Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

Our Host will be Member John
Following words are his:

This is an introduction to a novel that needs no introduction – In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust.

Six (or seven) volumes depending upon your edition, in a variety of translations, make up “the most respected novel of the twentieth century” (Edmund White), even if Evelyn Waugh claimed Proust was “insane” and Kazuo Ishiguro found him “crushingly dull”. On the other hand, Harold Bloom also regarded it as the major novel of the twentieth century.

It’s one of those works which everyone wants to have read….but not necessarily to read. References to it are everywhere in twentieth-century culture – my first hearing of it came in the Monty Python’s Flying Circus sketch, the “all-England Summarize Proust competition”, where contestants had 15 seconds to summarize all seven volumes.

A work as large and complex as this, with a large cast of characters and a variety of themes, feels ideal for a buddy read and I hope we can all share questions, reactions and responses throughout the year.

We’ll aim to read one volume every two months – so we’ll be reading Swann's Way in January and February.

I hope you’ll join us in this 2023 buddy read, and by next December we can all share a “virtual” Madeleine!

…..and I won’t ask you to summarize it in 15 seconds.

Great intro! Looking forward to making my way through this behemoth with y’all next year.

I remember that sketch. I've been looking forward to this and will be reading the 6 volume set in the Penguin Modern Classics published in 2002.

Mike, my set is the 6 volume Vintage Classics set, published in 2000, translated by C K Scott Moncrieff, revised by Terrence Kilmartin in 1981, and revised again by D J Enright in 1992. It has sat untouched on my bookshelf for 10 years, glaring at me accusingly, but its time has now come!

You could provide quotes about this work all day long, but I particularly like the claim from Michael Dirda that "To its admirers, it remains one of those rare encyclopedic summas, like Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the essays of Montaigne or Dante's Commedia, that offer insight into our unruly passions and solace for life's miseries."

If we all start reading on 1st January, 2023, unruly passions and life's miseries will probably be the order of the day.

I ordered a journal for this! I’ve never kept any sort of journal about anything in my life. I’m going to document my thoughts as I read about ten or fifteen pages a day. I had no real education of literature beyond 14 or 15 years of age and have been told that this is an excellent way to get the most out of reading a work like this. We’ll see.

That's a terrific idea, Chad. It'll be interesting to hear how the process of writing the journal interacts with the process of reading. Depending on how much you enjoy writing the journal, you could think about putting it online as a daily or weekly blog over the year.

And you are going to be in good company - there are a couple of books about reading In Search of Lost Time; How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton, and The Year of Reading Proust: A Memoir in Real Time by Phyllis Rose.

John, could you please post the titles of the 6 volumes? I've got a 7 volume edition and wants to know what's the difference.

Seven Books List:

One: Swann's Way
Two: In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower
Three: The Guermantes Way
Four: Sodom and Gomorrah
Five: The Prisoner
Six: The Fugitive
Seven: Time Regained

Seven books, six volumes, 4300 pages (all the same)

Got stuck in the Guermantes Way this Summer, in the final stages of preparing my emigration to Paraguay. I'll join you in May an follow the discussions until then.

Piyangie wrote: "John, could you please post the titles of the 6 volumes? I've got a 7 volume edition and wants to know what's the difference."

Piyangie, My volume 5 contains both "The Prisoner" and "The Fugitive", and my Volume 6 contains "Time Regained", and a "Guide to Proust"

7 books, 6 volumes, and not 7 volumes! So sorry for the mistake.
Thanks, Lesle and John for clarifying. I've read Swann's Way, so won't be rereading it. I'd like to read the rest but not sure if I could do them all. I remember needing a longer Proust break after reading Swann's Way. My plan is to initially join for books 2, 3, and 4 and see if I could continue.

That’s true Piyangie, Proust sometimes works like an addiction, one month gap between the books will be good.

I will reread Swann’s Way if we are in a schedule, if we are reading independently then I will continue from the third book.

Hi all. These are all the books that I've read about the series:

Do Lado de Swann - book one
À Sombra das Raparigas em Flor - book two
O Lado de Guermantes - book three
Sodoma e Gomorra - book four
A Prisioneira - book five
A Fugitiva - Albertine Desaparecida - book six
O Tempo Reencontrado - book seven

Piyangie wrote: "7 books, 6 volumes, and not 7 volumes! So sorry for the mistake.
Thanks, Lesle and John for clarifying. I've read Swann's Way, so won't be rereading it. I'd like to read the rest but not sure if I..."

