Group Read: Proust Volume 2, Within a Budding Grove

Here is a thread to continue our reading of In Search of Lost Time.

I seem to have noticed that the title for this volume is translated differently among editions. Is "Within a Budding Grove" the title most of you have?

I have In the Shadow of Young girls in Flower.

Starting soon.

I read this some time ago, but I enjoyed following all of you on the first thread so I will be lurking here as well.

>2 pamelad: Yes, that's the other title I've seen. Pretty different!

>3 lauralkeet: Glad to see you here!

I am about a quarter of the way through - the beginning I found easier reading than Swann's Way but I have hit a section about Marcel's favorite author Bergotte that is bogging me down...

>1 japaul22: Thanks for setting this thread up. I started In the shadow of young girls in flower, which will take me some months to finish, I expect.

I have finished the first section: Madame Swann at Home. The contrast of how Swann & Marcel deal with unrequited love is interesting. I think Swann should have done what Marcel did: ignore Odette (and stop paying her bills!)... One thing Swann and Marcel had in common (for me as the reader) - their attraction to their chosen woman (Odette & Gilberte respectively) is clear but I can't see why. I suppose Proust's view of that is that there is no easily explainable 'why'...

How is everyone else doing?

Just about to start volume two.

I've started and am about 100 pages in. I was struck immediately by the different tone of the narrator, now an adolescent instead of a child. Some of his thoughts are just like the "typical teenager" of today, i.e. which career path - artist or diplomat, the disillusionment of finding out that your dearly treasured favorite writers, actors, etc. are not held in the same esteem by others you respect, and the way he and Gilberte flirt.

>9 japaul22: I think this tone suits him better. As a child his tone was way too wise don't you think? I can relate to the adolescent Proust at least!

I finished the first section a couple of weeks' ago and had a break. Just started again. I like the James Grieve translation.

In between volumes I and II I read Marcel Proust, by Edmund White. Short and informative. >7 leslie.98: Swann's obsession with Odette seems to have had parallels in Proust's life. It's as though Marcel is looking at his relationship with Gilberte forewarned by Swann's with Odette.

>11 pamelad: I'm in the same place. I like your analogy of Swann/Odette and narrator/Gilberte.

I also thought it was interesting that though the narrator definitely had a Gilberte obsession, he seemed almost as enamored with Mme Swann. Especially at the end of the first section, I was struck with how detailed his description of her was and how deeply he must have been struck by her.

In the first section, I also liked the set up of rivalry between Mme Swann and Mme Verdurin for the best "circle". Some of the women's conversation was pretty amusing.

I've only read the first 10-20 pages of the next section, but the narrator sure is a typical adolescent boy, noticing every girl he comes across! I like the grandmother, so I'm hoping to see their relationship delved into a little bit.

Overall, I'm still liking this, though it is a bit of a chore to read at times.

>10 Simone2: Yes, I agree the tone matches the age better here. It's sort of funny because most of it is so typical of the over-emotional teenager who cares so much what others think of him. I think we can all remember back to those feelings and sort of smile and shake our heads.

I'm closing in on the end of this volume (about 200 pages to go). After feeling like the first 500 pages were a lot of work, plus I can barely remember what I read that took up so many pages!!, I'm really enjoying this last part. When the narrator notices the group of girls parading themselves around (including Albertine), I started getting really engaged again. I'm just to the part where the narrator is finally meeting Albertine, and the disconnect between what he wanted her to be and what she is is described so astutely and beautifully.

It's nice to feel I'll be ending on a high note! I also do feel, after reading this volume, that reading only Swann'sWay is an incomplete picture of the work. If I make it to the end of the whole I can't imagine that the various volumes will be very distinct in my mind.

I finished Madame Swann at home and keep thinking about what I read, what Proust meant to tell. To me this part is so much more about Odette than Gilberte. I haven't got a clue what Gilberte looks like, for example, while I could draw out Odette in various outfits.

I liked the way Marcel convinces himself that it is best not to meet Gilberte anymore to protect himself the hurting of seeing her, but still, it all seems so sensible, while everything regarding Odette is more emotional somehow.

Personally I can't relate to Marcel and the adolescent he is. I really have to work hard to keep following his thoughts and not be distracted. More than a few times I finished a page without remembering what I've read.

And I have to admit that, between the streams of consciousness, I keep looking forward to some action (a conversation will do)...

Well, let's see what happens next. I am glad that you are so positive, >14 japaul22:.

How are the rest of you going with this second part? Anyone finished yet?

>15 Simone2: I totally agree about Odette vs. Gilberte. I thought the narrator was much more obsessed with Odette. I thought his love for Gilberte really stemmed for what he saw in Odette and Swann also.

I also admit to reading large passages that mean almost nothing to me. But I feel like in a work this long, it's ok to just keep reading and let it wash over you. Something always grabs me soon enough. This is one of the few books that I'm reading with pencil in hand. I think it's helping me to follow the themes to highlight passages and write brief observations.

