Marcel Proust (1871–1922)
Author of Swann's Way
About the Author
Proust is one of the seminal figures in modern literature, matched only in stature by Joyce, Woolf, Mann and Kafka. By the last decade of the 19th century, the charming and ambitious Proust, born into a wealthy bourgeois family, was already a famous Paris socialite who attended the most fashionable show more salons of the day. The death of his parents in the early years of the 20th century, coupled with his own increasingly ill health, made of Proust a recluse who confined himself to his cork-lined bedroom on the Boulevard Haussmann. There he concentrated on the composition of his great masterpiece, Remembrance of Things Past (1913-27). In recent years, it was discovered that he had already prepared a first draft of the work in the 1890s in Jean Santeuil, which was only published posthumously in 1952. Remembrance of Things Past resists summary. Seeming at turns to be fiction, autobiography, and essay, Remembrance is a vast meditation on the relationship between time, memory, and art. In it the narrator, who bears the same first name as the author, attempts to reconstruct his life from early childhood to middle age. In the process, he surveys French society at the turn of the century and describes the eventual decline of the aristocracy in the face of the rising middle class. The process of reconstruction of Marcel's past life is made possible by the psychological device of involuntary memory; according to this theory, all of our past lies hidden within us only to be rediscovered and brought to the surface by some unexpected sense perception. In the final volume of the work, the narrator, who has succeeded in recapturing his past, resolves to preserve it through the Work of Art, his novel. He died of pneumonia and a pulmonary abscess in 1922. He was buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Marcel Proust
Series
Works by Marcel Proust
In Search of Lost Time: Swann's Way, In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower & The Guermantes Way (2002) 166 copies
In Search of Lost Time; Swann's Way, In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower Part I & Sketches (1987) 156 copies, 1 review
In Search of Lost Time; In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower Part II, The Guermantes Way & Sketches (1988) — Author — 113 copies, 1 review
In Search of Lost Time; Sodom and Gomorrah, The Captive & Sketches (1988) — Author — 98 copies, 1 review
Contre Sainte-Beuve, précédé de Pastiches et mélanges et suivi de Essais et articles (1971) 29 copies, 1 review
Auf der Suche nach der verlorenen Zeit. Gesamtausgabe: Bände 1–8: Vollständige Textausgabe mit Kommentarband (German Edition) (2017) 19 copies
In Search of Lost Time Vol 2 18 copies
A La Recherche du Temps Perdu, Tome 1: Du Cote de Chez Swann / A L'Hombre des Jeunes Filles en Fleurs (1954) 17 copies
The Fugitive Time Regained 11 copies
The Fugitive (with Time Regained) 11 copies
Flimmern des Herzens: Auf der Suche nach der verlorenen Zeit - in der Urfassung (Die Andere Bibliothek, Band 395) (2017) 8 copies
Op zoek naar de verloren tijd. In de schaduw van de bloeiende meisjes. Dl. 3: Plaatsnamen : de plaats (vervolg) (1978) 8 copies
El remitente misterioso y otros relatos / The Mysterious Correspondent: New Stories (Spanish Edition) (2021) 8 copies
Rememberance of Things Past (volume 2) : Cities of the plain , the Captive, The Sweet Cheat Gone , The Past Recaptured (1932) 8 copies
Jean Santeuil: Volume II 7 copies
Proust: Remembrance of Things Past 7 copies
In Search of Lost Time: Finding Time Again: Finding Time Again v. 6 (Penguin Modern Classics) by Marcel Proust (2003-10-02) (2005) 7 copies
In Search of Lost Time: Vol 1 6 copies
the fugitive time regained 5 copies
In Search Of Lost Time, Vol. 3 5 copies
Choix de lettres 4 copies
Jean Santeuil: Volume III 4 copies
