David’s Comments (group member since Nov 11, 2016)

David’s comments from the 2017: Our Year of Reading Proust group.

Kristen - I think a new group, since I crashed and burned right out of the hangar. If someone more dedicated gets it rolling, I bet it’ll go well. Don’t hesitate to cut & paste any bits and pieces that are handy. I’ll gladly follow where I failed to lead ...

Dan wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "his section is wonderful and completely understandable if you have already read Search, but puzzling/boring otherwise - seems like forty or fifty pages about a guy in bed..." One of my favorite books is OBLOMOV by Ivan Goncharov, which starts with over 100 pages of a guy in bed, so I'm ready!

Mickey wrote: "On ancillary reading: I read Monsieur Proust when I read Proust this year. It was amusing to hear Celeste (she actually figured in S&G), his beloved servant, talk about him. She denie..." ooh: I see that NYRB Classics did a reprint of that. I'm a big fan of their line, and will not be able to resist adding this to my library.

Hey, thanks Jonathan! It sounds like any of us who are bent on accompanying our reading with various guides would be well advised to at least read stagger that so that we're having the exegesis after the reading itself: that seems appropriate. (And hey - it isn't exactly Finnegans Wake, we won't feel the need to read with a key handy).

Please drop by any time to chime in, reminisce, and find lost time.

For folks who are curious about some of the prior reading groups and maybe wanting to sample their discussions as you read, here's a 2013 group, here's a 2014 group, and here's a 2015 group.

KINDLE
Locations for the Modern Library complete boxed set version.

January
Week ending 01/07: to 1180 (start Swann's Way)
Week ending 01/14: to 2160
Week ending 01/21: to 3260
Week ending 01/28: to 4220

February
Week ending 02/04: to 5089
Week ending 02/11: to 6059
Week ending 02/18: to 6966
Week ending 02/25: to 7907 (finish Swann's Way)

March
Week ending 03/04: to 9064 (start Within a Budding Grove)
Week ending 03/11: to 10115
Week ending 03/18: to 11126
Week ending 03/25: to 12149
Week ending 04/01: to 13209

April
Week ending 04/08: to 14267
Week ending 04/15: to 15260
Week ending 04/22: to 16247
Week ending 04/29: to 17252 (finish Within a Budding Grove)

May
Week ending 05/06: to 18538 (start The Guermantes Way)
Week ending 05/13: to 19660
Week ending 05/20: to 20795
Week ending 05/27: to 21934
Week ending 06/03: to 23030

June
Week ending 06/10: to 24126
Week ending 06/17: to 25253
Week ending 06/24: to 26514
Week ending 07/01: to 27705(finish The Guermantes Way)

July
Week ending 07/08: to 27835 (start Sodom and Gomorrah)
Week ending 07/15: to 30940
Week ending 07/22: to 31990
Week ending 07/29: to 33020

August
Week ending 08/05: to 34100
Week ending 08/12: to 35180
Week ending 08/19: to 36220
Week ending 08/26: to 37160
Week ending 09/02: to 38550 (finish Sodom and Gomorrah)

September
Week ending 09/09: to 39780 (start The Captive)
Week ending 09/16: to 41030
Week ending 09/23: to 42180
Week ending 09/30: to 43360

October
Week ending 10/07: to 444610
Week ending 10/14: to 45870 (finish The Captive)
Week ending 10/21: to 46860 (start The Fugitive)
Week ending 10/28: to 47760

November
Week ending 11/04: to 48700
Week ending 11/11: to 49710
Week ending 11/18: to 50990 (finish The Fugitive)
Week ending 11/25: to 52250 (start Time Regained)
Week ending 12/02: to 53370

December
Week ending 12/09: to 54510
Week ending 12/16: to 55630
Week ending 12/23: to 56770
Week ending 12/30: to 57910 (finish Time Regained)




The Vintage KINDLE Volume Set Schedule

The books this relates to are Swann's Way, Within a Budding Grove, The Guermantes Way, Sodom and Gomorrah, The Captive & The Fugitive and Time Regained.

