One Year In Search of Lost Time ~ 2015 discussion

Our reading ends "...the idea of seeing her again would spring back from the far distance where it had been kept into the field of the present as an immediate possibility" (p. 422; ~71.7).

I finished this section at the beginning of the week, so I'll see if I can remember my thoughts from my reading.

One thing that stood out for me is the humor in the description of Odette in relation to Botticelli females:

She reminded him, even more than was usual, of the faces of some of the women created by the painter of the Primavera. She had, at that moment, their downcast, heartbroken expression, which seems ready to succumb beneath the burden of a grief too heavy to be borne, when they are merely allowing the Infant Jesus to play with a pomegranate ...

I may never look at a Botticelli in the same way.

And of stylistic interest to me was this conflation of the narrator's memories with Swann's story:

A moment later she added, inarticulate with rage: "No, but, don't you see, the filthy creature..." using unconsciously, and perhaps in satisfaction of the same obscure need to justify herself — like Françoise at Combray when the chicken refused to die — the very words which the last convulsions of an inoffensive animal in its death agony wring from the peasant who is engaged in taking its life.

Also, if you are reading an edition without notes, as I am, you might find this helpful for the pun-laden dinner scene:

'Cottard's euphemism for lavatory relates in part to the "male" of Duc d'Aumale and to the pronunciation of "au" as "eau" which is water in French.'

and a note from the Davis translation:

"The Marquise Diane de Saint-Paul, a brilliant pianist and scandal-monger, was known in Proust's circle as the 'serpent a sonates,' or 'sonata-snake.' The nickname is a play on the word for rattlesnake, serpent a sonnettes."

http://involuntarymemory.blogspot.com...

interesting points, Theresa, especially that stylistic one. i had also wondered about the coexistence of the narrator's memories and his omiscience of Swann's story, and that passage connects the two.

i found this part an excellent and extensive display of the infatuations and mad worries of love. how jealous Swann is! that shows that even such a wise and calm man of letters as Swann can succumb to the irrationalities of love (not implying that's a bad thing).

I also wonder if this love of Swann's isn't an obstacle to his life. they don't have much in common, she can never understand him and the art he loves, and it is difficult to imagine a happy, lasting future for them. also, he retracts from society, quite becoming misanthropic over his jealousy. then again, it gives him an intensity of emotions and a relationship. what do you think?

I'd write more and quote, but i only have access to mobile devices right now.

Simon wrote: "... then again, it gives him an intensity of emotions and a relationship. what do you think?"

Swann seems to be a writer of sorts and the love affair might fuel his writing (unless of course it causes him to abandon it when unsettled by his jealousies), but it seems he's only writing a monograph on Vermeer.

Swann seems totally overwhelmed by his infatuation with Odette. One moment he appears to see her reality, then he agrees to pay for her trip with others! then he belittles himself again. She, on the other hand, seems to be managing it quite well with the assistance of the Verdurins.

I have to admit I was a bit put out with Swann for a time in this segment. Perhaps I expected him to be smarter, less led by his heart. Then I began to let myself go and be led by the prose again and fell in to the writing again. By the end of this segment, I found myself back in sync with Proust.

I agree Sue! I have to admit that Swann is driving me a little crazy. I did get swept up in the last segment (and beginning of this one) where he and Odette seemed to be falling in love, but through most of this section I just wanted to shake him. This seems to be a pretty clear 'she's just not that into you,' situation. He's a well respected, educate man of a certain class with a lot of experience with the ladies, or so I took to understand earlier on. He should know better!

Steph wrote: "I agree Sue! I have to admit that Swann is driving me a little crazy. I did get swept up in the last segment (and beginning of this one) where he and Odette seemed to be falling in love, but throu..."

I guess this is where all those truisms come from, like "love is blind", etc/

Swann drives me crazy too. It's hard to respect him until I remember that as a reader of my own history I often drive myself crazy. Nothing makes us as stupid as infatuation.

Because I loved the first part of Swann's Way so much I get excited every time the narrator allows himself to appear. It helps me realize that despite the seeming irrelevance of this extended aside, Swann's love is somehow important to the narrator's story. More than that, it makes me wonder how much of the narrative of Swann's love is affected by the narrator's story to come. It’s so obvious to me that it seems trivial that the events and experiences of my life, the ideology I develop and the values I cultivate all have an effect on how I interpret the histories of other people, especially the people who are closely connected to me. Whether their histories mirror or justify my experience, contrast or conflict with it, I have a singular perspective on their history which influences how I understand it. Maybe this is the narrator's way of admitting to his reader that he has a perspective on Swann's story which isn’t entirely disinterested, that the story he narrates in the omniscient mode isn't entirely objective after all.

Jacob -- I am taken with that perspective on Swann and by extrapolation on the overall concepts of the work as whole which I had taken away from the earlier reading. I will keep this in mind as I pick up Swann's Way in the near future for my very leisurely reread.

Jacob wrote: "Swann drives me crazy too. It's hard to respect him until I remember that as a reader of my own history I often drive myself crazy. Nothing makes us as stupid as infatuation.

Because I loved the f..."

Much food for thought. Thanks Jacob.

Jacob wrote: "Swann drives me crazy too. It's hard to respect him until I remember that as a reader of my own history I often drive myself crazy. Nothing makes us as stupid as infatuation."

Yes! I was never annoyed at Swann as I kept remembering my own crazy infatuations... it actually amazed me how on point Proust's observations and situations were, the inconstancy in his actions and that mad point where this happens: the person gives you too much attention, you're a little "hey back off"; when they take it away, you're "omg why don't you love me?". LOL