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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
Proust ist für mich immer wie Meditation. Jeder Satz steht für sich, hat eine klare Intention, und eine Zartheit inne, die sich nur selten in anderen Büchern finden lässt.
Wer Proust des Plot wegens liest, dürfte enttäuscht sein. Auch muss man ein gewisses Durchhaltevermögen besitzen, das sollte jedoch niemanden am lesen hindern. Der erste Teil der À la recherche du temps perdu, Un amour de Swann ist als Einstieg in das Oeuvre Prousts auf jeden Fall zu empfehlen, zeigt sich doch hier bereits dessen mäandernde Sprache, die einen in den Bann zieht. Auch ist dieser Teil in sich abgeschlossen - so muss man nicht erst einen riesigen Berg an Seiten überwinden um zu einem befriedigendem Schluss zu kommen.
Wer Proust des Plot wegens liest, dürfte enttäuscht sein. Auch muss man ein gewisses Durchhaltevermögen besitzen, das sollte jedoch niemanden am lesen hindern. Der erste Teil der À la recherche du temps perdu, Un amour de Swann ist als Einstieg in das Oeuvre Prousts auf jeden Fall zu empfehlen, zeigt sich doch hier bereits dessen mäandernde Sprache, die einen in den Bann zieht. Auch ist dieser Teil in sich abgeschlossen - so muss man nicht erst einen riesigen Berg an Seiten überwinden um zu einem befriedigendem Schluss zu kommen.
I hated a good portion of this volume but I fell in love towards the end. It was worth it. I even plan to tackle the next volume at some point.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
The first volume of In Search of Lost Time focuses on the memories of the first person protagonist as he recalls incidents and observations of his childhood spent at his grandparent’s house in Combray and the visits of Monsieur Swann, the son of a close friend of the family and a man who frequents the highest echelons of aristocratic circles. A large portion of the story also follows Monsieur Swann following in love with and jealousies over the promiscuous courtesan Odette de Crécy. It ends with the protagonists visit to Paris and own first stirrings of love towards Gilberte Swann, the daughter of Monsieur Swann and Odette.
The book opens with the first person protagonist meditating on the disorienting grogginess and awareness that occurs between sleep and being awake, revisiting in memory the many different rooms he “had slept during my life (7)” as part of the “shifting and confused gust of memory (7).” The book serves as an exploration of the nature of memory and experience. What does it mean to remember? Can we ever remember the past accurately? Is it mere pictures of an event? Or is it our emotional connection to the memory that makes us who we are?
“And so it is with our own past. It is a labour in vain to attempt to recapture it: all the efforts of our intellect must prove futile. The past is hidden somewhere outside the realm, beyond the reach of intellect, in some material object (in the sensation which that material object will give us) of which we have no inkling. And it depends on chance whether or not we come upon this object before we ourselves must die (59-60).”
The book suggests memories are connected to various objects associated with it. Everyday objects can plunge us into the past through the memories associated with them. In the book, there is a scene involving a madeleine cake and tea that his mother provides him. It is not the object itself that is giving him this pleasure, but as he examines it mentally he connects it back to a memory of his aunt Léonie giving him a taste of her madeleine dipped in tea on Sunday morning in Combray. These objects awaken all sorts of happy memories that revitalizes him, even if temporarily buried and forgotten. Indeed as he grandiosely points out “the whole of Combray and its surroundings, taking shape and solidity, sprang into being, town and gardens alike, from my cup of tea (64).”
Time is fluid through our memories, which allows us to revisit the past almost as if it was the present. Our memories are the very thing that connects us to the past.
“But when from a long-distant past nothing subsists, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered, taste and smell alone, more fragile but more en-during, more immaterial, more persistent, more faithful, remain poised a long time, like souls, remembering, waiting, hoping, amid ruins of all the rest; and bear unflinchingly, in the tiny and almost impalpable drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection (63-64).”