Marcel Proust: Remembrance of Things Past: or In Search of Lost Time (Complete) (Bauer Classics) (All Time Best Writers Book 9) (2020) 4 copies
Obras Completas III - JEAN SANTEUIL - LOS PLACERES Y LOS DIAS - PARODIAS Y MISCELANEA - ENSAYOS LITERARIOS (2004) 3 copies
In Search Of Lost Time Volume 4 3 copies
In Search of Lost Time, Volume iV 3 copies
A LA RECHERCHE DU TEMPS PERDU - Tome II. Edition établie et annotée par Pierre CLARAC et André FERRE. (1978) 3 copies
Classic French Fiction: first 4 volumes of A La Recherche du Temps perdu, in French with active table of contents (French Edition) (2009) 3 copies
Cher Ami - Votre Marcel Proust: Marcel Proust in the Mirror of His Correspondence (French and German Edition) (2009) 3 copies
A la recherche du temps perdu, tome 1 : Du côté de chez Swann; A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs 3 copies
In Search of Lost Time: Vol 5 3 copies
בעקבות הזמן האבוד 1 3 copies
Petit pan de mur jaune d'après la vue de Delf de Vermeer, suivi de 'Les Écarts d'une vision" (1986) 3 copies
Correspondance : 1914-1922 3 copies
REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST. Translated by C.K. Scott Moncrieff and Frederick A. Blossom. Two Volumes. (1934) 3 copies
In Search of Lost Time: Vol. 3 2 copies
À la recherche du temps perdu - II - À l’ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs (Troisième partie) (2014) 2 copies
A selection from his miscellaneous writings, chosen and translated by Gerard Hopkins (1948) 2 copies
Pleasure and Days 2 copies
Bd. 1. In Swanns Welt 2 copies
À la recherche du temps perdu - II - À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs (Deuxième partie) (2014) 2 copies
Morceaux choisis de Marcel Proust, Gallimard, Paris, 1927 — Author — 2 copies
Personaggi 2 copies
Prizoniera 2 copies
37. Crónicas 2 copies
Proust Instantanés: Extraits de La Recherche choisis et commentés par Philippe Delerm (2022) 2 copies
Swanns Way - Penguin Drop Caps 2 copies
Crónicas 2 copies
Obras Completas, vol. II 2 copies
À la recherche du temps perdu V-VI 2 copies
" Cher ami... ": Une histoire épistolaire de la publication d' A la recherche du temps perdu (2019) 2 copies
Correspondance générale de marcel proust. tome 2 : lettres à la comtesse de noailles 1901-1919 2 copies
Lettres retrouvées 2 copies
Διαβάζοντας (μέρες ανάγνωσης) 2 copies
Fiche de lecture Le Côté de Guermantes de Marcel Proust (Analyse littéraire de référence et résumé complet) (French Edition) (2017) 2 copies
Ἀναζητώντας τόν χαμένο χρόνο 2 copies
In Search Of Lost Time, Vol 2: Within a Budding Grove: Within a Budding Grove Vol 2 (Vintage Classics) by Marcel Proust (1996-12-05) (1713) 2 copies
Nga ana e Suanit 2 copies
Alla ricerca del tempo perduto 4 2 copies
Remembrance of Things Past: 3 2 copies
Ο αδιάφορος : Και άλλα κείμενα των νεανικών του χρόνων (L'indifférent: et autres textes de jeunesse; Fayard/Mille et une nuits (2006),… (2015) 2 copies
Proust [Texte imprimé] 1 copy
PASTICHES ET MELANGES 1 copy
בעקבות הזמן האבוד 1 copy
בעקבות הזמן האבוד 3 1 copy
בעקבות הזמן האבוד 4 1 copy
Lettere (1912-1922) 1 copy
The Guermantes Way: Part Two 1 copy
Giornate di lettura 1 copy
Répertoire des personnages de À la recherche du temps perdu: Précédé de la Vie Sociale Dans l'Oeuvre de Marcel Proust (2019) 1 copy
A la recherche du temps perdu. Le cote de Guermantes / V poiskah utrachennogo vremeni. U Germantov. Roman (In Russian) (2005) 1 copy
In Search of Lost Time (in 2 vols) T2 / V poiskakh utrachennogo vremeni (v 2-kh tt) t2 (2009) 1 copy
KUR DASHURONTE SUANI 1 copy
Pamyati ubityh tserkvey 1 copy
Под сенью дев, увенчанных цветами (Иностранная литература. Большие книги) (Russian Edition) (2020) 1 copy
In Search of Lost Time vremeni.obretennoe / V poiskakh utrachennogo vremeni.Obretennoe vremya (2007) 1 copy
Memory & Style 1 copy
Hommage à Marcel Proust — Contributor — 1 copy
Guermantes ☆ 1 copy
Guermantes Way, The 1 copy
La prisionera V 1 copy