January
Week Ending 01/07: Swann's Way, to page 56 (location 911)
Week Ending 01/14: Swann's Way, to page 119 (location 1844)
Week Ending 01/21: Swann's Way, to page 190 (location 2900)
Week Ending 01/28: Swann's Way, to page 254 (location 3832)

February
Week Ending 02/04: Swann's Way, to page 322 (location 4858)
Week Ending 02/11: Swann's Way, to page 387 (location 5826)
Week Ending 02/18: Swann's Way, to page 448 (location 6730)
Week Ending 02/25: Swann's Way, to page 513 (location 7672) (end of Swann's Way)

March
Week Ending 03/04: Within a Budding Grove, to page 70 (location 1068)
Week Ending 03/11: Within a Budding Grove, to page 142 (location 2121)
Week Ending 03/18: Within a Budding Grove, to page 210 (location 3132)
Week Ending 03/25: Within a Budding Grove, to page 281 (location 4157)
Week Ending 04/01: Within a Budding Grove, to page 353 (location 5219)

April
Week Ending 04/08: Within a Budding Grove, to page 425 (location 6276)
Week Ending 04/15: Within a Budding Grove, to page 493 (location 7279)
Week Ending 04/22: Within a Budding Grove, to page 560 (location 8269)
Week Ending 04/29: Within a Budding Grove, to page 618 (location 9124) (end of Within a Budding Grove)

May
Week Ending 05/06: The Guermantes Way, to page 79
Week Ending 05/13: The Guermantes Way, to page 155
Week Ending 05/20: The Guermantes Way, to page 231
Week Ending 05/27: The Guermantes Way, to page 306
Week Ending 06/03: The Guermantes Way, to page 380

June
Week Ending 06/10: The Guermantes Way, to page 455
Week Ending 06/17: The Guermantes Way, to page 532
Week Ending 06/24: The Guermantes Way, to page 614
Week Ending 07/01: The Guermantes Way, to page 691 (end of The Guermantes Way)

July
Week Ending 07/08: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 71
Week Ending 07/15: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 140
Week Ending 07/22: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 209
Week Ending 07/29: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 278

August
Week Ending 08/05: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 347
Week Ending 08/12: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 416
Week Ending 08/19: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 483
Week Ending 08/26: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 545
Week Ending 09/02: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 616 (end of Sodom and Gomorrah)

September
Week Ending 09/09: The Captive, to page 93 (loc.1188)
Week Ending 09/16: The Captive, to page 187 (loc.2368)
Week Ending 09/23: The Captive, to page 277 (loc.3499)
Week Ending 09/30: The Captive, to page 368 (loc.4644)

October
Week Ending 10/07: The Captive, to page 462 (loc.5834)
Week Ending 10/14: The Captive, to page 559 (loc.7048) (end of The Captive)
Week Ending 10/21: The Fugitive, to page 637 (loc.7990)
Week Ending 10/28: The Fugitive, to page 708 (loc.8872)

November
Week Ending 11/04: The Fugitive, to page 783 (loc.9800)
Week Ending 11/11: The Fugitive, to page 860 (loc.10754)
Week Ending 11/18: The Fugitive, to page 936 (loc.11700) (end of The Fugitive)

November
Week Ending 11/25: Time Regained, to page 77 (loc.1005)
Week Ending 12/02: Time Regained, to page 152 (loc.1963)
Week Ending 12/09: Time Regained, to page 226 (loc.2903)
Week Ending 12/16: Time Regained, to page 302 (loc.3847)

December
Week Ending 12/23: Time Regained, to page 379 (loc.4813)
Week Ending 12/13: Time Regained, to page 456 (loc.5766)
Week Ending 12/20: Time Regained, to page 531 (loc.6704) (end of Time Regained, end of In Search of Lost Time)

THE NEW TRANSLATIONS

Vol 1: The Way by Swann’s
January
Week Ending 01/07: Swann's Way, to page 49
Week Ending 01/14: Swann's Way, to page 102
Week Ending 01/21: Swann's Way, to page 162
Week Ending 01/28: Swann's Way, to page 220

February
Week Ending 02/04: Swann's Way, to page 277
Week Ending 02/11: Swann's Way, to page 334
Week Ending 02/18: Swann's Way, to page 386
Week Ending 02/25: Swann's Way, to page 444 (end of Swann's Way)

Vol.2: In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower
March
03/04: to p.63/loc.1271 ("On fine days, I continued to go to the Champs-Élysées...")
03/11: to p.125/loc.2329 ("We went into dinner. Lying beside my plate...")
03/18: to p.182/loc.3314 ("Although the wittiness of any salon and its degree...")
03/25: to p.244/loc.4312 ("To give us an impression of the realness of people...")
04/01: to p.306/loc.5366 ("After dinner, when my grandmother and I had gone upstairs...")

