One Year In Search of Lost Time ~ 2015 discussion

"...we are unable to resist a sudden start of alarm or delight if there falls upon us from on high, like an aerolith engraved with our name, which we thought was unknown on Venus or Cassiopeia, an invitation to dinner or a snippet of wicked gossip" (~63.93%).

Guermantes Way is proving to be a delightful read, balancing the events of the Salon with the more personal family and interpersonal musings and all so well expressed. So far, this is turning out to be my favorite of the books. Of course there is still much remaining.

I agree, Sue. I've been enjoying the account of the Dreyfus Affair, his grandmother's stroke and death (well, "enjoying" is perhaps not the word), and the so-far-not-obsessive romance with Albertine. Maybe it's the subject matter, maybe i'm just finally really getting into Proust's style. (I'm reading it in French)

I'm reading in English, Barbara. I think one of the reasons I'm enjoying this book more than the others (though I rated the first book 5*) is the breadth of activity and characters. The activity seems more personal, less of the philosophical. Even the political has lots of personal connections.....all the interpersonal intrigue in Salon society. And grandmother's story is so sad.

It's interesting that several of you are enjoying GW more than the others. I found GW my least favourite and I think most of the others in the 2014 group agreed. It has its moments though.

Mind you, I remember being wary of reading The Captive & The Fugitive as I kept reading that they were difficult and a chore to read - I found them brilliant.

Jonathan, these are truly interesting books in that there are layers and layers of developments, musings, people, philosophies, politics, arts, etc. And then we readers bring all our various experiences to the book. Makes for interesting chemistry.

Jonathan wrote: "It's interesting that several of you are enjoying GW more than the others. I found GW my least favourite and I think most of the others in the 2014 group agreed. It has its moments though.

Mind y..."

I am wondering about the future books as I prepare to order the next one. :) Also wondering if I could possibly read Proust on my kindle when I see the difference in price for Book 5, The Captive & The Fugitive. Not certain whether I could follow these sentences on the smaller screen.

Sue wrote: "I am wondering about the future books as I prepare to order the next one. :) Also wondering if I could possibly read Proust on my kindle when I see the difference in price for Book 5, The Captive & The Fugitive. Not certain whether I could follow these sentences on the smaller screen. "

I read ISOLT on my kindle with no problem. I must admit that with some authors the thought of reading an ebook version doesn't seem right...but I had no problem with Proust.

Basically though I wanted to keep copies of the books but I didn't want them taking up too much room, so the kindle was the ideal choice.

Jonathan wrote: "Sue wrote: "I am wondering about the future books as I prepare to order the next one. :) Also wondering if I could possibly read Proust on my kindle when I see the difference in price for Book 5, T..."

Thanks Jonsthan. I've been enjoying the ease of moving back and forth between pages with a physical book but I think I will probably switch to kindle, especially after the end of the Penguin editions.So one more in paper then the move to kindle. I'm glad to know that you haven't had difficulty following those lengthy sentences on the kindle.

Finally caught up, yay!

I'm also surprised that many of you like The Guermante's Way so much in comparison to the books before. To me Swann's Way was by far the best and most densely impressive so far, i gave the second only four stars, and would probably give GW only 3 stars right now, though it's hard to evaluate a middle volume of a sequence of books, and i still do enjoy it a lot. There are just some rather dreary, lengthy passages (i didn't enjoy the Dreyfus affaire discussions) that didn't give me much to think about or like, mainly the saloon meetings. I guess I don't know the characters well enough yet to enjoy following these social pictures.

This part was much more pleasant and interesting for me again, without the issues i mentioned, much more like Swann's Way or volume two.

I liked the discussion of this spontaneous... scene of intimacy, for lack of a better word, with Albertine. How compared to Balbec, he desired her not for love this time, but simply physically, how their kissing and physical intimacy implied love and "mental intimacy" for Albertine, connecting and telling private stories, but not for our narrator, who just wanted to enjoy the moment.

