Ben’s Comments (group member since Dec 15, 2016)

Ben’s comments from the 2017: Our Year of Reading Proust group.

Petra wrote: "Ben, that's a lovely town! The spire is impressive. I can see why Proust described it in such detail. It's an interesting addition to the background.
I like Aunt Leonie's house. It's nice to have ..."
One must be careful, though, in not taking all Proust's descriptions too literally. He freely mixed and matched features gathered from different churches in describing the church in Combray. The same happened in other respects as well. A bit of 'poetic license', I suppose . . .

By the way, this time I am reading Prof Carter's edited and annotated version of 'Swann's Way', published by Yale in 2013. The selective footnotes (or rather marginal notes) add considerably to the enjoyment of the read.

This section of the book also describes in some detail the little town of Combray, which forms the backdrop to the first part of the work. It is well known that, with Proust having put Illiers 'on the map', as it were, the people of Illiers decided, in 1971, to change the town's name to 'Illiers-Combray', on the occasion of the first centenary of the author's birth as a tribute to Proust's literary masterpiece.
I would suggest that a visit to the town should be on any Proustian's bucket list.
Here is a link to a photograph taken in May 2015 during our group's 'pilgrimmage' to the home of Tante Leonie, now the Proust Museum, led by the incomparable Prof Bill Carter (Proust's biographer) :
https://za.pinterest.com/pin/42924940...
And here are some general pictures of the town:
https://za.pinterest.com/0dx56ysmcpm1...

Apart from the introduction to some of the characters, this section contains the iconic scene about the little tea-soaked madeleine that evoked all those memories in the narrator. It is a key episode in the novel, as it vividly illustrates the difference between voluntary and involuntary memory -- a theme that will be repeated at different stages of the novel, most dramatically in the final book, 'Time regained'. (And disclosing it at this stage does not, I believe, amount to a spoiler.) Be that as it may, in the exposition that occupies more than 5 pages, one sees Proust at his best.
For a painting, 'Marcel and the madeleine' by David Richardson, see:
https://za.pinterest.com/pin/26099774...

Dianne wrote: "You are officially the Professional!"
Thanks but no thanks, Dianne. That title belongs to Jonathan, who was one of the moderators of the 2014 group.

Dianne wrote: "Ben wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "I read ISOLT with the 2014 group and would like to wish you all the best with Proust in 2017. I found reading to a schedule along with others was the best way to approa..."

Looking forward to meeting a whole new group of Proustians, Dianne. It feels strange to be treated almost like a 'veteran'.
;-)

Jonathan wrote: "I read ISOLT with the 2014 group and would like to wish you all the best with Proust in 2017. I found reading to a schedule along with others was the best way to approach it. I'm not quite ready fo..."

Like Jonathan, I was also a member of the 2014 group and, although I joined late (after my retirement in Sept '14), I enjoyed following the discussions as I went along and managed to catch up with the rest of the group before the end. This so inspired me that I then enrolled for the MOST fantastic Proust tour to Paris (and various other places mentioned in ISOLT, such as Illiers-Combray, Cabourg-Balbec, etc) under the expert guidance of Prof Bill Carter, Proust's biographer, together with his assistant and photographer, Nicolas Drogoul. I would highly recommend their website and online course to any would-be Proust readers:
http://www.proust-ink.com
Like Jonathan, I do not necessarily want to commit to a full re-read at this stage, although it's definitely on the agenda for the future. I would like to dip into the discussions from time to time, though, just to keep myself up to date. That's why I've decided to join this group.