In Search of Lost Time

In Search of Lost Time, as I mentioned before, actually consists of seven volumes, the first being Swann’s Way.  When these volumes were being translated into English, the translator changed the title, A la recherché du Temps Perdu, to a line from Shakespeare, “Remembrance of Things Past”.  This is not only a bad interpretation of In Search of Lost Time , it’s not even what the novel is about.  Marcel hated it.  He didn’t much care for Swann’s Way either, which in French is Du cote de chez Swann, but what could he do?  He was only the author. 

So what is the novel about?  And if it’s so great, why do so many people start reading it but give up before they even reach the famous madeleine scene?  Is it because of Proust’s famously long sentences (the Proust Society of America says his longest is 958 words & may be the longest sentence in all of literature)?  Or because, as one critic complained after the publication of Swann’s Way, that Proust takes fifteen pages to tell how he turns over in bed at night?  Yes.  But when the long sentences and the seemingly random and rambling passages begin to coalesce into a whole, and the invisible web of past, present and future becomes visible and clear, then the magnitude of this work and the joy of reading it shines through.

So what is the novel about?  If you’re looking for me to write you the Cliff Notes version here in a few words, you’re barking up the wrong inkstand.  But, I’m about to begin my 2nd reading of Marcel’s masterpiece.  I’ll be writing about the work, my thoughts, etc., as I go along.  If you’d like to know when I post these thoughts, click here.  Want to read along?  I‘ll be reading starting with the 1981 Random House paperback edition, which contains Swann’s Way and Within A Budding Grove, you could easily pick up any cheap paperback edition of Swann’s Way at any used bookstore or online, just to dip your toe in.  Let me know.  I’ll wait.

To read my thoughts as they are posted, please go to:

http://marimann.wordpress.com

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Oil Painting by Mari (after Marc Chagall)