El tiempo recobrado VII 1 copy
On the Trails of Criticism 1 copy
Saint-Loup: A Portrait 1 copy
Un amour de swann 1 copy
Una precauzione inutile 1 copy
La prigoniera 1 copy
잃어버린 시간을 찾아서 1~6권 세트 (전 6권) 1 copy
Saggi 1 copy
Lettere alla vicina 1 copy
I racconti 1 copy
Against Saint Beuve 1 copy
P ̄sporet af den tabte tid 1 copy
Eseuri 1 copy
Le Côté de Guermantes II 1 copy
SOBRE A LEITURA 1 copy
Les Sixante-Quinze Feuillets 1 copy
Venice & A Fan 1 copy
Bên phía nhà Swann 1 copy
Radosti a dny 1 copy
Lettres inédites 1 copy
Textes Retrouvés. Recueillis par Philip Kolb, avec un Bibliographie. Édition revue et augmentée. (1971) 1 copy
Overture 1 copy
Aphorisms 1 copy
In Search Of Lost Time, Vol 5-6: The Captive & The Fugitive — Author — 1 copy
Tempo ritrovato 1 copy
Pages choisies 1 copy
Correspondance, Vol 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 ,13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 1 copy, 1 review
Œuvres 1 copy
Rozkose a dni 1 copy
Un relato de Marcel Proust 1 copy
Remembrance Of Things Past. (In Search of Lost Time). Integral Version: Volume I to VII (2017) 1 copy
Lettere 1 copy
Life & Work of Marcel Proust 1 copy
Remembrance of things past 1 copy
Hledání ztraceného času II 1 copy
Lettere ai miei personaggi 1 copy
Cahiers Marcel Proust 1 1 copy
Hledání ztraceného času III 1 copy
Lettres de Marcel Proust 1 copy
all 1 copy
Le côté de Guermantes. Tom 1 1 copy
Gegen Sainte-Beuve 1 copy
Marcel Proust: Selected Letters, Vol. 4: 1918-1922. Edited and translated by Joanna Kilmartin. 1 copy
Proust on Reading 1 copy
In Search of Lost Time 1 1 copy
À propos de Baudelaire 1 copy
Le Côté de Guermantes 2 & Sodome et Gomorhe 1 / À la recherche du temps perdu / Illustrations de Philippe Jullian / Tome IV (1954) 1 copy
That Is How He Loved... 1 copy
Fugara 1 copy
In Search Of Lost Time Volume 2: v. 2 (Everyman's Library Classics) by Marcel Proust (2001-06-29) 1 copy
Old Macdonald (Chunky Sound) 1 copy
The Gift of Fairies 1 copy
Quatre peintres 1 copy
The Awareness of Loving Her 1 copy
In the Underworld 1 copy
A Captain's Reminiscence 1 copy
Pauline de S. 1 copy
EN BUSCA DE S MISMO 1 copy
La vida en parís 1 copy
La muerte de las catedrales y otros textos Marcel Proust ; traducción, edición y notas, Máximo Higuera Molero (2013) 1 copy
The Stranger 1 copy
Tage des Lesens drei Essays 1 copy
Os Parazeres e os Dias 1 copy
Fiche de lecture Du côté de chez Swann de Marcel Proust (analyse littéraire de référence et résumé complet) (2014) 1 copy
Pastiches et mélanges 1 copy
Revue Europe 496-497 : Centenaire de Marcel Proust — Contributor — 1 copy
" V poiskakh utrachennogo vremeni". (T.-1.) — Author — 1 copy
Jean Santeuil - tomo I 1 copy
Associated Works
Choice Cuts: A Savory Selection of Food Writing from Around the World and Throughout History (2002) — Contributor — 367 copies, 2 reviews
Remembrance of Things Past, Part 2: Within a Budding Grove, Vol. 2 (2002) — Contributor — 151 copies, 7 reviews
Proust's Duchess: How Three Celebrated Women Captured the Imagination of Fin-de-Siècle Paris (2018) — Illustrator, some editions — 141 copies, 3 reviews
Remembrance of Things Past, Part 2: Within a Budding Grove, Vol. 1 (2000) — Contributor — 106 copies, 5 reviews
Remembrance of Things Past, Part 3: Swann in Love, Vol. 1 (2006) — Contributor — 86 copies, 1 review
Remembrance of Things Past, Part 3: Swann in Love, Vol. 2 (2006) — Contributor — 47 copies, 1 review
Venice Stories (Everyman's Library Pocket Classics Series) (2018) — Contributor — 40 copies, 1 review
Profil d'une œuvre. A la recherche du temps perdu, Proust (1992) — Contributor — 24 copies, 2 reviews
In Search of Lost Time: In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower: A Graphic Novel (2012) — Contributor — 24 copies, 1 review
Remembrance of Things Past, Part 4: Place Names: The Name (2013) — Contributor — 18 copies, 1 review
