Madeleine Dunkers discussion

I've been meaning to read this for years, and something friend Kyle posted last week set the dominoes tumbling and now here we are.

What's your history with Proust?

Welcome aboard, George.

Hi new friends! I'm Kyle's lady and I was very excited to hear that we'd be reading Proust. I'm ashamed to say that even as a French-speaker I have not yet read his work. I'll be reading the novel in its original French and comparing the translation with Kyle's English version. If y'all have any questions about the French / translation, let me know! I'm *hoping* to add some insightful commentary about the text from an English and French speaking point of view. Thank you for inviting me into this group!

I'm really excited to start. I am hoping - if I can find the time - to type out a short summary every week that you can all add on to or fix, if needed. I think it would help in case anyone feels a little lost (I'm not sure how difficult Proust is in that regard) or if anyone checks out the discussions in the future.

Hi there, I am new to Proust and pretty new to French Lit generally (reading Bovary this month as a warm-up!), and got roped into this by Kyle and ATJG as was always looking for an excuse to dunk some madelines!

taylor wrote: "Hi new friends! I'm Kyle's lady and I was very excited to hear that we'd be reading Proust. I'm ashamed to say that even as a French-speaker I have not yet read his work. I'll be reading the novel ..."

Hopefully we can find the time to detail any major differences, as I'm sure everyone here would rather be able to read the original!

Yes kyle I hope to read both versions side by side with you and share our findings!

Hi team--I read 1-4 earlier this year, and needed a brief hiatus. But I like the schedule, and am thinking I'll dive back in with you all come January for The Captive & The Fugitive.

@ Taylor: I'm really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the original. We're lucky to have a French-speaker for this expedition. Very glad to meet you.

@ Kyle: The real-time summary is an excellent idea. I'll add a spot on the group page specifically for it.

@ Ian: Absolutely, friend. Ahoy, from this schooner, gliding past.

@ Everyone: Thanks to each of you for taking part in this. The other day over on Kyle's post that led to all of this, I tossed out the group-read idea on a whim, and now look at us! I'm truly looking forward to going through this masterwork with friends.

Kyle wrote: "I'm really excited to start. I am hoping - if I can find the time - to type out a short summary every week that you can all add on to or fix, if needed. I think it would help in case anyone feels a..."
Hey Kyle - from my experience Proust takes patience more than anything else. It's not really the story that captivates, but the absolutely brilliant way it is written. (I accept the fact that I have only read Moncrieff's rendition, but it's obvious he had something rather special to work with.) - )

Hi. I'm Mark. I'm a friend of ATJG's. I read somewhere into the middle of the Sweet Cheat Gone about ten years ago. I loved it. Proust for me is one of the most unique of the world's great authors. There seems to always be Proust reads going on somewhere. So it's really cool to be in one right from the start! - )

Mark wrote: "Hi. I'm Mark. I'm a friend of ATJG's. I read somewhere into the middle of the Sweet Cheat Gone about ten years ago. I loved it. Proust for me is one of the most unique of the world's great authors...."

I've never heard of it referred to as The Sweet Cheat Gone, only The Fugitive. What version/translation was that?

Hi Ian - It's a 1934, 2-volume, hard cover, Random House, Moncrieff translation.

Same as me, Mark! You and I will have the most Joycean reading experience, while the others the most complete/rigorously edited!

Cool! One of my most favorite words! Joycean ! - )

Which one will you read, George? I must say I am an endnotes addict, which the 1934 edition does lack...

Joyeux anniversaire, M. Proust!

10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922

Oooooooh! That's pretty cool! - )
Suddenly made my day much more interesting!
Thanks, ATJG.

I don't know where I should post this, but does anyone know what the right, unabridged French edition is? I have been looking around, but a lot of them seem too short, and I'l like to get it as a collection for logistical reasons. I'm looking for the newest revision, but I can't seem to find it.

Kyle wrote: "I don't know where I should post this, but does anyone know what the right, unabridged French edition is? I have been looking around, but a lot of them seem too short, and I'l like to get it as a c..."

Might have to wait for payday on this one...

https://www.amazon.com/Recherche-Temp...

Not much cheaper on amazon.fr either, but the edition published by Bibliothèque de la Pléiade is the edition to have. Given the cost, I'd say either inter-library loan this one or settle for the cheap french version.

Oh boy. Know of a cheaper version with the same text? That's a little steep.

Kyle wrote: "Oh boy. Know of a cheaper version with the same text? That's a little steep."

That's the only one I happen to know of, and digging around online yields surprisingly little.

I was shocked at the price too...

This edition looks maybe not abominable?

https://www.amazon.com/Cote-Swann-Col...

It's so hard to tell. it's only 700 pages, but it says collection. Maybe it's shorter in French? I am so lost, and yeah you're right, google has been little help. Thank you for helping, it's overwhelming with there being so many editions and translations, the waters are muddy.

Kyle wrote: "It's so hard to tell. it's only 700 pages, but it says collection. Maybe it's shorter in French? I am so lost, and yeah you're right, google has been little help. Thank you for helping, it's overwh..."

Well, the last one linked above is just volume one, Swann's Way, but that publisher seems to have the whole series available as individual volumes. Sorry I can't definitively say one way or another, but if it were me, I'd maybe go that route.

ATJG wrote: "Kyle wrote: "It's so hard to tell. it's only 700 pages, but it says collection. Maybe it's shorter in French? I am so lost, and yeah you're right, google has been little help. Thank you for helping..."

