Change of direction and tone

I read the first hundred pages in Mallorca in August 2014 and again set aside until re-visiting the same spot again at the end of October 2014. The fourth volume seems to be the spot where others have stumbled. I found that the answer to this one is to fill a few days with the very best that life has to offer - in my case a full cooked breakfast, beautiful sunshine in the best October temperatures in Mallorca in thirty years, sea swimming every day, good coffee and an afternoon ice=cream, grilled king prawns, simply fried mackerel and an entrecôte to round things off. In this context the extended reading marathons just topped up the feeling of good living that I managed to engender all week.
I have to say that the Charlus and Jupien encounter was a jarring counterpoint to what has gone before - but only insofar as the judgmental solemnising that is set down after the event rings with an out of place hypocrisy. The unwritten Gomorrhe of Albertine’s adventures were all the more enjoyable for Proust’s lightness of touch and certainly, when Charlus rejoined the happy social band and took up the baton of conversation and counterpoint, I was the happiest camper on the sunbed.
I decided that complementary good living is the only way to get through the final two volumes and so will postpone my next adventure in Proust until I can re-assume the posture - February 2015 and looking forward to Tenerife already!

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2 people found this helpful

Fabulous

Flawless performance with particular aptitude shown in creating the different characters’ voices and accents. Hugely entertaining, very impressive.

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Saturation

I love Proust.

Around ten years ago I started reading ”Time" from the beginning, as fervently as I had ever read anything. But I remember that when I reached what really is the fifth volume in Proust after a few months I ran out of steam and never recovered to finish the project.

I started listening to the unabridged audiobook versions last autumn just as fervently for three months. And again I somehow hit the rocks with this volume. Perhaps I was just so saturated with Proust I couldn’t take it any more.

Unsurprisingly surprisingly, this is my least favourite volume so far, yet such a statement should be placed in its proper context, that is, taking into account that Proust even at his "worst" is as good as literature gets. Not that "Sodom and Gomorrah" isn’t psychologically masterful, and not that the language isn’t as beautiful as ever. Not that the themes of homosexuality and being Dreyfusard or anti-Dreyfusard wouldn’t be expertly conducted, both the kind of social taboos to make one lose all standing in society. This all Proust uses to great effect in exploring what I perceive to be at the core of his grand work: identity not as something that is, in the objective sense of the word, but rather as perceived and interpreted. Perceived in the sense that not only are we given an identity in our social sphere, we also assume one for different contexts. Interpreted in the sense that what we take on is a character, a role that abides to certain norms, often unsaid, but which, when broken, become apparent as reasons of disdain.

Yet somehow, despite its wonderful treasures, it just doesn’t connect with me. I think it’s because I was coming from a very intensive Proustian period and it was just too much, especially since ”The Guermantes Way” is, so far, my favourite volume, as perfect as a book can be, and I’m more than willing to return to this when I finally finish the series (at this writing I’m two-thirds through ”The Captive”).

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2 people found this helpful

poor albertine

tell him where to albertine and Don t kiss him out me more time if you ask me.

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