The objects themselves break, people die, but our memories of them and associated with them persist. At the same time, as the protagonist views the same places of his youth like the Bois from the perspective of someone older he recognizes the limitations of memories. He comes to understand:
“how paradoxical it is to seek in reality for the pictures that are stored in one's memory, which must inevitably lose the charm that comes to them from memory itself and from their not being apprehended by the senses. The reality that I had known no longer existed. It sufficed that Mme Swann did not appear, in the same attire and at the same moment, for the whole avenue to be altered. The places we have known do not belong only to the world of space on which we map them for our own convenience. They were only a thin slice, held between the contiguous impressions that composed our life at that time; the memory of a particular image is but regret for a particular moment; and houses, roads, avenues are as fugitive, alas, as the years (606).”
Another major theme of the book is French ideas of social class and bourgeoisie norms. The book views class hierarchy from the perspective of the Middle class.
“[M]iddle-class people in those days took what was almost a Hindu view of society, which they held to consist of sharply defined castes, so that everyone at his birth found himself called to that station in life which his parents already occupied, and from which nothing, save the accident of an exceptional career or of a “good” marriage, could extract you and translate you to a superior caste (19).”
Most surprisingly is not the rejection of acting below your class, but the middle-class skepticism of hobnobbing with the upper classes. The protagonist’s great aunt is critical of Swann for not staying in his social class. This is a particularly striking take on the rigidity of social hierarchy because Swann is socializing with aristocrats higher in the social hierarchy rather than those lower. The aunt believes everyone should socialize with those in their own place and it is a degrading action to be a social climber. However, this reflects the psychological character of the great aunt who hates views differing from her own. She is the sort of person that tries to diminish the accomplishments of others as a psychological protection of her own shortcomings, exemplifying the moral of Aesop’s fable “the fox and the grapes.”
“Whenever she saw in others an advantage, however trivial, which she herself lacked, she would persuade herself that it was no advantage at all, but a drawback, and would pity so as not to have to envy them (28).”
A similar experience occurs during the social gatherings with the Verdurins. Mdm Verdurin expresses similar behaviors to the great aunt, wanting to diminish the accomplishments and social connections of others as a way of propping up her own chosen social circle and self-identity. Mdm Verdurin criticizes many people of Swann’s acquaintances in the political upper class, accusing them of being bores, and demands Swann criticize them, which leads to a falling out when he refuses to do so. The book also explores middle-class attitudes towards Jews. The protagonist’s childhood friend Bloch stops being invited to the house because of the grandfather’s anti-Semitic attitudes. Likewise, during an upper-class gathering someone insults Swann, referring to his “Jewish” characteristics.
The book also explores the multi-faceted nature of identity. The protagonist observes that his family has one version of Swann they know that is likely different from the fashionable Swann that is invited to all the upper-class social circles. The protagonist remarks in a later paragraph that the Swann he comes to know later was so different from the Swann who spent so much time with his family during his youth, even though technically they are the same person. We often only see a portion of everything that makes up an individual, with many aspects of who they are being completely invisible to us.
The book offers commentary on the nature of art and literature littered with references to both real writers and artists alongside fictional writers, artistic, and musicians. During one of his visits M Swann criticizes contemporary journalism with its focus on everyday trivial events and concerns and declares that only a handful of books have real importance. Then ironically mentions a memoir from Saint-Simon in which the writer recalls being offended at the impropriety that a nobleman of a lower status wanted to shake hands with his sons ironically showing Swann engaging in the same trivial gossip he just criticized. The protagonist reflects that his grandmother believes books and art should provide “intellectual profit” that teaches “to seek our pleasure elsewhere than in the barren satisfaction of worldly wealth (53).” She is suspicious of things that are useful rather than intellectual, questioning even photographic reproductions of art and direct photographs of the objects themselves, which reduces art to mere vulgar commercialism. She prefers to give photographs of artistic reproductions of famous places rather than actual photographs of the places. At the same time, the protagonist acknowledges that art can distort reality, noting that Titian’s drawing of Venice furnished him with misconceptions of the place more than if he had gotten a real photograph. The protagonist remarks on the emotional way his mother reads, representing the way a reader connects emotionally with a text. While reflecting on his own reading, the protagonist argues books allow his inner self to connect with a new external world in which he can discover some deeper truth, and as a defense of the novel points out more actions occur in a single book than one can experience in a lifetime.
