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/lit/ - Literature

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21874736 No.21874736 [Reply] [Original]

I've just finished reading In Search of Lost Time

>> No.21874758

>>21874736

Does it ever get found?

>> No.21874763

>>21874758
kek
I also need to know this

>> No.21874765

>>21874736
How long did it take?

>> No.21874771

>>21874736
u gay now lmao

>> No.21874776

>>21874736
was it worth it?

>> No.21874821

>>21874758
>>21874763
Yes, in last volume
>>21874765
I started 3 years ago, but I spent around half of this time reading.
>>21874771
i know
>>21874776
I loved it, I don't feel like reading it was lost time for me

>> No.21874861

>>21874736
It's shit, isn't it?

Amazing how he could write so much with so few insights into the world. The sole thing I got was A. that faggots were degenerates (I knew this from personal experience); and B. blackpills on the nature of social relations, and their inflexibly transactional nature.

>> No.21874944

>>21874861
A. That's what you made out of it I guess, because narrator stated in few places that he isn't against homosexuals. In one of the last volumes he said something along the lines that "looking for pleasure wherever it can be found is a very human thing".
B. I think he had many small insights. Poets sometimes write a whole poem to communicate a single intricate idea they had. Every few pages I was amazed by some masterfully written sentence that explained with absolute clarity, something I at once thought but could never capture in words as well as him. He said many things about love, jealousy, memory, art, perception, pleasure, illness, habits, time. This is what he intended to do and I think he accomplished it.

>> No.21875027

I couldnt get past the first half of the first half of the second book. It was just too boring. Years ago someone here told me books 3 and 4 were when it gets amazing but I just couldnt go any further.
I was able to force my way through the chapters of Ulysses that were very hard to make sense at first, but then paid off, like Oxen of the Sun; or the ones I didn't like at all, like Sirens and Circe (really, fuck Circe); but the combination of how boring the non-plot thing gets and how corny its fancy pantsy world is made ISOLT impossible for me to keep reading it.
It sucks because I really like his writing style and the psychological -borderline schizo- insights he does. Some pages felt like impossible paintings, analogous to the impossible books Borges writes about.

>> No.21875030

>>21874736
Greatest thing I've read OP. I can't wait to read it in again in 5 years.

>> No.21875042
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21875042

>>21874821
>I started 3 years ago, but I spent around half of this time reading.
I started 2 years ago but I really lost track of wtf was going in volume 3, "Le Côté de Guermantes". I hardly read anything of it now and go long periods of time without reading. It's also in French and it's not my first language. Do you think I should give it another go? I could honestly not tell you what the book is about rn, last thing I remember is young Marcel's oneitis and his grandmother letting him drink while travelling bc of his poor health but it's a difficult book all right god.

>> No.21875049

>>21875042
If you weren't enjoying the book by the third one you probably aren't going to enjoy it. However, you haven't read it in 2 years and maybe it'll resonate more with you now.

>> No.21875061

>>21875042
I didn't have much trouble following what's going on, even after months-long breaks. In the global structure of the novel you only need to keep track of relations between major characters. English Wikipedia article has a rough summary and helped me a few times. Language was a bit challenging for me even though I've read it in my native polish, so I imagine it's way more difficult for you. I was already committed to finish it after chapter about Swann at the end of first volume, so >>21875049 might be right too. You might also try reading it in your native language if it has a good translation.

>> No.21875104

>>21875027
I only found some smaller fragments boring, like descriptions of light and rooms, some descriptions of nature and buildings (especially when narrator was in Venice), but no chapter or major part of plot seemed boring or pointless to me. The corny fancy world of French aristocracy is what was Proust's entire life and what he decided to save from being forgotten by making it a central part of the novel.

>> No.21875293

>>21875104
>no chapter
anon...each book only has like 3 chapters. Saying there are no bad chapters means nothing.

>> No.21875324

>>21875293
True, what I mean is that for me no boring fragment was too long or too disencouraging

>> No.21875414

>>21875104
For me it was the opposite. Like after 5 pages that were boring as hell to me came 1 or 2 pages that were great, but almost all of them had the eye rolling fancy pantsy french aristocracy stuff. It was just distracting. Tolstoy did the same for his aristocratic world but without making it annoying. Very different authors, I know, but I guess my point is I wish Proust would have known to discriminate which parts and characters of his world and life were deserving of getting the amazing portraying he had the talent he had the talent for. I understand why he doesnt separate anything, and its ok, but I can't stand it. It's really sad because his talent insane and it may be the greatest prose I have read.

>> No.21875438

>>21875104
The descriptions of nature, light in rooms and buildings were some of the best parts of the novel. All of his beautiful descriptions made me even more aware of my surroundings and really take them in.

>> No.21875443

Which translation did you read?
How does it compare to other French lit you’ve read?
What was the most striking bit of prose in it you can remember? Best paragraph?
What books have you read that you would say are strictly superior to it?

>> No.21875564

>>21875443
I read the most recent translations, which is a collection of translators.
Better than Flaubert and Balzac. Haven't read any other Frenchies
I can't remember any prose, but the parts in the book where he's at the resort with his grandma are what stick with me most.
I haven't read anything that is superior. Closest may be War and Peace.

>> No.21875572

>>21875564
The most recent translations here being Penguins. When I read the books the seventh wasn't translated so I read CK Scott Moncrieff's translation. I think I may have enjoyed his the most and plan on purchasing the other six when I return to the series.