April
04/08: to p.368/loc.6444 ("That day, as on the preceding days,...")
04/15: to p.426/loc.7430 ("I walked up and down, impatient for him to finish...")
04/22: to p.482/loc.8389 ("Once we had eaten, we would play at games...")
04/29: to p.531/loc.9237 (end of In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower)

Vol.3: The Guermantes Way
May
05/06: to loc.1339 ("To return to the question of sound...")
05/13: to loc.2425 ("I was heart-broken not to have said good-bye...")
05/20: to loc.3523 ("Mme Guermantes had sat down...")
05/27: to loc.4616 ("Mme de Villeparisis was none too pleased to be...")
06/03: to loc. 5682 ("Luckily, we were very soon rid of Françoise's daughter...")

June
06/10: to loc.6746 ("It was Robert de Saint-Loup, who had arrived in town...")
06/17: to loc.7886 ("As for those Guermantes of the true flesh and blood...")
06/24: to loc.9153 ("There was in Combrary a rue de Saintrailles...")
07/01: to loc.10289 end of The Guermantes Way.

Vol.4: Sodom and Gomorrah
July
07/08: to loc.1226 ("In the ordinary course of things...")
07/15: to loc.2281 ("They announced that the carriage had been brought up...")
07/22: to loc.3312 (Part Two, Chapter Two)
07/29: to loc.4326 ("Around this time, there occurred a scandal...")

August
08/05: to loc.5369 ("The faithful went in. M. Verdurin...")
08/12: to loc.6395 ("Mme Cottard was now fast asleep...")
08/19: to loc.7399 ("After dinner the car brought Albertine back...")
08/26: to loc.8293 ("Cottard finally arrived although...")
09/02: to loc.9315 (end of Sodom and Gomorrah)

Vol.5: In Search of Lost Time: The Prisoner and The Fugitive (In Search of Lost Time, #5)
September
09/09: to p.65 ("I would undress and get into bed...")
09/16: to p.130 ("It would already have been enough...")
09/23: to p.195 ("I immediately concluded that M. de Charlus...")
09/30: to p.254 ("As M. de Charlus also loved tale-bearing...")

October
10/07: to p.316 ("For a moment now I had been feeling...")
10/14: to p.384 (The end of The Prisoner)
10/21: to p.440 ("Set free once more, released...")
10/28: to p.491 ("I had suffered badly enough in Balbec...")

November
11/04: to p.544 ("A month later Swann's young daughter...")
11/11: to p.599 ("Meanwhile, Mme de Villeparisis had asked M. de Norpois...")
11/18: to p.658 (The end of "The Fugitive")

**As the 2013 group members finished the previous volume early a revised schedule was used for the last volume – I haven’t tried to justify these past two months across all versions – it’s beyond me right now -so there will be some slight diversion of paths here. I figure we’re in the home stretch, no big deal.**

Vol. 6: Finding Time Again
November
11/11: to p.51 (" 'Do you think we're in for a long haul?' I said to Saint-Loup...")
11/18: to p.103 ("I thought at once of Combray, but in the past...")
11/25: to p.154 ("To increase Françoise's anxieties even more, the butler showed...")
12/02: to p.206 ("I needed to restore to even the slightest of the signs which surrounded me...")

December
12/09: to p.258 ("To return to that politician, despite the changes...")
12/16: to p.308 ("We were interrupted by the voice of the actress...")
12/23: to p.358 (end of Finding Time Again, end of In Search of Lost Time)

Okay, here are some reading schedules, adapted from other Annual Proust groups, with dates adjusted for 2017. These schedules will be provided for both translations, and for Kindle editions. Readers can move at whatever pace they like, but a weekly reading schedule may help some readers to pace themselves, as well as facilitating shared discussions of our progress. There is some divergence between some of the schedules around the last month, as one group got ahead of others, but I feel the difference is slight enough that I won't attempt to line them all up here.

READING SCHEDULES: SIMPLE & WEEKLY.