The narrative is character-driven as Marcel remembers a particular person such as a family member, household staff, or friend of the family, alongside places in town, and various memorable experiences. The first person protagonist is said to have fragile health and be a momma’s boy with an abiding interest in art and literature who dreams of being a preeminent writer one day. Our protagonist obsessive love of his mother is an important aspect of the first part. He is often banished upstairs when guests come to visit and doesn’t believe their frequent guest Swann can relate to his situation, but acknowledges that he is mistaken.
“On the contrary, as I was to learn in due course, a similar anguish had been the bane of his life for many years, and no one perhaps could have understood my feelings at that moment so well as he; to him, the anguish that comes from knowing that the creature one adores is in some place of enjoyment where oneself is not and cannot follow—to him that anguish came through love, to which it is in a sense predestined, by which it will be seized upon and exploited; but when, as had befallen me, it possesses one's soul before love has yet entered into one's life, then it must drift, awaiting love's coming, vague and free, without precise attachment, at the disposal of one sentiment today, of another tomorrow, of filial piety or affection for a friend (40).”
The book compares how the obsessive childish love of the protagonist for his mother is similar to Swann’s obsessive and anxious love for Odette.
A major episode of the novel is the frustrating relationship he has with Odette and what it has to say about the irrational nature of love and passion. Swann’s passion for Odette completely changes him. He goes from a habitual flirt and lady’s man to completely devoted to her and could care less about other women. Proust describes the connection between Swann’s obsessive love for Odette with his growing jealousy and suspicion of her as a shadow. He grows so suspicious one night when Odette dismisses him on the grounds that she is feeling unwell only to return to the window an hour and a half later thinking he caught Odette with another man when in reality Swann is at the wrong window of two men from the apartment next door in comical scene about the ridiculous antics of love. Swann tries to justify his jealousy as some deep intellectual endeavor of discovering the truth, showing once again how love and jealousy often leads to delusion about our own behaviors, trying to convince himself that his ignoble actions are noble. At the same time, this opens his eyes about their relationship. He realizes he barely knows Odette and this revelation awakens a passion for investigating Odette’s life with more vigor and less self-deception.
In Swann’s relationship with Odette, Proust captures the cycle of feelings relationships often bring: indifference, intense feelings, jealousy, followed by indifference again. It is always strange to consider how we can feel so intensely for someone and then become indifferent to them in time. This relationship is paralleled by the protagonist falling for Swann’sand Odette’s daughter, Gilberte, capturing similar dynamics.
The book is a triumph of characterization and impressionistic writing even if there is no real plot or forward narrative drive, which makes it difficult to read and slow at times since the book isn’t really going anywhere. It presents life as a series of treasured memories and a sensual aesthetic experience. However, this sometimes leads to a slow and boring narrative more interested in the subtle details and luxuriating in its observations about people, life, and places. It is a deep book, but sometimes it is a little boring. The episode of Swann meeting and subsequent relationship with Odette is the most interesting part.
The book opens with the first person protagonist meditating on the disorienting grogginess and awareness that occurs between sleep and being awake, revisiting in memory the many different rooms he “had slept during my life (7)” as part of the “shifting and confused gust of memory (7).” The book serves as an exploration of the nature of memory and experience. What does it mean to remember? Can we ever remember the past accurately? Is it mere pictures of an event? Or is it our emotional connection to the memory that makes us who we are?
