loafingcactus’s Reviews > Swann’s Way > Status Update
loafingcactus
is starting
I am co-reading the original French and Lydia Davis' translation, and while I have not read any other translations I am so completely delighted by the Lydia Davis. Proust is so very special (I am finding reading the first few pages ever in my life) and she is capturing ever word of it.
The "experts" say to do at least 5 pages at a time, but I have work & responsibilities so 1-2 pages a sitting, 3 times a week so far
— Jan 07, 2025 08:16AM
The "experts" say to do at least 5 pages at a time, but I have work & responsibilities so 1-2 pages a sitting, 3 times a week so far
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loafingcactus’s Previous Updates
loafingcactus
is on page 165 of 468
I've been feeling like absolutely no one understands what it is like to have read Proust unless they have done it, and then I went and looked at the Goodreads reviews and many of them are so dull and everyday... what book did these people read. Meanwhile I'm here fighting for my life, hoping Proust will let me go after one book!
— Jun 21, 2025 08:01AM
loafingcactus
is on page 77 of 468
I like this development of the sick aunt as a different view of sickness from the sick protagonist, and of course there is the sick author. I wish there were a good, current, disability studies analysis of this book (from a sick/disabled person, I don't care to hear from an abled on it and they wouldn't get it right).
— Apr 02, 2025 09:43AM
loafingcactus
is on page 72 of 468
I think it would be okay for most people to read part 1 of chapter 1 and call it a day. It gets the experience of touching Proust down. In the Lydia Davis translation if reading English.
Things change very much from there forward, I guess no one could carry on at that level for very long. Not that it's bad, but part 1 of chapter 1 is... untouchable. A universe of perfection away from anything else written.
— Mar 29, 2025 11:23AM
Things change very much from there forward, I guess no one could carry on at that level for very long. Not that it's bad, but part 1 of chapter 1 is... untouchable. A universe of perfection away from anything else written.
loafingcactus
is on page 56 of 468
Everyone says that part 1 of chapter 1 is one of the most difficult things ever written in French and it had me questioning my life choices! I did not think I knew French! I struggled through 1 paragraph a day. Turn to part 2 of chapter 1 and suddenly I know French again I read 3 pages at once and understood them.
— Mar 04, 2025 06:59PM
loafingcactus
is on page 24 of 468
I am on page 24 of my French edition... Proust writes like a thesaurus, there is no learning the author's favorite vocabulary of 2,000 words or whatever and getting on with it, he uses all the words. My French isn't all that anyway. So I read 2 pages of French and then 2 pages of Lydia Davis, which has all the words and the poetry and I am delighted with and recommend as a translation, based on so far.
— Feb 08, 2025 09:08AM
