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Swann's Way by Marcel Proust - 4* - My Review

“How paradoxical it is to seek in reality for the pictures that are stored in one’s memory.”

Published in 1913, Swann’s Way is the first installment of Marcel Proust’s seven-volume In Search of Lost Time. It is a book that is oriented toward memory and finding oneself in many different ways. It begins in Combray, at the childhood home of the unnamed narrator. We learn about his immediate family members, his Aunt Léonie, the family servant (Françoise), and a family friend, Charles Swann.

One of the primary set pieces of the novel is the description of Swann’s romantic obsession with Odette de Crécy. The narrator obviously admires Swann and relates the story Swann’s misdirected love for Odette. The narrator has been told of these events, since they occurred before he was born. The content, while rather tame through modern eyes, is certainly colorful (and fairly controversial) for the time period.

The writing is ornate. Everything is described in minute detail. It is filled with poetic language. It comments on art and literary expression. I very much enjoyed the author’s use of the sense of smell to transport himself to the past, which he uses as a launching pad for self-reflection. The writing style has a philosophical flavor.

“I put down the cup and examine my own mind. It alone can discover the truth. But how? What an abyss of uncertainty, whenever the mind feels overtaken by itself; when it, the seeker, is at the same time the dark region through which it must go seeking and where all its equipment will avail it nothing. Seek? More than that: create. It is face to face with something which does not yet exist, which it alone can make actual, which it alone can bring into the light of day.”

This is a book to be read slowly. I have to confess that the writing style, while beautiful and of great literary merit, gets wearying after a while. The story wanders down rabbit trails, only loosely connected to what I thought was the storyline. So, it is a book that requires patience and the willingness to go with the flow. Passages melt together in a stream of consciousness, conveying a dreamlike quality. I enjoyed it and am glad I read this literary classic, but I will not be picking up the rest of the volumes any time soon.

I am glad you enjoyed it. At some point I hope you move on and read more.

I loved Francoise! She appears throughout the later volumes too.

I probably will read more down the line but a little Proust goes a long way (as you probably know!)

Françoise was one of my favorites, too.

As I had a monthly discussion group with assigned pages, we did between 300 to 400 pages a month. That was a good pace...kept it fresh but allowed for plenty of other reading.

Theresa wrote: "As I had a monthly discussion group with assigned pages, we did between 300 to 400 pages a month. That was a good pace...kept it fresh but allowed for plenty of other reading."

I do think I would read more (and faster) if I were reading it with a group. I need to tackle the next one when I have more downtime.