Proust and past lives

[WICKES]

I have never read a word of Proust I am ashamed to say, but I was listening to a couple of academics discussing him on the radio today and one of them said something like "memory for Proust is not restricted to the past of an individual or even to the past of humanity- in Proust there is the possibility of tapping into the memory of lives lived on other planets"

Did I mis-hear all this?

[country doctor]

i don't know. but i know that proust is all about 'involuntary memory'. smell fresh cut grass and you automatically are taken back to a different time and place in your life. i'm on the second volume right now and i'll try to work my way through everything, since he was so gracious to put it out there.
my recommendation is to read a bio on proust and then start on his work. it's well worth it. i've just been introduced to baron de charlus, and proust does a wonderful job of bringing him into the story.

http://darkorpheus.blogspot.com/2006/09/proust-baron-de-charlus.html

[Jeremiah Jazzz]

I'm with country doctor. I'm on the second volume of In Search Of Lost Time as well, just the Modern Library translation titled, Within a Budding Grove. Proust's observations transcend one's life, so what you said is not in the least surprising. It's always great to have some Proust talk!

[LitNetIsGreat]

I’ve read the first book but I’ve had to put off the rest due to time, ironically, I might make it my summer reading, I’ll see how I feel nearer the time.

Incidentally for anyone new to Proust I would recommend Alain de Botton’s book How Proust Can Change Your Life, actually I would recommend anything by him, he's great for introductionary material, his philosophy stuff is good too, here's a link to his website:
http://www.alaindebotton.com/index.asp

(:thumbs_upHe’s also a very nice man, he once sent me a very complementary email.)

[Emil Miller]

I have never read a word of Proust I am ashamed to say, but I was listening to a couple of academics discussing him on the radio today and one of them said something like "memory for Proust is not restricted to the past of an individual or even to the past of humanity- in Proust there is the possibility of tapping into the memory of lives lived on other planets"

Did I mis-hear all this?

Probably not, there is a lot of nonsense talked about Proust, along with Joyce, Beckett and all such, Oh! so "intellectual" writers. I gave up on Proust after reading the first chapter of Swann's Way in French. I admit the storyline seemed to have potential but it was like wading through mud to get there.

[Jeremiah Jazzz]

I’ve read the first book but I’ve had to put off the rest due to time, ironically, I might make it my summer reading, I’ll see how I feel nearer the time.

Incidentally for anyone new to Proust I would recommend Alain de Botton’s book How Proust Can Change Your Life, actually I would recommend anything by him, he's great for introductionary material, his philosophy stuff is good too, here's a link to his website:
http://www.alaindebotton.com/index.asp

(:thumbs_upHe’s also a very nice man, he once sent me a very complementary email.)

I just finished this, maybe a day or two ago. Great read, it went by quick which is very 'unproust', but like you said, gives you a great overview of the man behind the work.

[promtbr]

Its good to see someone else actually reading The Search...according to a lot I have heard, one of the most discussed yet least read major modern novelists....

I am currently a pilgrim making my way through the Modern Library Six volume edition. I have just finished Within A Budding Grove.

If you are the type of person, or a point in your life that you need constant stimulation or entertainment in order not to be bored, or are not the contemplative type, please back away from the The Search now!

IMHO, read a good Biography, Put away all the lit crit and analysis with the exception of Samuel Beckett’s little book, Proust also, an informative overview book, is Proust’s Way by Roger Shattuck.

Are the sentences long and on average have about six subordinate clauses each? Yep.

Are there paragraphs lasting 2 pages? Yep.

Is it tedious and hard to read? Absolutley not, IF you approach it as the unique work of literatary art that it is!

I find that it is NOT a difficult read at all, not compared to the stream of consciousness novels by Woolf, Faulkner, or Joyce.Once you take a deep breath, slow down, and get accustom to the the narrative pace, it goes smoothly. Better yet, the narrator makes very clear the themes explored in the work, its part of the “plot” of The Search. There are no obscure allusions, that one has to “dig into” to try and decipher. The the images in The Search stand for themselves, they are not symbols meaning something else. It it not like a literary puzzle.

The tension, the interest for me, is not in dramatic tension of what happens to which character, it is that the reader participates along with Marcel, the narrator, in the unfolding, discovery, of a way of being, of looking at things, a type of consciousness really. By turns hilariously ironic and at times poignant, not always reliable, but most of the time, there is a sentence every third page that will floor you with its wisdom. It’s the closest thing I have come to experiencing the depth of wisdom, the putting into words human truths, or call it what you like, outside of Shakespeare.

Jonathan Safran Foer said in a preface: Good writers are pleasing, very good writers make you feel and think, great writers make you change. Proust is in that last category.

[LitNetIsGreat]

I find that it is NOT a difficult read at all, not compared to the stream of consciousness novels by Woolf, Faulkner, or Joyce.Once you take a deep breath, slow down, and get accustom to the the narrative pace, it goes smoothly.

