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tlaloq 's review for:
Swann's Way
by Marcel Proust
Well, I will probably be charged with heresy, but Swann's Way did not resonate with me. I think I see what all the fuss is about in terms of rapturous description, but that's about it.
It reminded me of Trollope without the humor, the wit, or the style. Having said that, I read the Proust in translation, so wit and style, and perhaps even gallic humor may have been lost in translation. In a recent reading in translation of Colette'sCheri and The End of Cheri, however, I did perceive humor, wit, and style. So perhaps the Proust was devoid of at least some of it.
Swann put me in mind of Tom Wilcher in Joyce Cary's To Be a Pilgrim with regard to his pursuit of--shall we say--an unsuitable woman for his station in life. But Proust renders the woman in such a way that what agency she has seems a matter of whim. We don't know what she is thinking. In Trollope, we would likely know. With Joyce, the woman in question gets a whole book in Herself Surprised.
I would welcome comments from folks who got more out of the novel than I did.
It reminded me of Trollope without the humor, the wit, or the style. Having said that, I read the Proust in translation, so wit and style, and perhaps even gallic humor may have been lost in translation. In a recent reading in translation of Colette'sCheri and The End of Cheri, however, I did perceive humor, wit, and style. So perhaps the Proust was devoid of at least some of it.
Swann put me in mind of Tom Wilcher in Joyce Cary's To Be a Pilgrim with regard to his pursuit of--shall we say--an unsuitable woman for his station in life. But Proust renders the woman in such a way that what agency she has seems a matter of whim. We don't know what she is thinking. In Trollope, we would likely know. With Joyce, the woman in question gets a whole book in Herself Surprised.
I would welcome comments from folks who got more out of the novel than I did.