I want to try it. I admit the only reason I want to do it is so I can brag about it.
I want to try it. I admit the only reason I want to do it is so I can brag about it.
I'm working on it right now. Only on volume 1, but I'm trying to read at least 100 pages a day so I have time for some other authors before the end of summer break. Hard to believe that it will still take me all of July to finish! I have the Kilmartin and Moncrieff translation. I'm generally a big fan of literary Modernism, but I must say that so far this is shaping up to be one of the best novels I've ever read. The writing is superb if you're into pensive, poetic, and philosophical prose.
I am half way done with Volume III. Had to read first two volumes twice each as punishment for giving up. Will restart Volume III (The Guermantes Way) one of these days although the reading has become easier at this stage and I have gotten used to his long-winded descriptions and all.
"The farther he goes the more good it does me. I don’t want philosophies, tracts, dogmas, creeds, ways out, truths, answers, nothing from the bargain basement. He is the most courageous, remorseless writer going and the more he grinds my nose in the sh1t the more I am grateful to him..."
-- Harold Pinter on Samuel Beckett
I read it twice (the first time I was a bit too young to understand it) and I loved it!
I'm planning to improve my French, so that I can read it in the original language one day.
I'm not sure if "to brag" is motivation enough to get through this masterpiece.
It's one of my all-time favourites, but I can't deny that some parts are really tough to read (especially when you are a reader who usually prefers a real plot to follow).
i did and loved it
you don't have to read it all at once. i read a number of other books between volumes.
I recommend the modern library 6 volume collection. What makes it so good are the references at the end of each volume and particular the references that cover all the volumes that are in the last book, "time regained". This section lets you look back at all the characters and themes that you have encountered in the book and go directly to the pages where they are referenced. With a story this long, this reference material is essential
I talked to a literature professor who read some of it ....
every night upon retiring. He said he never finished it, bit it cured his insomnia
I have read the first two installments, am about to start the third. Since 2010, I decided to read one installment per year. I travel a lot for work, so big novels are great for long flights!
"J'ai seul la clef de cette parade sauvage."
- Rimbaud
"Il est l'heure de s'enivrer!
Pour n'être pas les esclaves martyrisés du Temps,
enivrez-vous;
enivrez-vous sans cesse!
De vin, de poésie ou de vertu, à votre guise."
- Baudelaire
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