Les Misérables / The White Seal / Remembrance of Things Past / Selected Passages from Walden (1987) — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Proust, Marcel
- Legal name
- Proust, Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel
- Birthdate
- 1871-07-10
- Date of death
- 1922-11-18
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Lycée Condorcet
Ecole des Sciences Politiques (lic. 1893 - Law | lic. 1895 - Literature) - Occupations
- novelist
short story writer
translator
essayist
literary critic
librarian - Organizations
- Le Figaro, Journal (Rédacteur)
Bibliothèque Mazarine, Paris (Bibliothécaire, 4 mois, 1895) - Relationships
- Lange, Monique (cousin)
Gimpel, Rene (friend)
Ferval, Claude (friend) - Short biography
- Marcel Proust was born in the Paris suburb of Auteuil. He suffered from chronic asthma from age nine. In 1882, he began attending the Lycée Condorcet, but his education was disrupted by his illness. He studied at the Ecole des Sciences Politiques, taking licences in law and in literature. In 1896, he published his first book, Les Plaisirs et les jours (Pleasures and Days), a collection of short stories, essays and poems. In 1895, he began writing an autobiographical novel, Jean Santeuil, which he never finished. He published a number of articles on Ruskin, as well as translations of two of his books, La Bible d'Amiens (1904) and Sésame et les Lys (1906). Proust died in 1922 at age 51 of pneumonia exacerbated by asthma.
- Cause of death
- Bronchite (Epuisement + Complication avec asthme chronique)
- Nationality
- France
- Birthplace
- Auteuil, France
- Places of residence
- Auteuil, France
Paris, Île-de-France, France - Place of death
- Paris, Île-de-France, France
- Burial location
- Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, Paris, France (85e division)
- Associated Place (for map)
- France
Members
Discussions
In Search of Lost Time - Volume V & VI: The Captive & The Fugitive in 1001 Books to read before you die (September 2014)
In Search of Lost Time - Volume IV: Sodom & Gomorrah in 1001 Books to read before you die (August 2014)
In Search of Lost Time - Volume 3: The Guermante's Way in 1001 Books to read before you die (May 2014)
In Search of Lost Time - Volume II: Within a Budding Grove in 1001 Books to read before you die (April 2014)
In Search of Lost Time - Another 2014 year long group read in 1001 Books to read before you die (April 2014)
Group Read: In Search of Lost Time - Volume I: Swann's Way in 1001 Books to read before you die (April 2014)
Why read Proust (1871-1922) today ? in Book talk (November 2013)
***Group Read: Time Regained in 75 Books Challenge for 2011 (August 2011)
***Group Read: The Fugitive, or Sweet Cheat Gone by Marcel Proust in 75 Books Challenge for 2011 (August 2011)
***Group Read: The Captive in 75 Books Challenge for 2011 (June 2011)
***Group Read: The Guermantes Way in 75 Books Challenge for 2011 (February 2011)
***Group Read: Within a Budding Grove in 75 Books Challenge for 2010 (October 2010)
***Group Read: Swann's Way in 75 Books Challenge for 2010 (August 2010)
Reading "Remembrance of Things Past" in 1001 Books to read before you die (February 2010)
Proust's In Search of Lost Time in 1001 Books to read before you die (December 2009)
Fixing up Proust in Combiners! (October 2006)
Reviews
Como dije antes: En absoluta mentira que en este tomo no pasa nada. El tema, claro, es que los momentos de intensidad están algonodados por una enorme plétora de reuniones sociales infumables, con personas infumables que conversan de cuestiones totalmente infumables. Y eso está bien. Está bien porque este es el tomo del mundo de las apariencias. El momento donde la adolescencia debe ir recesecándose para abrir paso al don de mentir, caretear y operar. Donde ser del todo honesto o show more sincero es un error garrafal, en especial cuando se mueve uno en ámbitos en los que cada paso en falso se castiga con el oprobio en off y una mácula venenosa.
