Group Read: Proust Volume 3, The Guermantes Way

Here is our discussion thread for Volume 3 of Proust's In Search of Lost Time, "The Guermantes Way".

Happy Reading!

What are everyone's reading plans for volume 3?

I'm reading a quick read right now and might need one more easy book before I delve into this. So I'll most likely start sometime around the beginning of June.

All my inter-library loans arrived at once, so I have 4 books to read before I start volume 3. Probably the second week of June.

I have finished the first part of The Guermantes Way and it turned out very readable. I am enjoying this book a lot. Could it perhaps mean that I begin to understand and appreciate Proust?!

In this first part Marcel becomes a bit obsessed with the Duchesse de Guermantes and is looking for ways to get in contact with her. He tries by visiting his friend Robert de Saint Loup, who is at his army base. Interesting discussions follow among the soldiers because the Dreyfus affair is hot indeed.
Via Robert he meets the much anticipated mistress (an interesting scene!) and gets introduced in the higher circles of society, where the nobility and aristocrats meet. At the salon of Mme de Villeparisis the Dreyfus affair is a main subject as well.

I am learning a lot about the nobility in France at the time and about anti semitism being very fashionable among them. I am looking forward to your thoughts on this.

I've started now and am about 130 pages in. I'm finding it easier and easier to read as I'm used to the flow and getting to know the characters. It helps that this one starts with a lot of Francoise, who I love. And then straight into interaction with Saint Loup who I also really like. I still think it's sort of an odd friendship - Saint Loup seems so masculine compared to the narrator - but I supposed he is drawn to the Narrator's differences, particularly his ideas on the arts.

I like seeing Marcel's new obsession, the Duchesse de Guermantes. I was a little confused about who she was (particularly how old she is) so I looked her up in my character guide. Apparently she is about 30 years older than the narrator and was raised by her Aunt, Madame Villeparisis. She sounds like she'll be a main character for some time to come.

I do feel the same. It gets easier and the characters are getting more interesting I think. Francoise and Robert indeed, but I also am fascinated by de Duchesse and De Charlus (is he gay?).

I am happy you set up this reading group, I am really glad I joined and am finally making my way into this famous book.

>6 Simone2: Yes, I think De Charlus must be gay. Again, it's interesting to see the narrator's take on homosexuality. Considering that Proust himself is considered to have been a homosexual, I think it's interesting that his narrator is presumably heterosexual and to see his impressions of the homosexual characters.

I loved Charlus and the narrator's interaction while leaving Mme Villeparisis's party. Baron de Charlus is quite a piece of work.

I've just finished "part 1" and am moving straight on to Part 2.

I'm about a quarter of the way through, just past lunch with Saint-Loup and his mistress.

Much entertained by the narrator's stalking of Madame de Guermantes. Looking forward to meeting Charlus again.

>6 Simone2: I'm also grateful for this group. Without you both I probably would have kept putting off starting the third volume, as I did once before.

>6 Simone2: I'm certain that Charlus is gay. Mme Villiparsis tries to dissuade Marcel from leaving her afternoon salon with Charlus and, when Marcel does, the Duc shows his distaste, suggesting to me that Charlus is notorious for seducing young men and that both Mme Villiparsis and the Duc believe that Marcel is Charlus's quarry. While waiting with Marcel for a cab, Charlus lets many go, finally choosing one where the driver is young, drunk man, sprawling on the cushions.

I'm enjoying The Guermantes Way and reading this volume much faster than the previous two. I'm caught up in this volume because it is mainly about people. There are fewer of the extended descriptive passages about paintings, scenery, furniture and rooms, which I found tedious in the first two volumes.

I'm appalled by the doctor who tells Marcel's family that she is malingering and sends her out for a walk when she is dying.

Now reading the second section. Albertine has reappeared.