And what really took me in was this notion that we have a desire for kissing, but lips are far from an ideal organ for that, and (later) that the nose and eyes are badly placed for that, the noses getting in the way, sometimes unable to smell (though that seems doubtful to me), and the eyes useless.
Seeing how idealized kissing is in our society and culture, i in large part have to agree with Proust's dissatisfaction. And i don't expect you to discuss this in detail, but i'm curious whether you agree. To me, the desire, intention and buildup to kissing is wonderful, but the kissing itself, the sensory feel, is somewhat lacking. No wonder there are many cultures in the world where kissing is rare or entirely replaced by other intimacies.

Being a political junkie, I really appreciated the inside view of the wheeling and dealing among all the attendees at the salons regarding the various Dreyfus factions as well as the general "race" talk which existed at that time in France and throughout Europe, and, actually much of the world. I found it interesting observing our narrator observing everyone else and having a chance to see this other side of human behavior up close.

The interlude with Albertine was good but for me was not as new and different as some of the salon interludes.

The section you write of---the kissing, with the lips as inadequate, the nose getting in the way. I found it amusing and kept thinking how young our narrator is. I guess I don't think of kissing in an idealized way---it only is idealized in pictures as far as I'm concerned.

And Proust kept describing a kiss aimed at Albertine's cheek. Was that a euphemism? And describing the coarseness of her skin. That would certainly reduce the emotional fervor of the interlude a bit! :)

Kissing is also idealized in romantic fiction. It's the event that shows the point when two people come together, the most intense standard depiction of love, in film or writing. Well, i made my point above, but for me personally kissing isn't the highlight of coming together either. I find other modes of closeness like hugging much more intense.

So true about romantic fiction. I'd somehow forgotten how "the kiss" becomes. "the event". And I agree...a hug, or sometimes even just a touch at the right moment, can be far more intimate.

Sue wrote: "And Proust kept describing a kiss aimed at Albertine's cheek. Was that a euphemism?"

Sue, I wondered if the whole scene was a euphemism.

Teresa, I'm glad to hear you say that, especially as I read further (into the new week's reading).

Although this section is beautifully written as ever, I did find myself put off the narrator at this point. It's rather chilling as he kisses Albertine (and maybe more as you suggest, Teresa), and yet is almost looking over her shoulder to check if anyone more desirable comes along... with talk of "collecting" women.

Rather a change after his idealisation of one woman after another - it seems that Albertine has been the idealised one, yet now that she isn't, he's prepared to treat her like a plaything, to be picked up or cast aside.

Judy wrote: "Although this section is beautifully written as ever, I did find myself put off the narrator at this point. It's rather chilling as he kisses Albertine (and maybe more as you suggest, Teresa), and ..."

He is very much a late teen "on the make" I think.

Sue, thanks for that - I find it hard to work out what age he is and probably think of him as older than he is.

In this section, I loved the description of reading the 'other writer' and the excitement of working through long sentences and finally getting to the meaning. This reminds me of reading Robert Browning's poetry - and of course of reading Proust himself. I wonder what writer he had in mind here?

Judy wrote: "Sue, thanks for that - I find it hard to work out what age he is and probably think of him as older than he is."

I constantly have to remind myself that he's looking back, that he did not have the knowledge and the awareness he's displaying now back then; but the immediacy of the writing makes it seem as if he does.

Agreed, Theresa! We touched on this in a discussion way back, maybe in Swann's Way. Since the narrator Is looking back telling the story, he may not even know the specific age he was when certain things happened. With memory and feelings it's hard to date back exactly. Though I can't help constantly trying to figure it out as the narration doesn't always quite match the actions as he's telling them. I did note in the section where he is kissing. Albertine that the mention her being 14 (granted that might not have meant at the time of the kiss). I really wanted that to help me out I determining his age, but I'm not sure that it has!

I think he was saying she had been 14 when he first met her in Balbec - not 100% certain, though!

Speaking of this section with Albertine, my memory was jogged about the mention of the narrator having once fought a duel. A rare, intriguing piece of information about him.

Yes, Theresa! The duel! I caught that, and couldn't believe he was actually in a duel.. What with a gun? Walk 20 paces and turn around? I can't really picture it.. And again, a very interesting tidbit, that was stuck in there with no more details?!

Yes, so strange that this is thrown in as a passing reference - I'm hoping it is something we will learn more about later. Again, this makes it seem as if he must be a bit older than he sometimes seems, to have something like a duel already in his past.