No problem at all. I wasnt sure myself what it meant. I was afraid the 6 was missing something important. I guess it is all about the wording too. To me 7 or 6 if it is complete that is all that matters!

I've just realised that 18th November was the centenary of Proust's death.

It feels fitting that just over 100 years since his death, we are starting on a group read of his masterpiece.

He was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, and for anyone visiting Paris, I'd very highly recommend a visit to that graveyard.

Interesting, John! We have good timing.

The core timetable we'll be following is one volume every two months, starting in January, finishing in December. But that's flexible and a buddy read can accommodate different schedules - and different start and end points, as will probably be the case with Piyangie, Armin and Nidhi. We just need to be diligent about the use of spoiler alerts.

Some of us might have a different pattern we want to follow, like Chad's 10 - 15 pages a day, which I reckon will see him finish on Thursday 16th November......but no pressure there, Chad. :-)

Apologies for quoting again, but.....

"A steady, leisurely pace, without the tension of fixed deadlines, serves best. Certain habits of thought can thus be laid aside as others are slowly acquired. It may take months, even years. The "Search" creates a season of the mind outside temporal limits."

I would like to join too! You had me at leisurely.

I read Swann’s Way in French class in college, and we saw the movie too, with Jeremy Irons. (He was in the movie, not with us of course.)

I didn’t know anything about movies, do we have movies on all 7 books?

The schedule is good, John. Personally I feel that we cannot spoil this book’s plot, it impacts individually, but spoiler alert is always best.

I got e-book on iPhone. Hard copy I got from Amazon. I think on Project Gutenberg you can find soft copies in various formats.

I made a mistake of not checking the translator while purchasing the book from Amazon and ended up with two different translators for first two volumes. It doesn’t make much difference to me as I don’t know French.

I bought a free kindle from Amazon (Moncrieff translation) two years back. I don't know if it's still available. But you may check that out too, Claudia.

I bought the audio of Swann's Way. I'm still not sure if I would reread it. It depends on my other group reads for January and February. I already have Thackery and Calvino under my belt. :)

Melanie wrote: "I would like to join too! You had me at leisurely.

I read Swann’s Way in French class in college, and we saw the movie too, with Jeremy Irons. (He was in the movie, not with us of course.)"

Delighted to have you join, Melanie - I think there are now 10 of us interested.

I'm in for this! I attempted this in 2022 but got distracted. I've read Swann's Way already but happy to start from Vol 2 next year :)

Nidhi wrote: "I didn’t know anything about movies, do we have movies on all 7 books?"

Nidhi, there have been 4 movies, including the Jeremy Irons one that Melanie mentioned. Three of them were individual books, and one was a combination of two books.

There have also been at least three TV programmes, 7 stage productions (one of them an off-Broadway musical!!), and three radio plays.

Harold Pinter wrote a stage play - "The Proust Screenplay" which has been produced on stage, and an adaption of it has been on radio, with Pinter himself as the Narrator.

I'm going to be part of this as I don't think I will be able to do it alone myself. Hoping we can do it together.

Claudia wrote: "I enjoy hard copies much more. I’ve been looking for a set of all seven volumes. It seems as if it will be difficult to find in hard copies. Maybe I’ll look for some e-books on the website you ment..."

Abe Books has these in Hardcover as a set:

https://www.abebooks.com/Search-Lost-...

Welcome to Laura and The Bibliophile Doctor.

Laura, quite a number of readers finish Swann's Way, but then stop, so I imagine a few of the group might start at Volume 2.

You are right John, but I too have high hopes from this buddy read. Reading lengthy books alone is a bit difficult. Especially when they lack the traditional plot like for example Count of Monte Cristo.

Hello everyone. I would like to join this group. I have read all the books between December 1st 21- January 29, 22. I promise myself I would read them again, once. I think being in a group will help me persevere! For me, I was listening to the book while reading at the same time. I could not read them on my own. My mind was going everywhere!
There was a group that was reading it in 2021. They took 8 months but a lot of participants needed more time or like me, quit and started again. So 2 months per book is a good rythm.

Hi Lorraine, I think a few of us on this buddy read have in the past started the book, but not finished - I'm encouraged by the fact that you have finished it, listened to it, and now want to read it again.

I'm also glad to see your comments about the rhythm - I'm hoping that the more leisurely pace we're setting will help us see it through to the end.

I'm reading Proust by Roger Shattuck at the moment, as background reading for the buddy read. It's been pretty informative so far, but does anyone have any recommendations for Proust biographies, critical essays etc?

What books have people read and enjoyed?