>> No.21875596

>>21874736
Nice. My German edition has been sitting on my shelves for over two years. Since I finished several 1000+ page books since then I'll get to it eventually tho.

>> No.21875699
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21875699

>>21875414
>but almost all of them had the eye rolling fancy pantsy french aristocracy stuff.
One of the great joys (and recurring themes) of Proust is him spending hundreds of pages fawning over groups or individuals only to deliver the most eviscerating criticism, completely deconstructing the idealised aristocrats or love interests he'd just spent half an eternity describing. If he did not take his time, the effect would not be as powerful. He builds these ridiculous people up only to utterly destroy them.

>> No.21876210

OP here, sorry for disappearing
>>21875443
>Which translation did you read?
First five books were translated by Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, last two by Maciej Żurowski.
>How does it compare to other French lit you’ve read?
I haven't read many other works by French authors honestly, but now I want to read some Balzac and À rebours (main character in this novel is actually based on Robert de Montesquiou, who was Proust's friend and one of his main inspirations for Baron de Charlus).
>What was the most striking bit of prose in it you can remember? Best paragraph?
Most touching passage for me was Elstir's monologue (in second volume maybe?). In it he said that all people who achieved great things were at once lost and did things they later regretted. It's somewhat unique in the whole novel, seemed similar to Dostoyevsky.
>What books have you read that you would say are strictly superior to it?
I don't want to make any judgments really, I've mostly read famous entry level novels. While reading second volume I already knew Proust's work is the most important book for me. I'm not >>21875564 but actually War and Peace would be my second favourite too.

>> No.21876250

>>21875414
I remember a passage of maybe 5 pages long where narrator describes in great detail the way women in the Guermantes family greet people. Among modern readers, people like me who enjoyed all of this are in a minority I guess.

>> No.21876249

>>21874736
Which volume is your favorite?

>> No.21876334

>>21875438
I enjoyed many of them too and I still remember some of the pictures I imagined while reading them. But I just found descriptions of people and emotional states, scenes in salons so much more interesting. In that respect those fragments made me more aware of myself and people around me. I was amazed that in last volume narrator said that he wants his book to serve as a looking glass for the reader to look into himself, introspect and grasp deeper truth about his life. This might be the best reason why I find this book so special.

>> No.21876348

It’s absolute kino for me. I couldn’t believe how he kept iterating on themes and keeping it interesting, and couldn’t believe how engaged I got in some of the characters for a book that some people will say has no story at all. Need to reread it. Maybe I’m an autist but at times it feels like a book written purely for me. 30 pages of 2 guys on a train talking about the etymologies of the place names of the villages they are travelling through? Fuck yes. For me it’s everything they say it is, the best book ever written.

>> No.21876361

>>21874736
Would reading this in English even be worth it? My French is ok but I would probably hate my life doing it.

>> No.21876362

Also:
>>What was the most striking bit of prose in it you can remember? Best paragraph?
Maybe I’m a closet case but the part in Sodom and Gomorrah about the different types of gays, and the “solitary” gay, really struck me

>> No.21876431

>>21876249
As I see it, all of Proust's writing was, in some sense, inspired, motivated and directed by a single vision (described most directly in last volume), as a result whole novel is rather uniform. In a span of one volume many themes reappear, so I don't really have a favourite.
>>21876348
I loved those conversations about etymologies as well. About genealogies and women's clothing too.

>> No.21876496

>>21876362
I remember a passage at the beginning of Sodom and Gomorrah where narrator compared gay men to flowers, because just like some species of flowers have to rely on the uncertainty of wind to reproduce, gay men can only hope to meet each other my chance.

>> No.21876948

>>21876496
The whole section where Proust compares the "mating ritual" of Baron de Charlus and the tailor Jupien to the pollination of a flower by a bee (maybe even a bumblebee? Emphasising the Baron's spherical shape) is just fantastic writing. Proust is a very funny writer, and people don't mention it often enough.

>> No.21877854

>>21876348
I loved the etymology part so much. I've checked into the origin of so many English words since that book and I am absolutely disgusted at how French our language is.
>>21876334
True. I pretty much liked all of it and the book made me very aware of how I look and act, and how everyone else looks and acts. I've noticed so many details on everyone I meet that it feels almost overwhelming. I mostly like his descriptions of nature because he's the only author that's been able to really explain smell in a way that actually conjures it up in my mind while I read. The way the character's focus changes over time is really interesting, with his childhood mostly being related to sights and his adulthood being almost all psychological. At least if I remember right, it's been a few years.

>> No.21878680

Are there any passages you've memorized exactly? There is one sentence I've learnt by heart (here it's my improvised translation): "What else is love if not doubt in young man's heart, who, waiting for his date, fears she will not show up". It's one of many that made me cry like a little bitch. I've read a better part of the novel while being terribly heartbroken from unrequited love.

>> No.21879167

>>21878680
I'm not sure if I recall it perfectly word for word, but close enough. It's that bit about how habit, of all "human plants", is that which requires the least nutritious soil to take root, and that it can flourish on even the most barren cliffs. Habit is of course something Proust talks about again and again, and it's had a profound effect on how I view my life. There are also a few passages about how forgetfulness is the first step to getting over love, to reach a comfortable indifference, which hit me particularly hard as I'd recently broken up with a woman who matched the descriptions of Albertine close enough for me to project her onto the character, which, like Swann in his novel-within-the-novel, just made me want her even more as I'd now forced her into the context of a work of art I love.