“And so it is with our own past. It is a labour in vain to attempt to recapture it: all the efforts of our intellect must prove futile. The past is hidden somewhere outside the realm, beyond the reach of intellect, in some material object (in the sensation which that material object will give us) of which we have no inkling. And it depends on chance whether or not we come upon this object before we ourselves must die (59-60).”
The book suggests memories are connected to various objects associated with it. Everyday objects can plunge us into the past through the memories associated with them. In the book, there is a scene involving a madeleine cake and tea that his mother provides him. It is not the object itself that is giving him this pleasure, but as he examines it mentally he connects it back to a memory of his aunt Léonie giving him a taste of her madeleine dipped in tea on Sunday morning in Combray. These objects awaken all sorts of happy memories that revitalizes him, even if temporarily buried and forgotten. Indeed as he grandiosely points out “the whole of Combray and its surroundings, taking shape and solidity, sprang into being, town and gardens alike, from my cup of tea (64).”
Time is fluid through our memories, which allows us to revisit the past almost as if it was the present. Our memories are the very thing that connects us to the past.
“But when from a long-distant past nothing subsists, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered, taste and smell alone, more fragile but more en-during, more immaterial, more persistent, more faithful, remain poised a long time, like souls, remembering, waiting, hoping, amid ruins of all the rest; and bear unflinchingly, in the tiny and almost impalpable drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection (63-64).”
The objects themselves break, people die, but our memories of them and associated with them persist. At the same time, as the protagonist views the same places of his youth like the Bois from the perspective of someone older he recognizes the limitations of memories. He comes to understand:
“how paradoxical it is to seek in reality for the pictures that are stored in one's memory, which must inevitably lose the charm that comes to them from memory itself and from their not being apprehended by the senses. The reality that I had known no longer existed. It sufficed that Mme Swann did not appear, in the same attire and at the same moment, for the whole avenue to be altered. The places we have known do not belong only to the world of space on which we map them for our own convenience. They were only a thin slice, held between the contiguous impressions that composed our life at that time; the memory of a particular image is but regret for a particular moment; and houses, roads, avenues are as fugitive, alas, as the years (606).”
Another major theme of the book is French ideas of social class and bourgeoisie norms. The book views class hierarchy from the perspective of the Middle class.
“[M]iddle-class people in those days took what was almost a Hindu view of society, which they held to consist of sharply defined castes, so that everyone at his birth found himself called to that station in life which his parents already occupied, and from which nothing, save the accident of an exceptional career or of a “good” marriage, could extract you and translate you to a superior caste (19).”
Most surprisingly is not the rejection of acting below your class, but the middle-class skepticism of hobnobbing with the upper classes. The protagonist’s great aunt is critical of Swann for not staying in his social class. This is a particularly striking take on the rigidity of social hierarchy because Swann is socializing with aristocrats higher in the social hierarchy rather than those lower. The aunt believes everyone should socialize with those in their own place and it is a degrading action to be a social climber. However, this reflects the psychological character of the great aunt who hates views differing from her own. She is the sort of person that tries to diminish the accomplishments of others as a psychological protection of her own shortcomings, exemplifying the moral of Aesop’s fable “the fox and the grapes.”
“Whenever she saw in others an advantage, however trivial, which she herself lacked, she would persuade herself that it was no advantage at all, but a drawback, and would pity so as not to have to envy them (28).”
A similar experience occurs during the social gatherings with the Verdurins. Mdm Verdurin expresses similar behaviors to the great aunt, wanting to diminish the accomplishments and social connections of others as a way of propping up her own chosen social circle and self-identity. Mdm Verdurin criticizes many people of Swann’s acquaintances in the political upper class, accusing them of being bores, and demands Swann criticize them, which leads to a falling out when he refuses to do so. The book also explores middle-class attitudes towards Jews. The protagonist’s childhood friend Bloch stops being invited to the house because of the grandfather’s anti-Semitic attitudes. Likewise, during an upper-class gathering someone insults Swann, referring to his “Jewish” characteristics.
