Reading Proust's In Search of Lost Time in 2014 discussion

Most beautiful phrase of today's read - "Now are the woods all black, but still the sky is blue".

"Now are the woods all black, but still the sky is blue".
Page 167 and 168

Ode to the hawthorn.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crataegu...

I'm looking forward to reading this week's Proust. I tend to read it at the weekend as I prefer to read it in large chunks. I'll keep my eyes peeled for the quote Gloria.

many sublime picturesque tales

I can see the Bergman/Wild Strawberries link, Alia. The first week's reading made me think of Bergman's 'Fanny and Alexander' - I'd love to watch it again.

Alia - painting with words is spot on.

I loved the early material for this week's read, especially learning more about Leonie, Françoise, the Curé & Eulalie where we discover just how possessive Françoise is over Leonie. Also, the complications that ensue from having an early lunch on Saturday.

One of my favourite scenes was when M. Legrandin is asked by the narrator's father if he knows anyone in Balbec and he just rambles on pretentiously, avoiding answering the question.

Another, was of the narrator rushing off to declare his love to the hawthorns when they have to leave Combray early. He's totally distraught. I must be strange as I never wept over a flower as a child. :-)

I must admit I started to lose track near the end so I'll probably re-read some of it during the week or next weekend.

How did others find this week's read?

The walks described in this section make me think of the film version of Pagnol's My Mother's Castle, not necessarily in intention of the characters but in visual interest. I am trying to get a picture of what France and the area around Combray looked like at the time of the novel.

My Mother's Castle I believe was set in the early twentieth century. Is this about the time the narrator would have been taking his walks?

Louann wrote: "I was astonished at the length of Proust's description of asparagus and how he would reintroduce the subject of asparagus throughout.

My favorite asparagus passage,

"what most enraptured me were the asparagus...I felt that these [its] celestial hues indicated the presence of exquisite creatures who had been pleased to assume vegetable form and who through the disguise of their comestible flesh, allowed me to discern in this radiance of earliest dawn, these hinted rainbows, these blue evening shades, that precious quality which I should recognize again when, all night long after a dinner at which I had partaken of them, they played (lyrical and coarse in their jesting like on of Shakespeare's fairies) at transforming my chamber pot into a vase of aromatic perfume."

Louann wrote: "Louann wrote: "I was astonished at the length of Proust's description of asparagus and how he would reintroduce the subject of asparagus throughout.

My favorite asparagus passage, "what most en..."


Édouard Manet's Bunch of Asparagus, 1880, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, Germany

Where is the single stalk?
"The delightful story of this painting is well known: Manet sold Charles Ephrussi A Bunch of Asparagus for eight hundred francs. But Ephrussi sent him a thousand francs, and Manet, who was a master of elegance and wit, painted this asparagus and sent it to him with a note saying: 'There was one missing from your bunch.'"
http://www.musee-orsay.fr/index.php?i...

Jonathan wrote: "One of my favourite scenes was when M. Legrandin is asked by the narrator's father if he knows anyone in Balbec and he just rambles on pretentiously, avoiding answering the question...."


I'm almost caught up! I'm almost caught up! Okay, so this part that you like Jonathan, with M. Legrandin annoyed me so much. However I really did love the whole bit about the complications arising from changing lunch time on Sat. I'm in the middle of the whole smelling flowers and meeting the little girl so I can comment yet (maybe by the end of the day), but I'm really enjoying it.

I don't think I've ever cried over a flower as a child, but I honestly think I can understand the sentiment. Really enjoying this book...

Louann wrote: "The walks described in this section make me think of the film version of Pagnol's My Mother's Castle, not necessarily in intention of the characters but in visual interest...."

That's an excellent observation Louann; My Mother's Castle is a brilliant film and, from what I can remember, and as you mentioned, very similar to the 'walks' section. Now you've mentioned it I'm itching to watch it again - together with My Father's Glory of course. I've never read Pagnol, though; just watched the films.

