All About Books discussion

People are certainly complicated. Proust seems to have been able to see through all of our layers.

I do like the story of the Lariviere family. People can be so wonderful. It's lovely to see them help their cousin-by-marriage.

Oh....... Saint Loup! :-(

Was Proust lacto-intolerant?

"For milk gives us butter, cheese and crème fraîche, which in turn gives us croissants, brioches, madeleines, biscuits, scones, cheddar, camembert, as many little remembrances of things past, as many little landmarks in our ever-changing world, as many little pleasures one has in life, that bind us to our youth and made Proust the literary genius he was. "

Once again The Guardian comes through.

Petra I wondered that as well after reading his statement,
“as after early infancy one loses the power that babies have to divide the milk...which forces adults...to take milk in small quantities.”

but it may be an example of him including contemporary discoveries. I’m not exactly when lactase the enzyme was discovered but it was probably between 1880 and 1920. Enzymology was exciting then and newsworthy. He might have heard about it from his Dad, a physician and scientist.**

Did you know most human adults are lactose intolerant - the genetics is fascinating - http://www.els.net/WileyCDA/ElsArticl...

**confession - I still find enzymes exciting and newsworthy ;-)

Yes, that's the quote that sounded very lactose-intolerant to me, Joan.
I find the sciences of the body fascinating as well. Enzymes, bugs, genetics (my personal favorite)....it's all fascinating.

Tom, that's an interesting quote. Out of context, it's a bit of a weird leap between milk, breads & cheeses and madeleine moments in Life.
I do agree that Proust is a literary genius.

I'm really enjoying this final volume. I'm taking it slow; it's our last one. I do get the feeling that Proust is wrapping things up and am kind of saddened by that in a way.

Well I understood the quote to mean that would Proust be having madeleines if he was lactose intolerant, but thinking on it now it doesn't necessarily follow that the milk in a madeleine would cause a reaction.

Our narrator says,
“...as I compared these varied impressions of well-being (sound of spoon, taste of madeleine, feel of flagstone step) had something in common, which I was experiencing in the present moment and at the same time in a moment far away, ...”

I think Proust would have appreciated the beauty of quantum entanglement

Quantum Entanglement and the Great Bohr-Einstein Debate | Space Time | PBS Digital Studios
http://youtu.be/tafGL02EUOA

I like these thoughts on the things we see:

"...objects retain something of the eyes which have looked at them....."
and
"a thing which we have looked at in the past brings back to us, if we see it again, not only the eyes with which we looked at it but all the images with which at the time those eyes were filled."

I particularly like the first quote. The idea that we leave something behind by just looking at an object keeps us immortal, in a way (as long as that object exists), by the mere fact of what we left behind by seeing the object.
It's a matter of the soul, in a way.

I like that idea too,

Time Regained is making me a bit frustrated with an online discussion - online and impersonal seems contrary to Proust’s spirit for this book.
I feel something important is lost because we do not see each other’s expressions or hear intonations as we discuss it.

Boy that was hard to put into words without sounding really creepy

Oh boy, Proust is really hitting home for me as the narrator comments on the effects of aging visible at the Guermantes’ party, I’m slowly recovering from a back injury, feeling every second of my age and I can really identify with those relics, such as Mme Arpajon and M. de Cambremer.

Joan wrote: "Oh boy, Proust is really hitting home for me as the narrator comments on the effects of aging visible at the Guermantes’ party, I’m slowly recovering from a back injury, feeling every second of my ..."

I think one of my favorite parts of In Search of Lost Time was him talking about being among all these old people (view spoiler)[and then it dawns on him that he is old (or at least older) too. (hide spoiler)]

Me too Tom. I can remember my Mom and Aunts calling comments like that “arch”.

OMG what a change for Mme Verdurin!

Joan wrote: "OMG what a change for Mme Verdurin!"

DId NOT see that coming at all!

Since I don't know where you both are in the book, I can't comment on Mme Verdurin's change. It may be the one I've read already or another yet to come. More details if we're to discuss, please.

I'm considering getting a madeleine pan and baking some when I complete Proust.

If you're at the part with the madeleines, the uneven paving stones and the sounds of spoons, Mme Verdurin is in your future.

I've passed that. He's waiting in the library right now.

Then, yes, that was a surprising bit of news.

I believe this is after the piece of music is finished and Marcel is allowed into the party proper.

Hmm, okay.....looking forward to another Verudin surprise then.

The surprise I am talking about is who Mme Verdurin's current husband is.

Petra wrote: "I'm considering getting a madeleine pan and baking some when I complete Proust."

I'll come!

At Guermantes’ parties there is one thing you can count on - it will go on too long!

LauraT wrote: "Petra wrote: "I'm considering getting a madeleine pan and baking some when I complete Proust."

I'll come!"

Everyone is invited. Madeleines and champagne/bubbly wine. We deserve a celebration.

Tom wrote: "The surprise I am talking about is who Mme Verdurin's current husband is."

Oh my....I look forward to that bit of news.

Joan, these parties are very long and tedious. It's kind of stalled me at the moment and I'm leaving the narrator in the library. However, I've got to get him out of there and finish this book.
Overall, I'm enjoying this volume a lot. It's back to the wonderful thoughts & prose of Swann's Way.