Pero en este libro pasa de todo, y todo lo que pasa, termina en desilusión. Algo muere después de cada reconocimiento. El beso a Albertina mata la ilusión de su piel. El antisemitismo de Oriana mata la idealización de Marcel sobre su persona. "El mundo de Guermantes" no es el mundo del arte, sinod e los artistas. Esos que no deberíamos conocer para no restar puntos a su obra. Un ámbito de snobs y de envidiosos. De puñales por la espalda, de anécdotas inventadas para desprestigiar al otro.
El mundo de Guermantes arranca con un Marcel fascinado con la música en el teatro, revienta sus ilusiones (no en forma trágica, sino al sumar al protagonista a ese mundo de frivolidad), transita por el deceso imprevisto de su abuela, la mayor conexión que tenía con la infancia y termina con la muerte de Swann, una suerte de último héroe idealizado.
Nota aparte: Me resultó inquietantemente parecido a los capítulos de Rayuela en los que conversan de escritores (entre ellos Proust) mientras el bebé la queda. Debo estar descubriendo la pólvora, pero ¿supondré que esto Cortázar lo hizo adrede? show less
Pero en este libro pasa de todo, y todo lo que pasa, termina en desilusión. Algo muere después de cada reconocimiento. El beso a Albertina mata la ilusión de su piel. El antisemitismo de Oriana mata la idealización de Marcel sobre su persona. "El mundo de Guermantes" no es el mundo del arte, sinod e los artistas. Esos que no deberíamos conocer para no restar puntos a su obra. Un ámbito de snobs y de envidiosos. De puñales por la espalda, de anécdotas inventadas para desprestigiar al otro.
El mundo de Guermantes arranca con un Marcel fascinado con la música en el teatro, revienta sus ilusiones (no en forma trágica, sino al sumar al protagonista a ese mundo de frivolidad), transita por el deceso imprevisto de su abuela, la mayor conexión que tenía con la infancia y termina con la muerte de Swann, una suerte de último héroe idealizado.
Nota aparte: Me resultó inquietantemente parecido a los capítulos de Rayuela en los que conversan de escritores (entre ellos Proust) mientras el bebé la queda. Debo estar descubriendo la pólvora, pero ¿supondré que esto Cortázar lo hizo adrede? show less
The opening pages of this volume are some of Proust's strongest in a while, as he examines the pain of a lost love, its component parts. How the triggers of memory are like other selves who must be informed and again grieve. How right he is, that in order to picture to itself an unknown situation the imagination borrows elements that are already familiar and, for that reason, cannot correctly picture it. A new experience inevitably brings with it a new sensation. At the other extremity is show more his statement about the power of forgetting as the only force successful enough to defeat love. The expression 'time heals all things' refers only to this factor: fading memory. The theme of death returns, and here is explored the torment of all the perpetual triggers of memory of someone you were close to - every different time of day, every location you visited or lived in together, every mutual acquaintance, the change in weather or the season - unforeseen reminders impossible to circumvent or hide from. Grief must be endured and seen through.
These are the stellar points. Plot-wise, I'm disgruntled. Taking ISOLT as a whole, this volume contains its climax, and yet all of the reflections upon it are turned inward while absolutely nothing is shown, dealt with too entirely offstage. In 150 pages or so of examining the relationship between grief and memory, I'm disappointed that the narrator hardly reflects at all on the consequence of his controlling jealousy. He even dares lay blame on its victim, for not have been open with him - for having resisted him too well, in other words. Could he be any more self-centered? The Venetian scenes are beautiful and I appreciated the shout-out to Ruskin, but the telegram he receives is almost maddening for how manipulated and deceived it made me feel, his reaction and the subsequent explanation too incredible. I did like the interesting reappearance of Gilberte and her related developments.
It's a bumpy ride through these final volumes that Proust did not have full opportunity to smooth out, but still better than the alternative. show less
These are the stellar points. Plot-wise, I'm disgruntled. Taking ISOLT as a whole, this volume contains its climax, and yet all of the reflections upon it are turned inward while absolutely nothing is shown, dealt with too entirely offstage. In 150 pages or so of examining the relationship between grief and memory, I'm disappointed that the narrator hardly reflects at all on the consequence of his controlling jealousy. He even dares lay blame on its victim, for not have been open with him - for having resisted him too well, in other words. Could he be any more self-centered? The Venetian scenes are beautiful and I appreciated the shout-out to Ruskin, but the telegram he receives is almost maddening for how manipulated and deceived it made me feel, his reaction and the subsequent explanation too incredible. I did like the interesting reappearance of Gilberte and her related developments.