ROUGH SCHEDULE:

• Jan 1 – Feb 25: Swann’s Way / The Way By Swann
• Feb 26 – April 29: Within a Budding Grove / In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower.
• April 30 – July 1: The Guermantes Way / The Guermantes Way
• July 2 – Sept 2: Cities of the Plain / Sodom and Gomorrah
• Sept 3 – October 14: The Captive / The Prisoner
• October 15 – November 18: The Sweet Cheat Gone / The Fugitive
• November 19 – Dec 30: Time Regained / Finding Time Again

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

JANUARY
Week ending 01/07: Swann's Way, to page 64
Week ending 01/14: Swann's Way, to page 139 (page break, next section starts: “While I was reading in the garden...”)
Week ending 01/21: Swann's Way, to page 224 (to the paragraph beginning: “It is perhaps from another impression which I received at Montjouvain...”)
Week ending 01/28: Swann's Way, to page 299 (to the paragraph beginning: “And so, when the pianist had finished...”)

FEBRUARY
Week ending 02/04: Swann's Way, to page 379 (end of page to the paragraph beginning “One day, when reflections of this sort had brought him back...”)
Week ending 02/11: Swann's Way, to page 457 (to the paragraph beginning “It was at the Marquise de Saint-Euverte’s...”)
Week ending 02/18: Swann's Way, to page 529 (to the paragraph beginning: “On certain evenings...”)
Week ending 02/25: Swann's Way, finish

MARCH
Week ending 03/04: Within a Budding Grove, to page 83 (to the paragraph beginning: “I continued to go along the Champs-Elysées on fine days...”)
Week ending 03/011: Within a Budding Grove, to page 167 (to the paragraph beginning: “Meanwhile we had taken our places at table...”)
Week ending 03/18: Within a Budding Grove, to page 248 (to the paragraph beginning: “Granted that the intellectual distinction of a salon and its elegance...”)
Week ending 03/25: Within a Budding Grove, to page 332 (to the paragraph beginning: “There is perhaps nothing that gives us so strong an impression...”)
Week ending 04/01: Within a Budding Grove, to page 417 (to the paragraph beginning: “After dinner, when I had gone upstairs...”)

APRIL
Week ending 04/08: Within a Budding Grove, to page 502 (page break, next section starts: “That day, as for some days past...”)
Week ending 04/15: Within a Budding Grove, to page 582 (to the paragraph beginning: “I paced up and down the room...”)
Week ending 04/22: Within a Budding Grove, to page 661 (to the paragraph beginning: “When we had finished eating we would play games...”)
Week ending 04/29: Within a Budding Grove, finish

MAY
Week ending 05/06: The Guermantes Way, to page 93 (to the paragraph beginning: “To return to the problem of sound...”)
Week ending 05/13: The Guermantes Way, to page 183 (to the paragraph beginning: “I was wretched at having failed to say good-bye...”)
Week ending 05/20: The Guermantes Way, to page 273 (to the paragraph beginning: “Mme de Guermantes had sat down...”)
Week ending 05/27: The Guermantes Way, to page 362 (to the paragraph beginning: “Mme de Villeparisis meanwhile was not too well pleased...”)
Week ending 06/03: The Guermantes Way, to page 450 (end of page, to the paragraph beginning: “Luckily, we were soon rid of Françoise’s daughter...”)

JUNE
Week ending 06/10: The Guermantes Way, to page 540 (to the paragraph beginning: “It was Robert de Saint-Loup...”)
Week ending 06/17: The Guermantes Way, to page 631 (to the paragraph beginning: “As for the Guermantes of the true flesh and blood...”)
Week ending 06/24: The Guermantes Way, to page 728 (to the paragraph beginning: “There was at Combray a Rue de Saintrailles...”)
Week ending 07/01: The Guermantes Way, finish

JULY
Week ending 07/08: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 82 (to the paragraph beginning: “In the ordinary course of life...”)
Week ending 07/15: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 164 (to the paragraph beginning: “We were told that the carriage was at the door...”)
Week ending 07/22: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 245 (to the end of Part Two: Chapter One)
Week ending 07/29: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 326 (to the paragraph beginning: “”About this time there occurred at the Grand Hotel a scandal...”)

