Proust - Just finished Vol1, what hard work!
Discussion
Only another 6 to go...!
But tbh, it's unlikely I'll be committing to those in the near future.
Anyone else had a go? I found it bloody hard work.
Vol 1 is split into 3 parts:
Part 1 - Combray: the narrator's description of his childhood
Part 2 - Swann in Love: narrator describes Swann falling for Odette
Part 3 - Names of Places (or something like that): the narrator explores his early crush on Swann's daughter
Proust as a baseline appears to be quite hard work to read. Solid blocks of prose which seem relentless with few breaks. Sentences can be half a page+, elaborate and often by the time you've finished them, you've forgotten wtf he was on about to start with.
Part 1 was properly hard work. Very very dry with very little (if anything) happening. You could easily skip 5-10 pages and not miss out in any way (about 250 pages total). Plus it doesn't help that Proust (and his family) don't come across as very likeable - moaning about nothing, bothered about very inconsequential matters (I do understand their place in society at the time goes to some way to explaining this) but ffs, this guy takes 10 pages to explain that he got upset at not getting a kiss from his mother! Later he (literally) cries having to leave the hawthorn bushes! For me, it added nothing to the story.
Part 2 is much better. It's very nicely written but the kind of prose you need to take your time to read and appreciate. This bit I enjoyed and felt I could relate to it more.
Anyone had any experience of Proust? Would love to hear your views?
But tbh, it's unlikely I'll be committing to those in the near future.
Anyone else had a go? I found it bloody hard work.
Vol 1 is split into 3 parts:
Part 1 - Combray: the narrator's description of his childhood
Part 2 - Swann in Love: narrator describes Swann falling for Odette
Part 3 - Names of Places (or something like that): the narrator explores his early crush on Swann's daughter
Proust as a baseline appears to be quite hard work to read. Solid blocks of prose which seem relentless with few breaks. Sentences can be half a page+, elaborate and often by the time you've finished them, you've forgotten wtf he was on about to start with.
Part 1 was properly hard work. Very very dry with very little (if anything) happening. You could easily skip 5-10 pages and not miss out in any way (about 250 pages total). Plus it doesn't help that Proust (and his family) don't come across as very likeable - moaning about nothing, bothered about very inconsequential matters (I do understand their place in society at the time goes to some way to explaining this) but ffs, this guy takes 10 pages to explain that he got upset at not getting a kiss from his mother! Later he (literally) cries having to leave the hawthorn bushes! For me, it added nothing to the story.
Part 2 is much better. It's very nicely written but the kind of prose you need to take your time to read and appreciate. This bit I enjoyed and felt I could relate to it more.
Anyone had any experience of Proust? Would love to hear your views?
I'm only half way through Combray, to be truthful it hasn't set my heart on fire, given the magnitude of the works I was fully expecting to have to get another couple of hundred pages in to get into it, I tend to read several books at the same time, dipping in and out as I feel like, Proust has been on the back burner for quite a few weeks, ( make that months ) hope I can get into it because it's going to be one hell of a slog if I don't.
Pobolycwm said:
I'm only half way through Combray, to be truthful it hasn't set my heart on fire, given the magnitude of the works I was fully expecting to have to get another couple of hundred pages in to get into it, I tend to read several books at the same time, dipping in and out as I feel like, Proust has been on the back burner for quite a few weeks, ( make that months ) hope I can get into it because it's going to be one hell of a slog if I don't.
Those 250 pages of 'Combray' were some of the hardest I've ever read. Nothing seemed to happen (at least nothing of consequence or interest).The Swann love story was a great improvement but I must admit, I've not really been inspired to read the next 6 volumes!
I don't think you should read it as a novel, although it's true that there is a narrative thread running through it.
Clive James said of it, and I quote, "A commonplace book in the classic sense, it is, itself a set of annotations to all the works of art that Proust has read, looked at, listened to or otherwise enjoyed - and to everything he knows about nature, natural science, love, sex, and the workings of the mind"
Proust tells you about himself and the workings of his mind through the some of characters he populates his book with, it's his autobiography if you like but cunningly disguised as a bloody great novel. I'm sure that if you can get through the first volume it will, eventually, become enjoyable. It wasn't apparent to me how funny some of it is until I read it for the second time, masochism is my middle name, but re-reading it made even the first volume bearable.
Clive James said of it, and I quote, "A commonplace book in the classic sense, it is, itself a set of annotations to all the works of art that Proust has read, looked at, listened to or otherwise enjoyed - and to everything he knows about nature, natural science, love, sex, and the workings of the mind"
Proust tells you about himself and the workings of his mind through the some of characters he populates his book with, it's his autobiography if you like but cunningly disguised as a bloody great novel. I'm sure that if you can get through the first volume it will, eventually, become enjoyable. It wasn't apparent to me how funny some of it is until I read it for the second time, masochism is my middle name, but re-reading it made even the first volume bearable.
I'm reading this at present (currently on vol.2) and I have the same feelings that others have expressed. It's certainly a hard slog; perhaps by volume 4 things will pickup. What amazes me is how a book like this becomes popular in the first place. Even for a fast reader, you'd have to invest a serious amount of time to make a dent in it - and most people will dump a book after a couple of hundred pages (if that) if nothing exciting happens.
It does make me question myself however; I start to think I'm a dunce and everyone else 'gets it'. I'll certainly finish it though as I have an almost OCD-like desire to finish a book, no matter how bad, once I've started it. I also find it strange that, when it comes to fiction, I almost entirely stick to classics and other 'great books' of modern times - so it's not really that far outside of my normal reading material. I've also read other books of a similar length and tend to be gripped by this point. Time will certainly tell - although I do question whether the book's title is being ironic; perhaps on the final page it says something such as "Here's your 'lost time', the hours you spent reading this - sucker!"
It does make me question myself however; I start to think I'm a dunce and everyone else 'gets it'. I'll certainly finish it though as I have an almost OCD-like desire to finish a book, no matter how bad, once I've started it. I also find it strange that, when it comes to fiction, I almost entirely stick to classics and other 'great books' of modern times - so it's not really that far outside of my normal reading material. I've also read other books of a similar length and tend to be gripped by this point. Time will certainly tell - although I do question whether the book's title is being ironic; perhaps on the final page it says something such as "Here's your 'lost time', the hours you spent reading this - sucker!"
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