Yes, I think reading this is all about slowing down and taking the time to appreciate life anyway. This is one of the reasons that I want to leave this for the summer holidays, then I am guaranteed six weeks without work in which to do little but read and occasionally go walking. I do not want to read such a work in between a smash and grab lifestyle, it deserves better I think. Incidentally, mentioning Woolf, when she read it she couldn't write for years, it almost ruined her as an author as everything she did drifted into insignificance - such was the regard she held for Proust.

[playeru]

I read only the first volume of the The Search... , I loved it, but it was a slow read. I'm taking my time on getting to the other volumes. It's kind of nice to keep unread a masterpiece for a special time.

[country doctor]

The tension, the interest for me, is not in dramatic tension of what happens to which character, it is that the reader participates along with Marcel, the narrator, in the unfolding, discovery, of a way of being, of looking at things, a type of consciousness really. By turns hilariously ironic and at times poignant, not always reliable, but most of the time, there is a sentence every third page that will floor you with its wisdom. It’s the closest thing I have come to experiencing the depth of wisdom, the putting into words human truths, or call it what you like, outside of Shakespeare.

Jonathan Safran Foer said in a preface: Good writers are pleasing, very good writers make you feel and think, great writers make you change. Proust is in that last category.

that first paragraph pretty much sums it up. there is alot of wisdom and 'truisms' from proust. he was very insightful about others and very truthful about himself. very subtle. i'm sure that his friends had no idea that he was picking up everything around him as a vacuum.
you work your way through proust and when you get to the end of the volume he leaves you with the feeling of wanting to pick up the next volume when you might have been thinking about putting him on the side for awhile. in the end, he just finishes in a way that you want to read more.
i'm very interested in involuntary memory. i feel that i 'suffer' from this as i am always having my thoughts return to my past 'involuntarily'. i say suffer, because lots of times these memories aren't pleasant. but it seems that it is all involuntary.

as to that last paragraph, i don't know if i'm in that age of changing, but i will say that there is lots in proust that you will ponder. again, i feel that the proper word is 'truisms' taken from a very sensitive individual.

[country doctor]

more thoughts on proust as i get close to wrapping up volume two...what a soft life this boy had. not that there is anything wrong with it, but it is the life that most people can only dream about. he makes no apologies for it, and he definitely puts everyone he meets in a class.
also, what a 'clever' boy he was. very much a schemer. again, he makes no apologies for it, honest about his motives.

as far as involuntary memory...i can't help but get pulled into my own youth when i read about how he manuevers to get introduced to albertine. he's so in touch with what a young man feels when he 'thinks' he's in love that it brings me back to those awkward years. as i typed earlier, some of these memories aren't exactly what one wants to be brought back to, but they are involuntary.

[Etienne]

Probably not, there is a lot of nonsense talked about Proust, along with Joyce, Beckett and all such, Oh! so "intellectual" writers. I gave up on Proust after reading the first chapter of Swann's Way in French. I admit the storyline seemed to have potential but it was like wading through mud to get there.

But In Search of Lost Time isn't so much about the storyline. If you want "stories" you shouldn't look there. Proust's worth is probably what you call the "mud"... some people like I swim very much to our ease in there, and more, we very much enjoy these mudbaths. I find IN Search of Lost Time to be something like the summit of 19th century English literature but approached in a modernist fashion, by a French, and with a fabulous, fabulous writing.

[curlyqlink]

I was listening to a couple of academics discussing him on the radio today and one of them said something like "memory for Proust is not restricted to the past of an individual or even to the past of humanity- in Proust there is the possibility of tapping into the memory of lives lived on other planets"

There has been interest in Proust recently from the perspective of neuroscientists-- see the recent book, Proust and the Squid. That's probably what this seemingly nonsensical quote referenced.

Apparently Proust's beautiful and infinitely nuanced speculations on the nature of memory can be linked to neurology and evolutionary biology. How tenuous a link this is I cannot say, as I have not read Proust and the Squid.

[Emil Miller]

But In Search of Lost Time isn't so much about the storyline. If you want "stories" you shouldn't look there. Proust's worth is probably what you call the "mud"... some people like I swim very much to our ease in there, and more, we very much enjoy these mudbaths. I find IN Search of Lost Time to be something like the summit of 19th century English literature but approached in a modernist fashion, by a French, and with a fabulous, fabulous writing.

Surely it isn't possible for a French novelist, no matter how great the translation, to be the summit of 19th century English literature. However, if you enjoy the 'mudbath' of Proust's prolix style of writing, I hope you have many happy hours wading through it.

[Etienne]

French being my native language, I did read it in the original. Proust reminds me much more of the English novel than the French novel, thus my comment. And sure, every hours spent with Proust is filled with happiness on my part.

Good luck with your "stories".

[country doctor]

the man was a sponge. he absorbed everything. finished volume two and volume three just arrived today from the library. something intangibly delectable about his way with words and his little world.