John wrote: "I'm reading Proust by Roger Shattuck at the moment, as background reading for the buddy read. It's been pretty informative so far, but does anyone have any recommendati..."

I recommend reading Pleasures and Days and Days of Reading

The book by Alain de Bolton is quite funny. I would suggest to read it either before or at the same time as Swann's Way.
I am told that Monsieur Proust by Celeste Albaret is quite interesting if you want to know more about Proust himself. It looks like the book was translated to English but they kept the french title.
I have asked a few people that have read the Search in english for ideas. I'll post them here if I get some interesting recommandations. As for me, I will read it in French since this is my first language.

Thanks Lorraine - I've read the Alain de Botton book and it was OK, but I always feel vaguely disappointed by de Botton's books.

Monsieur Proust looks more interesting, and I'm sure I've got a copy somewhere on my shelves.

John wrote: "Thanks Lorraine - I've read the Alain de Botton book and it was OK, but I always feel vaguely disappointed by de Botton's books.

Monsieur Proust looks more interesting, and I'm sure ..."

Monsieur Proust looks like an interesting companion read to me as well, John. I’ll see if I can grab it from the library. If not, I’ll look to purchase it. I do really like the NYRB volumes and a good excuse to purchase one. Thanks Lorraine!

I've got on my radar Proust by Edmund White

Proust by Edmund White is short biography, it is good.

Thanks for that recommendation Luis and Nidhi - I read White's biography a few years ago and liked it, rating it as 4 stars. As you say, it's very short - under 150 pages - and it was slightly lightweight as a result.

Thank you all for the recommandations for Proust biography. I was looking at Marcel Proust: A life by Jean-Yves Tadié but not sure I am ready to read a 1000 pages biography at this moment.

You could watch documentaries on you tube, they are very good, showing all the paintings which influenced Proust, also about philosophers like Nietzsche who wrote about art. I am reading Nietzsche after watching documentaries.

I have been waiting for this opportunity for ages so will definitely join in with this readalong. The pace will suit me very well. Yes, Utube is a mine of introductory information on Proust.

It’s looking like this year long buddy read is going to be a lot of fun. Lot’s of members are very excited about it. I only own the first four volumes so will have to pick up the last few. I’ll be reading the Penguin Deluxe books. The final book comes out in mid January according to their website.
I’m curious about members that have already read the whole thing and about what they took away from it?

It is difficult to say what I took away but after finishing the last volume, I knew Proust would be staying with (within) me. A lot of people who read it feel the same. And I believe that if you finish all the books, you will want to read them again one day. You have to survive The Captive though :-)

I look forward to joining the buddy read for Proust. I'll be using the Modern Library six-volume edition translated by Scott Moncrieff.

The blurb on my Vintage Classics copy of Swann's Way describes it as follows -

"In this opening volume of Proust's great novel, the narrator seems at first to be launching a fairly traditional life-story. But after the prelude the narrator travels backwards rather than forwards in time, in order to tell the story of a love affair that had taken place before his own birth. Swann's jealous love for Odette, together with the comic antics of the Verdurins and the adoring members of their 'little clan', provide a prophetic model of the narrator's own love-relationships and peregrinations in salon society. All Proust's great themes - time and memory, love and loss, art and the artistic vocation - are here in kernel form."

I finished reading Pleasures and Days and suspect it was a good entrée for In Search of Lost Time. Since buying the volumes a while back I have often taken one of the shelf and read snippits. One thing I noticed from this browsing is that paragraphs span pages and sentences keep going. This is also true in Pleasures and Days but I am glad that at no time did they feel a chore, there is almost a poetry to these sentences that keep you captivated.

One remaining fear is keeping track of the 2000 odd characters that Wikipedia notes are contained in these volumes. I am terrible with names so will likely lose track of infrequent characters forgetting that I've encountered them before. War and Peace has over 500 and I enjoyed it so I'm hopeful.

I've just read Proust at the Majestic by Richard Davenport-Hines. The title refers to a supper party that took place 6 months before Proust's death - attended by Proust, Joyce, Diaghilev, Stravinsky and Picasso, but that event takes up only a tiny part of the book. Most of it is a series of anecdotes about Proust, his life, his friends and his work.

It probably wouldn't be of interest to anyone who's read one of the major biographies, but I learned a lot from it, and it's a pleasant enough read. I'm now looking forward more than ever to reading In Search of Lost Time.

Luís wrote: "I've got on my radar Proust by Edmund White"

I am reading it right now and find it quite interesting. We learn about authors that influenced him and about events in his personal life, he reproduced in the Search. Have you read it?