Proust?

[Riddleman]

Hey guys,

so, is there a reason why Marcel Proust isn't on the author list? Is it because he hasn't been dead long enough ;) ?
(poor guy!)

kind regards,

Riddleman

[SaGe]

Are you asking because you just watched Little Miss Sunshine by any chance?

Because I was just wondering that.

[Logos]

He might be added someday but he is low on the list, there doesn't seem to be a lot of public domain English translations of his works available.

[jon1jt]

can anyone offer any insights into his Remembrance of Things Past? i've been wanting to read it for a long time and am just about at that point. thanks

[SaGe]

Lots of description.

Worth the time it takes to read.

[zigzig20s]

u need to find a good translator though. i would read it in french.

[SaGe]

True, there are some bad translations out there, and you definitely don't want to invest so much time in reading it unless it's translated properly.

[Riddleman]

Well, that's part of the reason I'd like a forum on proust: it's more fun to read it when you have people to discuss it with! I read the Recherche, (partly in French, but it's tough going) but I really missed having someone to discuss it with! I must say, it is worth investing in a good translation, I'd really have liked an annotated translation, but I was never able to find one!

[Kurtz]

I just finished reading the new Penguin Classics edition. I went into this volume without any previous experience with Proust and read it in three days. It is a remarkable book, elegantly written, and reads like a 200 page novel. I will surely be reading the entire novel and will stick with the new penguin translation (which is not a single translator. "Swann's Way" was translated by Lydia Davis).

[stlukesguild]

The standard English translation seems to be the revised version originally translated by C. K. Scott Moncrieff. This is the vesrion I have... but have yet to complete. From what I have read I found this translation is quite well-done... deliciously poetic. Ideally, I would like to read this in French (just as the ideal would be to read every classic in the original) but at 4000 pages one would need to be quite fluent in the language.

[Riddleman]

Are you asking because you just watched Little Miss Sunshine by any chance?

Because I was just wondering that.
Nope, but i guess I'll have to go see it now ;)

[Riddleman]

The standard English translation seems to be the revised version originally translated by C. K. Scott Moncrieff. This is the vesrion I have... but have yet to complete. From what I have read I found this translation is quite well-done... deliciously poetic. Ideally, I would like to read this in French (just as the ideal would be to read every classic in the original) but at 4000 pages one would need to be quite fluent in the language.


Actually, if you read them side by side (but you'll probably get some grief from your mates if you try this ;)
the French and the translation it's very doable and it does add to the experience. It actually improved my French immensely (though it doesn't help much in day to day ordering food in a french restaurant-situations)

However, I'd still like an annotated version. If such a thing ever does come out I'll just have to start all over again!

[blp]

True, there are some bad translations out there, and you definitely don't want to invest so much time in reading it unless it's translated properly.

But debates rage about what doing it 'properly' means. The Moncrieff version takes significant liberties, starting with its title, Remembrance of Things Past, updated in more recent translations to the more literal, In Search of Lost Time. Yet it's also been said that in his willingness to alter the sense in certain places, Moncrieff comes closest to an English language parallel for Proust's tone.