It's a bumpy ride through these final volumes that Proust did not have full opportunity to smooth out, but still better than the alternative. show less
My earlier dislike for the narrator that began in the previous volume has expanded into despise, thanks to his obnoxious jealousy over Albertine with whom I'm relating far more at this stage. It made this volume difficult to read with the same detached pleasure because I kept waiting for her too to become frustrated with the narrator's ridiculous behaviour. The irrational jealously is especially maddening to read when placed alongside his confession that he no longer loves her. Why, in that show more case, has he taken her captive? As an object, and for the occasional callback to his first impression of her when he desired her mystery - before he wanted that mystery to be expelled, as part of possessing her. He has wrought the destruction of their love through this bottled up madness, ultimately to both their miseries.
Jealousy is really just the start of it, because the narrator is also extremely possessive and paranoid. He's become certain that Albertine is leading a double life - the one she portrays for his sake, and the other one where her 'true' passions lie. It becomes impossible to know which character to believe. He does seem to catch her in quite a few lies - or is she just that forgetful? She does seem to have an eye for the ladies - or is it just the regular variety of friendships, envies and judgements? It's very hard to guess with only the narrator's (slightly unhinged) perspective as a guide. What is clear either way is that he is transparently controlling, disrupting her plans at every turn for the slim chance that it interferes with some imagined plot she may be hatching. And at the same time, where is his eye wandering? What outrageous lies is he telling? The hypocrosy ... unlike Proust, I have no words. The ending of this volume is extremely satisfying to me and raises the hope I may still enjoy the last two.
This is the first volume to have been published after Marcel Proust's death. What he appears to have done was complete the entire sequence, then was fleshing out each volume before its publication. The last three did not fully receive all the attention he would have intended, or as Wikipedia puts it, "the last three of the seven volumes contain oversights and fragmentary or unpolished passages, as they existed only in draft form at the death of the author; the publication of these parts was overseen by his brother Robert.". In this fifth volume the style is not noticeably different, and is as likely as ever to veer away from the action into prolonged pages of descriptive digression. That said, I did get a taste of the oddities. They include this utterly bizarre line: "Then she would find her tongue and say 'My -' or 'My darling -', followed by my Christian name, which, if we give the narrator the same name as the author of this book, would be 'My Marcel' or 'My darling Marcel.'" That isn't simply breaking the fourth wall, that's the (always unnamed) narrator expressing direct awareness that he is a figment of the author's imagination. After this scene, Albertine address the narrator as Marcel now and then, and it's jarring every time. That's the worst of it, if you don't count the premature death of Mme de Villeparisis who apparently turns up alive in the sixth volume. Only one other peculiarity really stuck out at me, when Marcel dedicates a short paragraph in what sounds like his own voice to the man who inspired the character of Charles Swann.
Among the tricks of memory that Proust explores this time, the standout for me is how items that I remember seeing in one setting, transposed to another, bring memories and impressions of that other place to infect the new one. Conversely, a setting emptied of its customary belongings will tarnish those associated memories. It's why I've never again set foot in my grandparents' former home since my uncle remodeled it. There is also another element that may come into play when Proust finds his ending in the last volume: this growing sense the narrator has of the profundity of artistic heights that gives them a grace larger than life (more real than the false heights he's anticipated before), when a few key notes of a sonata triggers the same taste of happiness he has enjoyed at key moments of reflection over tea or while strolling the Champs-Elysees. A link appears between memory and happiness triggered by art, and I suspect this will feed into the narrator's own artistic attempts. show less
Jealousy is really just the start of it, because the narrator is also extremely possessive and paranoid. He's become certain that Albertine is leading a double life - the one she portrays for his sake, and the other one where her 'true' passions lie. It becomes impossible to know which character to believe. He does seem to catch her in quite a few lies - or is she just that forgetful? She does seem to have an eye for the ladies - or is it just the regular variety of friendships, envies and judgements? It's very hard to guess with only the narrator's (slightly unhinged) perspective as a guide. What is clear either way is that he is transparently controlling, disrupting her plans at every turn for the slim chance that it interferes with some imagined plot she may be hatching. And at the same time, where is his eye wandering? What outrageous lies is he telling? The hypocrosy ... unlike Proust, I have no words. The ending of this volume is extremely satisfying to me and raises the hope I may still enjoy the last two.
