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jacquesdevilliers's review
3.0
Few who start Proust’s novel finish, which is probably why few remark on the fact that Proust himself never finished it. After 3000+ pages there is, thankfully, no brutal Kafkaesque plunge into irresolution. But the last three volumes were never published in Proust’s lifetime, and what he left his publishers were drafts polished to varying degrees of completion.
This context felt merely academic while reading the previous, and first posthumous volume, The Prisoner. Unfinished or not, I’d rank it among the finest of Proust’s writing. But The Fugitive is a different deal. It reeks of incompletion, and I can only imagine Proust, that timid perfectionist, aghast at its publication. It's narratively inconsistent. Characters recently dead come back to life, while other characters (like Charlus and Morel) act in ways that suggest that major events between them hadn’t recently occurred. More significant (since narrative events only count for so much in Proust anyway) is a structural unevenness. Despite being the slimmest of the seven volumes, I found The Fugitive to contain some of the most long-winded of sections. A phrase in one place is repeated more or less word for word in another, suggesting that Proust had still to decide where in the final manuscript it should go. Moreover the emotional terrain touched on here isn’t particularly different to what was already covered in The Prisoner - or, for that matter, the protagonist’s love for Gilberte in volume two. What felt fresh and bracing in The Prisoner starts to grate when repeated at length in The Fugitive. There are also some incredibly abrupt segues, most notably when the protagonist takes a much-anticipated, long-delayed trip to Venice, which leaps up at the reader seemingly out of nowhere.
I’m probably expressing more displeasure with The Fugitive than I actually felt while reading it. There are incredible episodes and even more incredible passages. And the ending makes a beautiful return to places and events in Volume One. But this is the first in the Proust series I’d regard as sub-par. Here’s hoping the final volume delivers a more polished conclusion.
This context felt merely academic while reading the previous, and first posthumous volume, The Prisoner. Unfinished or not, I’d rank it among the finest of Proust’s writing. But The Fugitive is a different deal. It reeks of incompletion, and I can only imagine Proust, that timid perfectionist, aghast at its publication. It's narratively inconsistent. Characters recently dead come back to life, while other characters (like Charlus and Morel) act in ways that suggest that major events between them hadn’t recently occurred. More significant (since narrative events only count for so much in Proust anyway) is a structural unevenness. Despite being the slimmest of the seven volumes, I found The Fugitive to contain some of the most long-winded of sections. A phrase in one place is repeated more or less word for word in another, suggesting that Proust had still to decide where in the final manuscript it should go. Moreover the emotional terrain touched on here isn’t particularly different to what was already covered in The Prisoner - or, for that matter, the protagonist’s love for Gilberte in volume two. What felt fresh and bracing in The Prisoner starts to grate when repeated at length in The Fugitive. There are also some incredibly abrupt segues, most notably when the protagonist takes a much-anticipated, long-delayed trip to Venice, which leaps up at the reader seemingly out of nowhere.
I’m probably expressing more displeasure with The Fugitive than I actually felt while reading it. There are incredible episodes and even more incredible passages. And the ending makes a beautiful return to places and events in Volume One. But this is the first in the Proust series I’d regard as sub-par. Here’s hoping the final volume delivers a more polished conclusion.
amaravia's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
nataalia_sanchez's review
challenging
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
mcgreig's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyed this and it contains many pearls of wisdom or beautifully phrased passages, although it never reaches the heights of Swann's Way.
almarviz's review against another edition
3.0
a great book for when you need emotional comfort after a breakup. not a great book if you can’t stand unnecessarily long descriptions (as i do)
blueyorkie's review against another edition
5.0
Here's the pleasure of rediscovering Marcel Proust's particular style, analyzing feelings, rupture, oblivion, and the passage of time.
omnibozo22's review against another edition
3.0
Little shit Marcel drives his girlfriend (he does finally admit to unspecified carnal activities with her) Albertine away with his paranoid distrust of her. On my way to finishing the last volume, which, so far, is mostly about The Great War.