The book also explores the multi-faceted nature of identity. The protagonist observes that his family has one version of Swann they know that is likely different from the fashionable Swann that is invited to all the upper-class social circles. The protagonist remarks in a later paragraph that the Swann he comes to know later was so different from the Swann who spent so much time with his family during his youth, even though technically they are the same person. We often only see a portion of everything that makes up an individual, with many aspects of who they are being completely invisible to us.
The book offers commentary on the nature of art and literature littered with references to both real writers and artists alongside fictional writers, artistic, and musicians. During one of his visits M Swann criticizes contemporary journalism with its focus on everyday trivial events and concerns and declares that only a handful of books have real importance. Then ironically mentions a memoir from Saint-Simon in which the writer recalls being offended at the impropriety that a nobleman of a lower status wanted to shake hands with his sons ironically showing Swann engaging in the same trivial gossip he just criticized. The protagonist reflects that his grandmother believes books and art should provide “intellectual profit” that teaches “to seek our pleasure elsewhere than in the barren satisfaction of worldly wealth (53).” She is suspicious of things that are useful rather than intellectual, questioning even photographic reproductions of art and direct photographs of the objects themselves, which reduces art to mere vulgar commercialism. She prefers to give photographs of artistic reproductions of famous places rather than actual photographs of the places. At the same time, the protagonist acknowledges that art can distort reality, noting that Titian’s drawing of Venice furnished him with misconceptions of the place more than if he had gotten a real photograph. The protagonist remarks on the emotional way his mother reads, representing the way a reader connects emotionally with a text. While reflecting on his own reading, the protagonist argues books allow his inner self to connect with a new external world in which he can discover some deeper truth, and as a defense of the novel points out more actions occur in a single book than one can experience in a lifetime.
The narrative is character-driven as Marcel remembers a particular person such as a family member, household staff, or friend of the family, alongside places in town, and various memorable experiences. The first person protagonist is said to have fragile health and be a momma’s boy with an abiding interest in art and literature who dreams of being a preeminent writer one day. Our protagonist obsessive love of his mother is an important aspect of the first part. He is often banished upstairs when guests come to visit and doesn’t believe their frequent guest Swann can relate to his situation, but acknowledges that he is mistaken.
“On the contrary, as I was to learn in due course, a similar anguish had been the bane of his life for many years, and no one perhaps could have understood my feelings at that moment so well as he; to him, the anguish that comes from knowing that the creature one adores is in some place of enjoyment where oneself is not and cannot follow—to him that anguish came through love, to which it is in a sense predestined, by which it will be seized upon and exploited; but when, as had befallen me, it possesses one's soul before love has yet entered into one's life, then it must drift, awaiting love's coming, vague and free, without precise attachment, at the disposal of one sentiment today, of another tomorrow, of filial piety or affection for a friend (40).”
The book compares how the obsessive childish love of the protagonist for his mother is similar to Swann’s obsessive and anxious love for Odette.
A major episode of the novel is the frustrating relationship he has with Odette and what it has to say about the irrational nature of love and passion. Swann’s passion for Odette completely changes him. He goes from a habitual flirt and lady’s man to completely devoted to her and could care less about other women. Proust describes the connection between Swann’s obsessive love for Odette with his growing jealousy and suspicion of her as a shadow. He grows so suspicious one night when Odette dismisses him on the grounds that she is feeling unwell only to return to the window an hour and a half later thinking he caught Odette with another man when in reality Swann is at the wrong window of two men from the apartment next door in comical scene about the ridiculous antics of love. Swann tries to justify his jealousy as some deep intellectual endeavor of discovering the truth, showing once again how love and jealousy often leads to delusion about our own behaviors, trying to convince himself that his ignoble actions are noble. At the same time, this opens his eyes about their relationship. He realizes he barely knows Odette and this revelation awakens a passion for investigating Odette’s life with more vigor and less self-deception.