>7 japaul22: Maybe the narrator's apparent take on homosexuality, particularly the passages denigrating effeminate men, is partly a cover-up for the sake of Proust's family. But perhaps I'm confusing Proust with the narrator, and should stop treating the work as a roman a clef.

I'm closing in on the end - about 100 pages left in this volume. I've loved all of it until (finally) getting to the Duchess of Guermantes's dinner. This section has been really boring to me but it occurs to me that that might be the point! The narrator also discovers that this group of people that he's held up and idolized is actually boring and vapid.

>9 pamelad: It's so hard not to equate the narrator with Proust himself, isn't it? Despite (or because of??) the digressions into the arts and landscapes it feels so personal to read. Even if I try not to, I think I will always assume that Proust himself was very much like his narrator.

When I started this I remember expecting that it would read like stream of consciousness, sort of like a really long Virginia Woolf, but it's different. It's rambling and interior in a similar way but I find it much more deeply personal than Woolf or Faulkner or other stream of consciousness books I've read. I think it still is that technique, but it's done differently than I've experienced in other books.

>9 pamelad: I think it is very interesting that De Charlus is gay and Marcel is not, while Proust himself was gay as well. I read that we will learn a lot more about De Charlus in the next installment. I am looking forward to it.

>10 japaul22: I am in the middle of the dinner party, which is boring indeed. But just like both of you, I enjoy this book the most so far.

>11 japaul22: And I also expected an ongoing stream of conscience. Proust turns out to be much more readable! It must be very personal, you can not make up such a personal account, can you?!

I've finished! Didn't mind the dinner party because I was intrigued by the awfulness of the people and the malice that passed for wit. I missed most of Proust's references to the classics, and to French history and recent events, so was tempted to read the footnotes, but they break the flow and make it hard to concentrate. The ending with Swann and the shoes makes it clear that Marcel has lost all respect for the Guermantes and sees the Duc and Duchesse as superficial, selfish people, though he maintains his fascination with their aristocratic lineage. Charlus seems quite mad - I'm looking forward to reading more about him.

>11 japaul22: >12 Simone2: He makes more sense to me than Virginia Woolf does. He is really interested in other people, their motivations and their behaviour. And his own, of course! I often stop and admire his insights and think, "Exactly!". In comparison, Woolf's people seem misty and confused.

I enjoyed this volume and was tempted to start the next, but will have a break for a few weeks.

>13 pamelad: My edition doesn't have footnotes, at least not extensive ones. There are maybe 50 endnotes, but I don't find them very informative so I've been skipping them for the most part. I do still refer often to the character guide in Marcel Proust's Search for Lost Time. I find that very helpful to get some of the nuances of the character backgrounds, role in society, and relationship to each other.

Yes, Charlus is intriguing! I'm excited for more of him as well.

I love Virginia Woolf, but agree that her characters are often misty. I think she has beautiful insights to life experience, though. Very different from Proust, though their styles are often described with the same words.

Glad to hear you're excited for the next one too. Let me know when you want the next thread up. I'm reading a long Trollope novel in July so I won't start til I'm done with that but I'm happy to put a new thread up whenever.

And I am finished too. I loved the ending indeed, about Swann and the black shoes. I am looking forward to more Charlus but first read something a bit lighter!

A day away from starting volume IV. How's everyone else going?

I've wandered down some other paths and become hopelessly behind.

>17 March-Hare: It's worth persevering. I really liked The Guermantes Way and found it easier reading than the two previous volumes.

>16 pamelad: I posted the thread for volume 4

http://www.librarything.com/topic/264809

>18 pamelad:

Proust is a personal favorite so I'll be reading to the end. Just not sure when that will be.

I am so far behind but I did eventually finish this in October. I agree with >18 pamelad: that it was easier reading than the previous two.

Made it back to this point. Hopefully I don't wander off this time.

>22 March-Hare: this was one of my favorite volumes - hope you enjoy it!

Thanks!

I saw that you posted some final thoughts. I'm holding off on reading those until I've read the whole thing again.