I guess that the period of the Pagnol work is a generation after Proust as Proust was born in 1871 and Pagnol in 1895. Pagnol grew up in the south of France whilst Combray was based on Illiers (now Illiers-Combray) in the north of France - so I guess the terrain was quite different.

midnightfaerie wrote: "Okay, so this part that you like Jonathan, with M. Legrandin annoyed me so much. "

Was it the character of M. Legrandin that annoyed you? I must admit that if I met the character in real life (and I meet people like that quite often) then they would probably just annoy me. But reading about such a character was quite amusing, but then I like reading about disagreeable, repellent or unlikeable characters, it's somehow cathartic.

Louann wrote: "Louann wrote: "I was astonished at the length of Proust's description of asparagus and how he would reintroduce the subject of asparagus throughout.

My favorite asparagus passage,

"what most en..."
Quite a description for a chamberpot of pee - don't you think. Apparently, you can test either positive or negative for the perfume ;-)

I think it was probably the character...although usually, not unlike you, I often enjoy reading about unlikable characters. Perhaps he just needs to grow on me. I still feel like I haven't really even gotten a taste of the book yet. I'm waiting to be submerged...

I loved this little ditty by Francois:

Snaps and snails and puppy-dog tails,
And dirty sluts in plenty,
Smell sweeter than roses in young men's noses
When the heart is one-and-twenty.

"...and her hand, at the same time, sketched in the air an indelicate gesture, for which, when it was addressed in public to a person whom one did not know, the little dictionary of manners which I carried in my mind supplied only one meaning, namely, a deliberate insult."

Hahahahahahaha! Did that little girl, Gilberte, just flip him the bird?!? LOL!

Sunny in Wonderland wrote: "Hahahahahahaha! Did that little girl, Gilberte, just flip him the bird?!? LOL! "

Yes, I wondered as well what the sign was. I wonder if there are any experts on early twentieth century French hand gestures out there that can enlighten us?

Sunny in Wonderland wrote: "I loved this little ditty by Francois:

Snaps and snails and puppy-dog tails,
And dirty sluts in plenty,
Smell sweeter than roses in young men's noses
When the heart is one-and-twenty."

Pretty witty and creative translation of what reads in the original French version as: "he who falls in love with a dog's ass sees it as a rose."

Jonathan wrote: "Sunny in Wonderland wrote: "Hahahahahahaha! Did that little girl, Gilberte, just flip him the bird?!? LOL! "

Yes, I wondered as well what the sign was. I wonder if there are any experts on early t..."

Where is the book is that sentence? I don't seem to be able to find it in my translation.

In my version, it is on page 143, which is about 5% through the 2973 page book. But, it's during the part where the narrator and his father and grandfather are walking past Swann's park because Swann's female family members are supposedly out of town.

Oh, okay, it's in Swann's Way then. I was looking for the quotation in Within a Budding Grove.

Andree wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "Sunny in Wonderland wrote: "Hahahahahahaha! Did that little girl, Gilberte, just flip him the bird?!? LOL! "

Yes, I wondered as well what the sign was. ...

"Where is the book is that sentence? I don't seem to be able to find it in my translation. "

In Carter's "Swann's Way," is on page 162.

"...she allowed her eyes to wander, over the space that lay between us, in my direction, without any particular expression, without appearing to have seen me, but with an intensity, a half-hidden smile that I was unable to interpret, according to the instruction I had received in the ways of good breeding, save as a mark of infinite contempt; and her hand, at the same time, sketched in the air an indecent gesture, for which, when it was addressed in public to a person whom one did not know, the little dictionary of manners which I carried in my mind supplied only one meaning, namely, a deliberate insult."

Carter's "Swann's Way: In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust"
http://books.google.com/books?id=IZX9...
http://books.google.com/books?id=IZX9...

In the Modern Library edition, it's on page 199.
http://books.google.com/books?id=T8ai...

(Modern Library on Kindle: Loc 2934)

I know I'm late, but I couldn't not share how beautiful I found this excerpt - it takes place when the narrator describes gazing at Gilberte:

"I gazed at her, at first with that gaze which is not merely a messenger from the eyes, but in whose window all the senses assemble and lean out, petrified and anxious, that gaze which would fain reach, touch, capture, bear off in triumph the body at which it is aimed, and the soul with the body;"

Renato wrote: "...I couldn't not share how beautiful I found this excerpt..."

Lovely. :)