This is the first volume to have been published after Marcel Proust's death. What he appears to have done was complete the entire sequence, then was fleshing out each volume before its publication. The last three did not fully receive all the attention he would have intended, or as Wikipedia puts it, "the last three of the seven volumes contain oversights and fragmentary or unpolished passages, as they existed only in draft form at the death of the author; the publication of these parts was overseen by his brother Robert.". In this fifth volume the style is not noticeably different, and is as likely as ever to veer away from the action into prolonged pages of descriptive digression. That said, I did get a taste of the oddities. They include this utterly bizarre line: "Then she would find her tongue and say 'My -' or 'My darling -', followed by my Christian name, which, if we give the narrator the same name as the author of this book, would be 'My Marcel' or 'My darling Marcel.'" That isn't simply breaking the fourth wall, that's the (always unnamed) narrator expressing direct awareness that he is a figment of the author's imagination. After this scene, Albertine address the narrator as Marcel now and then, and it's jarring every time. That's the worst of it, if you don't count the premature death of Mme de Villeparisis who apparently turns up alive in the sixth volume. Only one other peculiarity really stuck out at me, when Marcel dedicates a short paragraph in what sounds like his own voice to the man who inspired the character of Charles Swann.
Among the tricks of memory that Proust explores this time, the standout for me is how items that I remember seeing in one setting, transposed to another, bring memories and impressions of that other place to infect the new one. Conversely, a setting emptied of its customary belongings will tarnish those associated memories. It's why I've never again set foot in my grandparents' former home since my uncle remodeled it. There is also another element that may come into play when Proust finds his ending in the last volume: this growing sense the narrator has of the profundity of artistic heights that gives them a grace larger than life (more real than the false heights he's anticipated before), when a few key notes of a sonata triggers the same taste of happiness he has enjoyed at key moments of reflection over tea or while strolling the Champs-Elysees. A link appears between memory and happiness triggered by art, and I suspect this will feed into the narrator's own artistic attempts. show less
If The Fugitive was all about keeping Albertine hostage, The Sweet Cheat Gone is her escape. Albertine's departure sets the stage for volume six. Proust has this way of capturing obsession and grief in all their painful intricacies. You know that moment, right before coming fully awake when you thinks maybe yesterday has all been some kind of horrible nightmare? But then remembrance brings back the horror with a vengeance. Yesterday's reality is today's truth. Proust's narrator is constantly show more remembering the times he bused Albertine's love. He couldn't tell her she reminded him of paintings of other female forms because he didn't want her to think of female nude bodies. His jealousies were that strong. After her departure, he is inconsolable; able to pick up his grief right where he left off before sleep; as if he had never closed his eyes. He repeatedly fixates on how to return the escaped Albertine back to him. If you don't believe me, count the times Albertine's name appears on every page. It got to the point where I wanted to please take this man out behind the barn and put him out of his misery.
It is so cliché to say, but you really do not know what you have until it is gone. Proust's narrator is no different. He enjoyed hurting Albertine while she was in his possession, but upon hearing of her death he fixates on all the times he took her for granted or thought her company to be a nuisance. Her charms, her innocence was something to be scoffed at until she vanished. Now that he has lost her everything she touched (including "the pedals of the pianola she pressed with golden slippers") becomes all too precious. He knows he has abused her and admits as much in the way he describes her departure as flight, escape, gone, and on the run. His obsession grows worse when he thinks her dead. He couldn't even read newspapers because the mere act of opening and lifting one to his eyes brought back memories of Albertine doing the same. show less
It is so cliché to say, but you really do not know what you have until it is gone. Proust's narrator is no different. He enjoyed hurting Albertine while she was in his possession, but upon hearing of her death he fixates on all the times he took her for granted or thought her company to be a nuisance. Her charms, her innocence was something to be scoffed at until she vanished. Now that he has lost her everything she touched (including "the pedals of the pianola she pressed with golden slippers") becomes all too precious. He knows he has abused her and admits as much in the way he describes her departure as flight, escape, gone, and on the run. His obsession grows worse when he thinks her dead. He couldn't even read newspapers because the mere act of opening and lifting one to his eyes brought back memories of Albertine doing the same. show less
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