Oh I see! Thank you so much for your help. I will likely just order that one.

ATJG, can you find me a copy tranlated into colloquial Basque? I'm willing to pay upwards of 25 bucks, 30 if bound in warm leatherette

I'm assuming that you chose colloquial Basque over the more formal academic Basque to keep the price more reasonable?

That and the fact that academic Basque comes off the page rattling like a handful of dried peas in a bladder, while the colloquial swings with the heat of the street!

W.D. wrote: "ATJG, can you find me a copy tranlated into colloquial Basque? I'm willing to pay upwards of 25 bucks, 30 if bound in warm leatherette"

Good news and bad on that front, W.D. The Basque version was made by a semi-literate retired goatherd, and for that reason, it can perhaps be said to be colloquial. It's certainly not the glottal and baroque Basque of the academy. The downside is the goatherd was translating from a waterlogged copy of a the notorious pirate Esperanto edition that began to surface in the street bookstalls of Bilbao in the 1960s. This volume typically goes for in the neighborhood of $12, but I'll sell you my copy rebound in untanned goat hide to honor its translator for a cool $20.

George wrote: "I want the Swahili audiobook, ATG."

This will take some time...

That was fun! A fitting tribute on the Maestro's birthday! - )

Cool George, love those l'il SoL potted videos, didn't know they had one for Proust. Hopefully we don't have to read the narrator's (Alain de Botton's) How Proust Can Save Your Life though, do we? ;)

W.D. wrote: "Cool George, love those l'il SoL potted videos, didn't know they had one for Proust. Hopefully we don't have to read the narrator's (Alain de Botton's) How Proust Can Save Your Life though, do we? ;)"

Hell no we don't. Alain de Botton is a blight on the mind.

ATJG wrote: "Good news and bad on that front, W.D. The Basque version was made by a semi-literate retired goatherd, and for that reason, it can perhaps be said to be colloquial. It's certainly not the glottal and baroque Basque of the academy."
How did I miss this? Lay some of that Baroque goat-song on me!

W.D. wrote: "Lay some of that Baroque goat-song on me! "

Hem hem...translating on the fly, here: "Yesteryear I cotted early. Sometimes, the lamp dead, I would find myself in the dark so fast I wouldn't have time to say, 'I am descending.' Later the thinking it was time finally to sleep, this thought would awaken me. "

George wrote: "Not sure if this is where to put this, nor if you all have seen it, but this is a nice little video about Proust.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mLdo..."

The perfect primer for me, thanks. Can't wait to get started.

ATJG wrote: Hem hem...translating on the fly, here: "Yesteryear I cotted early. Sometimes, the lamp dead, I would find myself in the dark so fast I wou..."
Good work! Now, how about doing it in Irvine Welsh, Edinburgh slang? (Trainspotting style)?

W.D. wrote: "ATJG wrote: Hem hem...translating on the fly, here: "Yesteryear I cotted early. Sometimes, the lamp dead, I would find myself in the dark so fast I wou..."
Good work! Now, how about doing it in Irv..."

"Likesay, fer ah long time Ah went ta bed early. Tha fuckin lamp'd go out afore Ah could tell mahself 'Yer fallin asleep, cunt'."

George wrote: "I have to say, if these chats discourage people from the group, then we shan't want them. This is amazing."

I have to agree, George. What's a few 4-letter words amongst friends about to voyage 4,421 pages in one another's company?

ATJG wrote: "What's a few 4-letter words amongst friends about to voyage 4,421 pages in one another's company? "
Um, on top of the "What To Pack Checklist", perhaps?

George wrote: "W.D., you should pack a lot of tea and whisk(e)y, or maybe some absinthe. I guess some madeleines as well, for dunking."
[Kenyan] Tea and [Islay Single Malt] whiskey: my favourite uppers and downers, how'd you know, George?! It's gonna take a lot of the former to keep up with youse guyz, and too too much of the latter to stomach all of *your* cussin' and taking of names in vain!

Oh Ardbeg is very good but Laphroaig is my preference... Should I include my snail mail address? ;D

Hello all! I looked to have jumped aboard a little late, but blimey, I must say all this (and I do mean the books and the banter) are terribly exciting. I'm Uday, and full disclosure, I was already one third through Swann's Way when W.D. invited me, an offence for which he assured I would not be guillotined.

Looking forward to the reading :)

Welcome, Uday! - )

Glad to have you aboard Uday! You can scout ahead while we stragglers lollygag behind... As for the guillotine, our revolutionary banter is more a true symposium ("drinking together") and therefore a Reign of Terroir!

Glad to have you, Uday!

W.D. wrote: "Glad to have you aboard Uday! You can scout ahead while we stragglers lollygag behind... As for the guillotine, our revolutionary banter is more a true symposium ("drinking together") and therefore..."

Haha, don't worry, I'm bound to fall behind at some point in August and September when coursework takes over (Academia, bloody hell). I really like how much ample time is given for each volume, hopefully I'll be up to that.

How's everyone doing on this? I had some stuff come up and wasn't able to finish my current read as quickly as I had hoped so I'll be starting a bit late. Really excited to get started, though.

Just started, Kyle: Page 5 (though each of my edition counts for two, so I'm chuffed with myself :D )

Just passed 200 but I cheated and started early. Honestly, I'm surprised by how breezy and quick it is to read so far.