Brain Pain discussion

Week 4 - Feb. 6

This week's discussion covers:

4. The Narrator's relationship with the Swanns II
Penguin: 151-217
Vintage:173-251
First paragraph: "Leaving my parents, I went upstairs to change my clothes and on emptying my pockets came suddenly upon the envelope..."

And, despite hardware malfunctions (my laptop broke down last week and that's why I haven't been able to go online and participate in the discussion lately, I'm really sorry :/), we're slowly (?) making our way through Proust. Thankfully this is the last section of the first part and after this we're heading to the beach which will hopefully be a bit more exciting. Admittedly, there are interesting things going on in this part of the book (Rachel, for example), but I feel like I'm reaching that point in a marathon when the excitement of the initial rush of adrenaline is gone and you're just realizing that your muscles hurt and they're going to hurt for a very long while because you still have a very long way to go before the finish. Perhaps my mistake was to stretch out Proust over a long period of time instead of zipping through it over the Christmas holiday. What is your preferred way of taking Proust? Gulp it down quickly to get it over with, or sip it carefully and slowly although you risk it getting cold? I'm sorry if these questions about the reading process itself seem tedious and repetitive, but I think the shared experience of reading a text is just as important as making sense of the text (if that's what we can call debating over issues in the text).

Anyway, I think the most interesting issue of the whole of At Mme Swann's is how very Mrs Robinson-like Madame Swann is, in fact, the whole relationship between the Narrator and the Swann family is weird and vaguely incestuous. There's no At Gilberte's part although we've now been at Swann's and at his wife's - well, what? House, home, room, space? The French "chez Mme Swann" is maybe a bit more ambiguous and suggestive than the English "at Mme Swann's". At the same time, maybe the English does work better because English uses the phrase "somebody's side of the story" and you do get a sense that each of these bits were somebody's side of the story. The Swanns seem relatively (?) knowable, Gilberte remains mysterious so her side of the story can't be told? How does this all work with the seemingly classical/traditional 3rd person narrator in Swann in Love (remember how great that part was?). What do you think? How are you holding up? Will Mme Swann make an obvious pass at the Narrator? (I keep waiting for her to do so because it would make the book so much more lively.)

And apologies again for my absence. We're getting closer and closer to deadlines and it's usually hard to find a free computer in the library.

Andreea wrote: "I feel like I'm reaching that point in a marathon when the excitement of the initial rush of adrenaline is gone and you're just realizing that your muscles hurt and they're going to hurt for a very long while because you still have a very long way to go before the finish. Perhaps my mistake was to stretch out Proust over a long period of time instead of zipping through it over the Christmas holiday. What is your preferred way of taking Proust? Gulp it down quickly to get it over with, or sip it carefully and slowly although you risk it getting cold?..."

What's difficult, of course, is that there's little to breakup the story. He goes on and on for so long about a single idea it's hard to figure out what to discuss. For example in this segment, the narrator does his own version of "Swann in Love" (Marcel pining for Gilberte instead of Swann for Odette), but a neurotic, caffeine-addled version which, rather than making me sympathize with his plight, makes me want to shake him violently until his neck snaps. In other words, breaking it up into pieces seems to make it somehow less interesting to discuss, so maybe reading this volume as two long segments would have worked better. Something to consider when (if) we continue with
The Guermantes Way

Andreea wrote: "Will Mme Swann make an obvious pass at the Narrator? (I keep waiting for her to do so because it would make the book so much more lively.)..."

I can't imagine she would. Marcel, like Swann, is a natural-born cuckold type. He will give attention, flowers, and gifts, which Odette enjoys, but hardly arouses amour in Odette or Gilberte. He would pay the bills (including the laundry bill for the linen soiled by the Odette and her "clients") but seldom would he fill the role of lover.

Warning to all: I found Proust on my mother's bookshelves and began (with "Cities of the Plain") when I was ten. I have begun rereading him for the--what? It's in the hundredths, at least. U finished Swann's Way last week and have begun Within A Budding Grove; I found this website by googling King Theodosius. I, too, have wondered who Proust cld have been basing him on...never found a satisfactory answer. But a few years ago, reading an annotated edition of Mme. de Sevigne's Letters, I think I know where Proust got the name. Mme. de Sevigne's cousin, (Comte?) Bussy de Rabutin, wrote a scandalous roman a clef (with accompanying key) called An Amorous History of the Gauls, an expose of the immoral life of the Sun King's court. In it, Louis XIV was given the name "King Theodosius" (and Bussy was exiled to his estates for most of the rest of his life). It is hard to imagine that Proust wld not have been familiar with this...Mme. de. S. being his favorite writer (or at least, his Narrator's).

Elizabeth wrote: "Warning to all: I found Proust on my mother's bookshelves and began (with "Cities of the Plain") when I was ten. I have begun rereading him for the--what? It's in the hundredths, at least. U fini..."

I have Madame de Sevigne's letters on my tbr shelf and should read it soon.

Happy to have you in the group, but since you are reading Proust, you might also like to visit this group, which is reading all seven volumes this year. They're currently on volume one, but will be starting volume two on February 25th.

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/7...

If you have time, please take a look at our schedule for the year and join in with our discussions.

The Jan 21 edition of the New Yorker has a lovely gouache (full page) of Proust & his mother; look it up, it's lovely. February is the 100th anniversary of "Swann's Way."

Elizabeth wrote: "The Jan 21 edition of the New Yorker has a lovely gouache (full page) of Proust & his mother; look it up, it's lovely. February is the 100th anniversary of "Swann's Way.""

Will look that up. If you're interested in Proust's life, an excellent biography by William Carter is being reissued in March. Here's the link:

http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/bo...

I wrote this years ago; it's called "A Proustiary." Here are the first couple of lines:
A is for Andree,
And the dark Albertine.

B is for Berma,
Interpreter of Racine.

C is for Camus,
Grocer of Combray.

D is for Doncieres,
Home of St-Loup en Bray.

Well, it goes on and on. I'm having a lot of trouble with S, T, and W. (X is no problem; they brought in the X-ray for Tante Leonie, remember?)

Elizabeth wrote: "I wrote this years ago; it's called "A Proustiary." Here are the first couple of lines:
A is for Andree,
And the dark Albertine.

B is for Berma,
Interpreter of Racine.

C is for Camus,
Grocer of..."

Well of course,
"S is for Swann,
Shall I go on?"

second part isn't very good, but I'll leave it to you. Why don't you post the whole poem in your profile. I don't remember exactly how to do it, but you can post your creative writing as part of your profile.

No, Swann is in another place:

M is for Mamma,
Who wouldnt come kiss.

N is for Narrator,
Nervous as piss.

O is for Odette,
Who tormented Swann...

So you see, I've got him covered. I've thought of Saniette (who I love), St-Loup's been done (as you saw), Mme Sazerat (too minor)...Sevigne, tho she hardly counts as a character...

Elizabeth wrote: "No, Swann is in another place:

M is for Mamma,
Who wouldnt come kiss.

N is for Narrator,
Nervous as piss.

O is for Odette,
Who tormented Swann...

So you see, I've got him covered. I've thought..."

Maybe you could change it to:

O is for Odette
Who turned into a Swann

Technically, Madame Swann could be thought of as another character (as opposed to Odette de Crecy), freeing up Monsieur Swann for the "S" part of the Proutiary. I'm sure that would be legal for most Proustians...

I like it!