Proust on Aristocracy

For aristocracy is a relative thing. And there are plenty of out-of-the-way places where the son of an upholsterer is an arbiter of fashion and reigns over a court like any young Prince of Wales.

In Search of Lost Time Volume II - Within a Budding Grove, p 520 (The Modern Library Classics).

I Can Understand Proust Dropouts

Slugged on tonight and read another 10 pages of Within a Budding Grove, Volume 2 of In Search of Lost Time by Proust. The writing style is great but somewhat dense...like Dickens on steroids!

I almost shudder when I pick up the book but usually enjoy the read once I get started.

I shall complete my mission.

The Proust Marathon

Reading through Proust's opus is like doing an intellectual marathon. I picked up Volume 2 again last night and started reading again. I will get there.. I will...won't I?

PS I did have now picked it up to read 3 days in a row.

I am still Prousting

I am now onto Volume Two of Proust's In Search of Lost Time. I really enjoyed Volume 1 and Volume 2 has started well. I am behind schedule but still progressing, I will succeed but it might not be by years end as originally planned. As I progress through Volume 4 of Virginia Woolf's Diaries I am finding more references to Proust. I can see why she was fascinated and I think they are kindred writing spirits.

Have a great day

DK

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Proust Journey 3

I an still steaming ahead through Volume 1. The narrator has just spied Madame Guermantes and decided she is disappointing compared to the stained glass window depiction of her ancestor. The Ideal versus the Real.

Tonight I will add another excerpt from the book as a taster.

Proust Journey 2

I have got to page 143 of the first volume!!

Quote today is about fine things:

"The truth was that she could never permit herself to buy anything from which no intellectual profit was to be derived, above all the profit which fine things afford us by teaching us to seek our pleasures elsewhere than in the barren satisfaction of worldly wealth."

This quote realtes to the purchase of a set of classical books for the narrator.

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Proust Comment 1

But then, even in the most insignificant details of our daily life, none of us can be said to constitute a material whole, which is identical for everyone and need only be turned up like a page in an account-book or the record of a will; our social personality is a creation of the thoughts of other people" (Vol 1, p23)

In this age of social networking Proust's words here seem prescient. None of us has a single persona especially not to others. This is as true of each of us as it is for Swann, Proust's protagonist here.


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The 2011 Romp Through Proust has Begun

The New Year Challenge is upon me, and you my reader are here to cheer me on. In 2011 my aim is to read through the 6 volumes of In Search Of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. many better people have stumbled at such a task but I am going to give it a try.

I am going to use this blog to keep track of my progress and any observations along the way.

Wish me luck

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Book Review - Paintings in Proust

Are you a Proust fan? If you are then this book, Paintings in Proust, A Visual Companion to 'In Search of Lost Time' will be very informative. In Proust's book In Search of Lost Time there are a lot of references to various paintings. The book Paintings in Proust has photo's of the paintings intercalated with the relevant quotes in the book. Worth reading and a fantastic reference book.

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