Yes, you need to get out of the library. The book gets a lot better after that.

Hmm, I liked the bit in the library- the party starts out interesting but then seemed repetitive.
I thought this line was vintage Proust:
“...at the age of fifty they began a new kind of beauty, as one might take up a new career late in life, or as ground that is no longer and good for vines can be used for growing beet.”
Nice to know it is time for me to switch to beets.

The intro to my says that Proust didn’t live long enough to assemble this book - instead his brother and a friend cobbled it together from his notes - which were repetitive and not organized. They had to decide what to use and what to leave out. I think this party scene shows that as the same themes and similar observations are used over and over.

Just finished. What a long strange trip it has been.

Yes there are a few places in the footnotes where Proust refers to things that haven't happened yet which they mention is due to the fact he did not truly finish compiling/editing the book.

Petra wrote: "Everyone is invited. Madeleines and champagne/bubbly wine. We deserve a celebration. "

Indeed we do! And we'll toast to Saint Loup, more than to Marcel!!!

I dunno, I kinda had to feel for Marcel at the end.

I have purchased a madeleine pan. Now to finish this novel so that I can use it.
No madeleines before finishing.

We will need some Linden tea for dipping the madeleines into.
It turns out herbalists use linden tea (aka lime tea) to relieve anxiety- no wonder Marcel & Aunt Leonie drank it.

https://www.livestrong.com/article/40...

Linden tea is lime tea?

Had to look that up:
Tilia platyphyllos is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae (Tiliaceae). It is a deciduous tree, native to much of Europe, including locally in southwestern Great Britain, growing on lime-rich soils. The common names largeleaf linden and large-leaved linden are in standard use throughout the English-speaking world except in the British Isles, where it is widely, but not universally, known as large-leaved lime. The name "lime", possibly a corruption of "line" originally from "lind", has been in use for centuries and also attaches to other species of Tilia. It is not, however, related to the lime fruit tree, a species of citrus.

Still, lime or not, it is the perfect beverage to have with a madeleine. I'll keep an eye open for some.

Mlle de Saint Loup has inspired a game of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon -

"Six degrees of separation" on @Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_deg...

I am almost finished, he has seen Mlle de Saint Loup and is preparing to go home.

I find this to be a clear allusion to Christ and The Stations of the Cross - do you see it that way?
This is the first religious parallel that I have noticed.

“...I nearly fell three times...people might have come to see me, to proclaim me king, to seize me, to arrest me...”

Phew, finished. I’d like to add Francoise to our list of cherished characters - she always brightened the scene.

I have a question about Marcel's mother. (view spoiler)[From what I can tell, Marcel hasn't ever said she died (that I can recall), nor much of anything else about her. So is she just in limbo somewhere? By the time Time Regained ends, I got the impression Marcel was middle aged or thereabouts, which would make his mother quite old as well. (hide spoiler)]

Tom wrote: "I have a question about Marcel's mother. [spoilers removed]"

I wondered the same thing.

Well, I’m not sure that this as changed my life, but I might just try reading How Proust Can Change Your Life.

I’m also going to reread A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man as a sort of compare and contrast exercise.

Tom wrote: "Joan wrote: "OMG what a change for Mme Verdurin!"

DId NOT see that coming at all!"

I reached this part today. That totally was a surprise. I had to laugh, for sure.

Some of his ponderings of age, things coming to fruition & full circle are interesting......but it's becoming a bit long for me, too.
There seems to be a lot of Bloch, too.

Joan wrote: "Well, I’m not sure that this as changed my life, but I might just try reading How Proust Can Change Your Life.

I’m also going to reread [book:A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man|7..."


Joan, I have this Proust book on my TBR list, too, and was thinking that maybe the time to read it would be soon-ish.

I haven't read Portrait yet, so don't understand the compare & contrast comment. Compare/contrast to Proust's work?

Petra wrote: "Joan wrote: "Well, I’m not sure that this as changed my life, but I might just try reading How Proust Can Change Your Life.


Proust and Joyce have each been called the most influential author of the 20th century because they wrote avant-garde masterpieces - so I think it would be interesting to read Joyce while Roust is fresh in my mind.
I suppose James Joyce’s Ulysses or Finnegans Wake Notebooks - VI.B.10 (Fwnb)1 would be better comparisons but A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is one of my favorite books.

I really like Ulysses. Parts of it are a slog (just like Proust) but, as a whole, it's terrific (just like Proust).
.....I can see the comparison now. LOL!

I've read both (Ulysses and In Search of Lost Time) as a result of being in this goodreads group.

Joan wrote: "Well, I’m not sure that this as changed my life, but I might just try reading How Proust Can Change Your Life.

I’m also going to reread [book:A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man|7..."

You ARE brave!!!!

....about 30 pages left to go and I'll be finished. My Madeleine pan awaits to be used.

Joan wrote: "Mlle de Saint Loup has inspired a game of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon -

"Six degrees of separation" on @Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_deg..."

LOL! This is what I thought of when I read that part. Proust was very ahead of his time. Kevin Bacon's father wasn't even a glint in the grandfather's eye when Proust wrote this section. LOL!