PPS - there's a group here on LT whose members plan to start a group read of In Search of Lost Time somewhere around June 2010, in case anybody's interested:
http://www.librarything.com/groups/thequestforthelastpa

And since that message probably offered more in the way of gushing praise than encouragement or advice, I should probably say something more. So, here's what little wisdom I have to offer:

- Slow and steady wins the race, and it's the best way to enjoy Proust. Read a little, stop to contemplate, read a little more, stop, that was my method. Reading out loud is also good, a real pleasure. The beauty of the prose really comes out that way.

- If the passage you're reading bores you, keep going. Something really good is coming, I promise.

- Proust takes a lot of mental energy. Don't feel bad if you have to put him aside at times when you're too mentally busy to tackle him--better that than reading without really grasping the meaning and beauty of what's going on.

- Reading some secondary texts can really help you get your bearings early. After I finish ISOLT, I will probably go back and read at least the first volume again, because now that I've reached the end, I realize how much I must have missed when I was just beginning, and before I'd encountered some helpful guides. Roger Shattuck's Proust's Way is a useful book. Malcolm Bowie's Proust Among the Stars is perhaps slightly less useful but infinitely more beautiful--I never thought that lit crit could be so touching, such a pleasure. I wish more folks would read Bowie rather than de Botton.

- When you're not reading, think, think, think. Let Proust color your daily life. Try to free yourself from the chains of Habit--not easy, perhaps not even fully possible, but better to try than not. Try to appreciate the whole world around you as art.

CURRENT PROGRESS:
139/4344 pages read; 3.200% complete

I went with my urge and picked up Swann's Way again today, and was amazed at how much it lends itself towards being left alone for a while. It's almost as if the book WANTS you to take your time with it, ready to welcome you back when you're ready for it.

Got through 75 pages on Combray, the narrator's aunt, his church, and the narrator's increasing love of the arts, including theatre and literature--particularly Bergotte. The passage ends wonderfully with an allusion towards Swann's daughter, which makes me think I know what to expect from the rest.

It's a trial, for sure, but very easy to lose oneself in. 75 pages without a break is quite formidable, though, so I'll take a short respite before deciding if I want to tackle any more today.

P.S. Thanks for the great tips, Medellia!

CURRENT PROGRESS:
186/4344 pages read; 4.282% complete

Got myself past the halfway point of "Combray II" today. There's a certain coherence to the plot now, as opposed to just mere memorialized rambling, and that makes it much more critical that the reader pay attention. That's why I've only gotten so little read today.

Considering finishing "Combray II" and perhaps putting it aside again for a little while. (But hopefully not as long this time!) Proust really does take a lot out of you, and you have to be in the right frame of mind to really take him in and appreciate him.

I just started Swann's Way yesterday. I like the way you are keeping track of your progress. :)

CURRENT PROGRESS:
264/4344 pages read; 6.077% complete

Sat down with Proust again today and got myself through all of "Combray" at last! I was surprised by how well I was able to get back into the swing of what was happening, and really enjoyed the last ten pages of the section, in which Proust effortlessly ties the entire section together and smoothly segues into the next portion.

I'm glad I didn't take AS long to get around to more Proust this time, but as "Swann in Love" is substantial, I may have to take a more measured approach. Might try the few-pages-a-day technique and see how that works out, as I've tended to take him in large chunks heretofore.

I've enjoyed reading your comments of your Proust readings. I hope you don't mind if I follow along and occasionally comment.

Appropriate for the season, here's Nabokov on Proust:

"A tendency to fill in and stretch a sentence to its utmost breadth and length, to cram into the stocking of the sentence a miraculous number of clauses, parenthetic phrases, subordinate clauses. Indeed, in verbal generosity he is a veritable Santa."

So there you have it--Proust as Santa Claus. :)

LOVE IT! Very apropos, and from one of my favorite authors of all time nonetheless! Thanks so much for sharing! :-)

I've also been (slowly) reading "Swann's Way" over the last few months and I too think that it rewards slow absorption. I think Proust's prose may be a stylized, perhaps somewhat exaggerated example of the sort of language common amoungst the circle he moved in, and reading it seems to be an experience similar to that of the narrator himself who carefully dissect each word (and non-verbal expression) that has been spoken to him in an attempt to see past the surface communication to the deeper intent of the person who spoke it. There was clearly a premium placed in the upper classes on indirect "artful" communication (M. Legrandin?) which has the unfortunate side effect of being easily mistaken or even missed entierly such as the Aunts' attempts to thank Swann for his gift of wine without directly saying so :-) I guess I'm trying not to "miss" anything.

I've been reading Proust for the last three years, one book at each vacation. Now I'm going to start reading Sodoma e Gomorra (in Portuguese). I've not finished reading it through but Proust is already one of my favourites. The second part of Swan's Way was one of the most pleasant. The process of the development of Swan's jealousy is very well describled, after reading Proust is difficult to find another author as interresting as him.