I just finished this volume last night and wrote a brief review:

In this second volume of In Search of Lost Time, the narrator is now a teenager and accordingly is obsessed with girls. That pretty much sums it up, but I guess I'll go into a little more detail. :-)

The first section is "Madame Swann at home". Here we see the narrator fall in and out of love with Gilberte, the daughter of Swann and Odette. Even though Gilberte is the object of the narrator's love and obsession, really he spends so much time describing Odette that she seems more to be the object of his obsession. I did think the narrator was sort of funny throughout this book because the language is very beautiful and mature and lyrical, but the ideas really are just of a typical teenage boy concerned with how others view him and thinking about the girls he meets. It was an odd mix.

In the second section, the narrator goes with his grandmother and Francoise (their servant and my favorite character) to Balbec, a seaside town, for his health. He meets and develops a friendship with Saint-Loup. He also sees a group of girls parading around the beach and falls in love with them. Among this group is Albertine, the next object of his affection. His descriptions of the girls and their interactions with each other and him are absolutely on point for the typical teenager experience. I really liked this section.

As in the first volume, there were large swaths of this that lost me, but I just keep reading and eventually something grabs me again. Overall it's been a really good reading experience for me so I'm excited to continue on in another month or two.

Before reading the next volume, I intend to read An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris. This is a recently written thriller based on the Dreyfus affair which I gather features heavily in Volume 3, "The Guermantes Way". I'm hoping that reading it helps me understand the next volume better than I otherwise would. I'll probably start Volume 3 in June or July.

I'm nearly there. 85% read on the Kindle. Planning to have a break after this volume and and start the next one in June.

>15 Simone2: And I have to admit that, between the streams of consciousness, I keep looking forward to some action (a conversation will do)... I feel the same way. I get lost in the descriptions of buildings, scenery, paintings, rooms....reading without taking anything in, having to backtrack to find the beginning of the sentence I am lost in.

>16 japaul22: As in the first volume, there were large swaths of this that lost me, but I just keep reading and eventually something grabs me again. Exactly. I know that something brilliant is going to pop up eventually.

>16 japaul22: >17 pamelad: Nicely put: I just keep reading and eventually something grabs me again. Thats is indeed how I feel too. And so far, I like the Balbec trip a lot, this was perhaps what I was waiting for (I also like Francoice the most!).

Good tip, the thriller by Robert Harris. I'll look into that.

Finished! Will have to reflect on it, but in the meantime here are a few things that made an impression:

The interconnectedness of the characters, with their links to the Guermantes family, or Madame Verdurin's salon. Odettte is everywhere.
Other recurring themes like the hawthorn flowers, Vinteuil's musical phrase.
What a twerp Marcel is, and how honest he is about it; the way he imagines people rather than sees them.
So many reflections about people, their motivations and the ways they behave, that make me think, "Exactly."
The lengthy reflections about scenery, buildings, rooms and paintings, that made me think,"Enough!"

I read the Edmund White biography, which focuses on Proust's homosexuality, so I can't help but wonder whether the band of young girls was based on a band of boys. Albertine inviting Marcel to her room in the hotel, where she is in bed, seems very out of character, but would make more sense if Albertine were standing in for a boy.

>19 pamelad: interesting musings!

I feel like we're all having similar reading experiences which is kind of neat. I like seeing the hawthorn flowers coming back too. Those sort of memory triggers really resonate with me. We had a lilac bush in my backyard growing up and seeing lilacs always reminds me of childhood summers.

Yes, Marcel is a twerp! I was thinking how odd it is that I would find this narrator unbelievably annoying and pretentious in real life but I don't mind being inside his head for 4000 pages!

I'm just about to start The Guermantes Way.

I finished the second part of the book, with the narrator staying in Balbec with his grandmother. To me, this has been the best part so far. I loved the ambiance of the hotel and the rich people. I also loved Marcel's role in this surroundings, his fears and his dreams. Finally I start to like him a bit although, as Jennifer mentions above, I am sure we wouldn't be friends in real life!

>22 Simone2: Glad you liked the Balbec section. I thought it was great also.

I'm currently reading An Officer and a Spy which is the historical thriller that I mentioned about the Dreyfus affair. I'm really enjoying it. I don't read this genre often, so it's a refreshing change and it's very thoroughly recreating the whole incident.

Whenever anyone is ready to start the third volume, let me know and I'll create another thread. Otherwise I'll start it whenever I get close to starting, probably in early June.

Well, I finished it. And I feel rewarded in the end and in fact motivated to read on. I'll let you know when I start the third volume, Jennifer.

>23 japaul22: Jennifer, I started the third volume. Can you create the next thread? Thanks!

Yes! Thanks for asking - I'll do it later today.

Here's the next thread!

http://www.librarything.com/topic/258050

Thank you!!

Starting second volume. Taking a look at Freud, Proust and Lacan: Theory as Fiction, really enjoyable read.