In Swann’s relationship with Odette, Proust captures the cycle of feelings relationships often bring: indifference, intense feelings, jealousy, followed by indifference again. It is always strange to consider how we can feel so intensely for someone and then become indifferent to them in time. This relationship is paralleled by the protagonist falling for Swann’sand Odette’s daughter, Gilberte, capturing similar dynamics.
The book is a triumph of characterization and impressionistic writing even if there is no real plot or forward narrative drive, which makes it difficult to read and slow at times since the book isn’t really going anywhere. It presents life as a series of treasured memories and a sensual aesthetic experience. However, this sometimes leads to a slow and boring narrative more interested in the subtle details and luxuriating in its observations about people, life, and places. It is a deep book, but sometimes it is a little boring. The episode of Swann meeting and subsequent relationship with Odette is the most interesting part.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Novel about a man who falls in love with a woman because she looks like Giotto painting, among other things.
It seems, according to both the Yale Modernism Lan and other sources, that Swann is based on a couple people. One of whom is Charles Haas and the other Charles Ephrussi. Charles Ephrussi seems to have supported Proust. Part of me seems to feel this is a subtle attempt at revenge or snarkiness.
Why Giotto? Swann does like the Italians and the Renaissance. The saints and the virgins and the biblical wives. Odette isn’t one of them at all, though Swann thinks she looks like them. Perhaps because why I know the artwork to which he is referring to, but I haven’t seen it in person. I get that. I firmly believe that Kathleen Newton steps down from October dances around the room every night in the Musee des Beaux Arts in Montreal. I get it. But it seems that Odette is the whore in the body of the virgin.
She was a courtesan, basically still is. And a slightly lower case one that the ones that the Narrator’s uncle hangs with. Is her dressmaker really her dressmaker or something else. But I can see why Swann loves Odette, or at the very least is entranced by her. Though by the end of the book he loves her far less than he hates her. Yet, that is not the end of their love affair. Odette might represent the new class, the changing of the ways, and the twilight, or the seemingly twilight of the higher classes.
The narrator is strange because there is a certain snobbery about him, but it is a class snobbery and we can see Swann repeating to a degree with him. The narrator doesn’t seem to love Gilberte as much as the idea of Giberte or to be more exact the idea of the writers she gets to hang out because of Swann.
Of course, Odette doesn’t like Holland. I think she would like it now, but would Holland like Odette?
I wish I had enough money to rent the Bavarian’s king’s castle like Swann can. What is it about men and building or renting castles for women? Swann and Aiden Brody.
Citations from:
Proust, Marcel. Swann’s Way. Trans. Lydia Davis. Penguin, 2002.
It seems, according to both the Yale Modernism Lan and other sources, that Swann is based on a couple people. One of whom is Charles Haas and the other Charles Ephrussi. Charles Ephrussi seems to have supported Proust. Part of me seems to feel this is a subtle attempt at revenge or snarkiness.
Why Giotto? Swann does like the Italians and the Renaissance. The saints and the virgins and the biblical wives. Odette isn’t one of them at all, though Swann thinks she looks like them. Perhaps because why I know the artwork to which he is referring to, but I haven’t seen it in person. I get that. I firmly believe that Kathleen Newton steps down from October dances around the room every night in the Musee des Beaux Arts in Montreal. I get it. But it seems that Odette is the whore in the body of the virgin.
She was a courtesan, basically still is. And a slightly lower case one that the ones that the Narrator’s uncle hangs with. Is her dressmaker really her dressmaker or something else. But I can see why Swann loves Odette, or at the very least is entranced by her. Though by the end of the book he loves her far less than he hates her. Yet, that is not the end of their love affair. Odette might represent the new class, the changing of the ways, and the twilight, or the seemingly twilight of the higher classes.
