One Year In Search of Lost Time ~ 2015 discussion

"So what I need to do is to corner him now, while there are just the two of us, say to him: "Right, vote for me", and he'll have no alternative'" (~41.95%).

Oops. I need to finish this week's reading. Thanks for the reminder. :)

You're welcome, BP. It was quite entertaining. Much of the conversation was very funny.

i've fallen a bit behind, but i'm looking forward to catching up quickly :)

Teresa wrote: "You're welcome, BP. It was quite entertaining. Much of the conversation was very funny."

Of course the antisemitism wasn't funny to me and Proust shows how snobbish these people are. Poor Bloch.

Possible inspirations for Mme de Villeparisis:


Comtesse de Boigne (1781–1866), celebrated memoirist:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad%C3%A8...

Painter Madeleine Lemaire's salon, which Proust frequented and wrote about in Le Figaro:

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2152/58...


http://a400.idata.over-blog.com/5/57/...


http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil...


http://www.photo.rmn.fr/archive/96-02...

Madeleine Lemaire is also a possible inspiration for Mme Verdurin...

In 1896 Proust published "Les Plaisirs et les jours" which has an introduction by Anatole France (inspiration for Bergotte), illustrations by Madeleine Lemaire and music by Reynaldo Hahn (Proust's lover):





http://catalogue.drouot.com/ref-drouo...

Book Portrait wrote: "Possible inspirations for Mme de Villeparisis:


Comtesse de Boigne (1781–1866), celebrated memoirist:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad%C3%A8...

Painter Madeleine Lemaire's salon, which ..."

Always curious why/how Proust chooses one name over another.
At first I thought Madame de Villeparisis was from a village called Paris, but then, while I was reading Balzac....I came upon this:
http://villeparisis-histoire.over-blo...

Maybe going back to the notebooks...via the BnF.
Example: Contra Sainte-Beuve
http://gallicalabs.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/...

Search here:
http://gallica.bnf.fr/?lang=EN

I didn't enjoy this part that much. I'm always struggling a bit and being impatient with the high society saloon meetings, if they're not talking about music or something else reasonable, that is. I just find their talk and elitism, antisemitism, conservatism etc. mindnumbingly naive and uninteresting. I understand that that's part of the point, and the characters and dynamics in this high society are somewhat interesting, but I'm struggling to really enjoy it.

And then there's the discussions of the Dreyfus affair. Again, it's interesting how the characters position themselves, and what they show of common political opinions, but all in all it's a bit vain too, in my eyes.

I just enjoyed much more Elstir, the girls or other parts of the book without high-society elitism and with more inspired dialogue.

Simon wrote: "I didn't enjoy this part that much. I'm always struggling a bit and being impatient with the high society saloon meetings, if they're not talking about music or something else reasonable, that is. ..."

I had the same feeling the first time I read this volume. It paled in comparison to books 1 and 2 with the childhood memories of Combray, the Balbec vacations, the descriptions of nature, budding love, etc. This long long long visit to Mme de Villeparisis' salon seemed repetitive and endless. I wonder if Proust just couldn't resist adding details, having such a wealth of material from his own Le Figaro articles on the salons he attended as a young man...

Surprisingly this time around I didn't feel that way, although it's still not one of my favorite parts. We'll see these characters again and again: Norpois, Villeparisis, les Guermantes. While the first time I read they all blended together in my numbed mind, this time each one had a stronger outline and trajectory. Proust puts so many details and "stylish embellishments" that his writing is dense and very enjoyable, maybe even more enjoyable, as a reread...

But take heart! The salon scene is almost over. It ends in the middle of week V which sees the return of Baron de Charlus (always an entertaining character!)...

Ah, thank you, Book Portrait, that is encouraging! You said it right, the first time around all those saloon characters blend into an indistinguishable mess, but i already had a hunch that it would be interesting if you knew the characters better and could see how they develop there.
In any case, my quest to catch up wasn't affected too much by this :)