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Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust


Skírnir

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...or, as it was translated later on, "In Search of Lost Time".

 

I'm not 100% sure if this belongs here or not but I think it could be considered a classic anyway. :irked:

 

What I'm talking about is a 7 volume series written by the Frenchman Marcel Proust (1871 - 1922). A semi-autobiographical novel where the narrator reflects on memories from the past.

 

Has anyone ever read it? If so, how did you like it? Is it worth getting into?

I probably would have gotten myself a copy to try it out myself by now my country is really no market for books in English (and I'd prefer the English translation to the Icelandic one, if there even is one). I guess I have to try the library when I find the time but please, do tell your opinion on the novel! ;)

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I've read Combray in school, and I think you just need to be in the mood for it in order to like it. But hey, it's like that with all books. And music, and movies, and work and many many other things too.

 

There really is a lot of description, well, it only consists of description lol, but has interesting views on life and relationships, and human behaviour and whatnot, and if you don't only focus on the text, but look at the big picture (the big picture being lets say, your thoughts on the book as a whole, after finishing it) it's really interesting :irked:

 

Yes, it can be tiring at times, but as I've said, in the right mood, it can be fantastic. It's very picturesque, which I liked.

 

Also, another book might get you in the mood for Proust after reading it, and that book is Alain de Botton's ''How Proust can change your life''. Nice book, too :D

 

Anyway, hope this helps. I haven't read anything else by him I'm affraid.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's one of my favorite pieces of literature ever. I've read it partly in Dutch translation and the rest in English. Some time ago I discovered one of the books in a jumble shop, it was from 1919 if I remember well and in the original language. It made my day. :)

 

Anyway, it's difficult to say what exactly is the work of Proust. There is something of everything in it. Lovely descriptions (and I don't always like descriptions, quite often I don't read them, but Proust is wonderful), there is something religious in it, some philosophy, many interesting thoughts about life and people, why people behave the way they do, theories about the passing of time, various forms of art (painting, architecture, statues, etc.) the world viewed in ways you never thought possible. Some parts are almost like poetry.

 

It does lack speed and there isn't too much of a plot, but in this case, it doesn't even matter. The thoughts, the theories, the observations are too interesting to even think much about a plot.

 

Here are a few parts from the book:

 

It is our noticing them taht puts things in a room, our growing used to them that takes them away again and clears a space for us. Space there was none for me in my bedroom (mine in name only) at Balbec; (a hotel at the beach) it was full of things which did not know me, which flung back at me the distrustful look that I had cast at them, and, without taking any heed of my excistence, shewed that I was interrupting the course of theirs.

 

The main character tries to write, but it just doesn't work so he's disappointed and bored and thinks:

Perhaps some of the greatest masterpieces were written yawning.

 

While listening to a concert:

And, just as certain creatures are the last surviving testimony to a form of life which nature had discardd, I asked myself if music were not the unique example of what might have been - if there had not come the invention of language, the formation of words, the analysis of ideas - the means of communication between one spirit and another.

 

You probably noticed the very long sentenses as well. :blush: If I remember well, Proust has written the longest sentense ever in literary history.

 

If you like action, fast reads, only entertainment, then this isn't your type of book. Otherwise, it's amazing and any words fail to describe accurately the experience of reading the work of Proust.

Edited by sadya
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You can like action and entertainment and still enjoy Proust, but if it's only solely action and entertainment, only the fast reads, then Proust would be too much because for long intervals nothing happens at all, then it's only theories, thoughts, descriptions, etc.

 

I hope that if you do give it a try, you'll enjoy it. :blush: Whatever you decide, whatever book you take, have a great read. :)

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  • 2 years later...

Reading Proust is completely worth the effort. I read the first two volumes (hope to read the last 4 at some point). While they do take a lot of time and effort to read, your life will be changed. Proust verbalizes things that you thought or knew about your own life but never recognized because you could not put them into words yourself. It is a novel about life, art, and the evolution of time. If you have ever felt saddened by the passing of time, you will enjoy Proust.

 

Additionally, if you enjoy music, it will please you to discover that Proust writes a lot about music. One of the major themes of the first volume is a piano sonata that comes to mean various things to the characters as they progress through time.

 

The other thing Proust is really famous for is his metaphors. Nowhere else will you find such extended, unexpected, and surprising metaphors, generated from nearly all topics of the text.

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