The narrator is strange because there is a certain snobbery about him, but it is a class snobbery and we can see Swann repeating to a degree with him. The narrator doesn’t seem to love Gilberte as much as the idea of Giberte or to be more exact the idea of the writers she gets to hang out because of Swann.
Of course, Odette doesn’t like Holland. I think she would like it now, but would Holland like Odette?
I wish I had enough money to rent the Bavarian’s king’s castle like Swann can. What is it about men and building or renting castles for women? Swann and Aiden Brody.
Citations from:
Proust, Marcel. Swann’s Way. Trans. Lydia Davis. Penguin, 2002.
I must say I got quite a lot more out of this on the second reading. I was more able to appreciate Proust's style this time around; his absurdly long sentences, and his long musings on the nature of memory and recollection. It's not really the story that is remarkable in Swann's Way, it's the way the story is told.
This annotated edition by carter is i think the best way to read this masterpiece, not the least for its corrections to scotts exceptional translation, but also for its highly helpful notes taken from french editions of past decades that only this edition comprises.
And oh, i could highly relate to the narrator's diagnosis of his oedipal moments in Combray, which greatly added to my attachment to the text. When the narrator's mother reads to him books and one of which is described as(according to the notes) "François le Champi (1848) has strong Proustian resonances. In the Berry dialect, champi means an infant abandoned in the fields. François falls in love with and later marries his adoptive mother, whose name is Madeleine." that was a moment fr fr, or Swanns madness, onto which proust ends up describing extremely well; manic episodes and the sudden onset of incurable changes in mood, flowered by curiosity which leads swann to ridiculous actions.
And oh, i could highly relate to the narrator's diagnosis of his oedipal moments in Combray, which greatly added to my attachment to the text. When the narrator's mother reads to him books and one of which is described as(according to the notes) "François le Champi (1848) has strong Proustian resonances. In the Berry dialect, champi means an infant abandoned in the fields. François falls in love with and later marries his adoptive mother, whose name is Madeleine." that was a moment fr fr, or Swanns madness, onto which proust ends up describing extremely well; manic episodes and the sudden onset of incurable changes in mood, flowered by curiosity which leads swann to ridiculous actions.
I went into this book expecting to love it. Philosophical musings on the inner workings of human memory—that's right up my street. I will say I set my expectations a little too high. While the aforementioned musings were fascinating to read, this book was also heavy on descriptions of nature, people's clothing, and their houses, which made it a little boring at times.
That being said, this might be the first classic I've read in which I could actually relate to the characters. Characters in older books are already unrelatable on a surface level due to them existing in a vastly different time period and having completely different mannerisms, rules and customs. It doesn't help if their thoughts and emotions are also written unrealistically. I found the characters in this book to be very realistic—likely because "In Search of Lost Time" is basically a memoir. The author portrayed experiences that still happen today, like the disorienting feeling of waking up at night, someone making up excuses to see the person they like, being reminded of a person you were once close to by a piece of music. As a result of this relatability, I was extremely invested in Swann's love story. As for the parts about the author's childhood, they were interesting at first, but quickly became repetitive.
Even though I'm not rating this book above four stars, I am open to reading other parts of "In Search of Lost Time" in the future, as well as re-reading this one.
That being said, this might be the first classic I've read in which I could actually relate to the characters. Characters in older books are already unrelatable on a surface level due to them existing in a vastly different time period and having completely different mannerisms, rules and customs. It doesn't help if their thoughts and emotions are also written unrealistically. I found the characters in this book to be very realistic—likely because "In Search of Lost Time" is basically a memoir. The author portrayed experiences that still happen today, like the disorienting feeling of waking up at night, someone making up excuses to see the person they like, being reminded of a person you were once close to by a piece of music. As a result of this relatability, I was extremely invested in Swann's love story. As for the parts about the author's childhood, they were interesting at first, but quickly became repetitive.
Even though I'm not rating this book above four stars, I am open to reading other parts of "In Search of Lost Time" in the future, as well as re-reading this one.