AUGUST
Week ending 08/05: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 407 (to the paragraph beginning: “The faithful entered the drawing room...”)
Week ending 08/12: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 489 (to the paragraph beginning: “By this time, Mme Cottard was fast asleep...”)
Week ending 08/19: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 568 (to the paragraph beginning: “After dinner the car would bring Albertine back...”)
Week ending 08/26: Sodom and Gomorrah, to page 641 (to the paragraph beginning: “Cottard arrived at length...”)
Week ending 09/02: Sodom and Gomorrah, finish

SEPTEMBER
Week ending 09/09: The Captive, to page 93 (to the paragraph beginning: “On other evenings, I undressed...”)
Week ending 09/16: The Captive, to page 187 (to the paragraph beginning: “Already, in the case of quite a number of woman at any rate...”)
Week ending 09/23: The Captive, to page 277 (to the paragraph beginning: “I guessed at once that M. de Charlus...”)
Week ending 09/30: The Captive, to page 368 (to the paragraph beginning: “Since M. de Charlus also enjoyed repeating what one person had said...”)

OCTOBER
Week ending 10/07: The Captive, to page 462 (to the paragraph beginning: “Already for some little time I had felt...”)
Week ending 10/14: The Captive, finish
Week ending 10/21: The Fugitive, to page 637 (to the paragraph beginning: “Set free once more, released from the cage...”)
Week ending 10/28: The Fugitive, to page 708 (page break, to the section beginning: “I had suffered indeed at Balbec...”)

NOVEMBER
Week ending 11/04: The Fugitive, to page 783 (to the paragraph beginning: “A month later, the Swann girl...”)
Week ending 11/11: The Fugitive, to page 860 (to the paragraph beginning: “Meanwhile, Mme de Villeparisis...”)
Week ending 11/18: The Fugitive, finish
Week ending 11/25: Time Regained, to page 88 (to the paragraph beginning: “I had, in any case, not remained long...”)
Week ending 12/02: Time Regained, to page 176 (to the paragraph beginning: “These men, as they chatted quietly together...”)


DECEMBER
Week ending 12/09: Time Regained, to page 265 (to the paragraph beginning: “But this species of optical illusion...”)
Week ending 12/16: Time Regained, to page 354 (to the paragraph beginning: “And now I have begun to understand...”)
Week ending 12/23: Time Regained, to page 445 (to the paragraph beginning: “I told Mme de Guermates...”)
Week ending 12/30: Time Regained, finish

I'm currently reading Phyllis Rose's Year of Reading Proust, and have a few other add-ons waiting in the wings - the de Botton, and the Patrick Alexander guide that Dianne is also using. I'm also listening to a BBC dramatic adaptation of the books (from the Library) which is entertaining, and I'm guessing will give me a bit of the overall lay of the land, and I expect to listen to a few Proust lectures in the Modern Scholar "Giants of French Literature" audio course, also from the Library. Not to flog it to death, but I have often found a bit of guidance helpful, especially stepping into something that feels a little forbidding.

As we know, there is a wealth of ancillary materials on Proust (guides, adaptations, literary criticism, etc), and I'm wondering what other things folks have enjoyed or are planning to accompany their Proust projects with. I've included some of these on the Group's book shelf, and please feel encouraged to add items yourselves.

Personally, I figure I will probably read Proust more than once before I die, so I'm going with the Moncrieff/Enright version for my first time through. In addition to an old crusty-dusty 2 volume hardcover that I've had for ages - unread - I recently acquired an affordable second-hand copy of the latest Folio hardcover edition of these, in six volumes, on the principal that Proust probably would've wanted me to have a nice indulgent creamy paper kind of reading experience. I've ordered from Canada affordable paperback editions of the newer translations, which I'll save for my second time through.

So there's a decision to be made right up front by everyone: which translation are you going to read? (We're not going to try to read the same one - this is an individual decision.). The choices are roughly three: The original C.K. Scott Moncrieff translation, the Revised and Enlarged Terence Kilmarting/D.J. Enright version of the Scott Moncrieff translation, and the recent series of translations by various authors, starting with Lydia Davis' Swann's Way. These last are not all available domestically (yet), but you can get them from the UK and Canada.

Here's an article from the Paris Review on choosing a translation, as well as recent pieces from The New Yorker as well as The Guardian and a piece from Slate that explains why you still can't get the last three volumes of the newest translation domestically.

What translation are you thinking of reading? If you've already read more than one translation, do you have any observations to share?