Remembrance of Things Past: Volume II - The Guermantes Way & Cities of the Plain #2020

If the cares of this world have grown far too painful and you re thinking of becoming a junkie or born again Christian, I d suggest that you take a less drastic step, and consider trying out Proust first, just to see how it grabs you This is what s known in my business as a harm reduction approach like addiction and religious conversion, hardcore Proust reading will suck up your time, alter your character, transform your life, and cause all your friends to hate you You ll become completely obnox [...]

In this, the third volume of what I m coming to believe is the greatest novel ever written, the world of privileged which is to say, entitled and rich society opens to us The first volume, SWANN S WAY, begins on the level of a bourgeois household in the provinces the narrator s , even taking its title from one of the walks the narrator s family regularly takes in the village of Combray, where they spend their summers It begins with the famous and almost insurmountable sequence in which the narra [...]

part two of three The novel s third book, The Guermantes Way, begins with a move by Marcel s family from their previous Paris home to a new flat that is part of the Hotel de Guermantes And thus they now live literally in the shadow of the great Guermantes family, the family whose history and possessions have fascinated Marcel since his days as a child in Combray Whereas in Swann s Way, the Guermante Way referred to the route sometimes taken on an afternoon s walk, in this book it refers to the m [...]

Rispetto al volume precedente qui Proust molto meno intimo Feste, serate, societ , personaggi che si intrecciano Rimane che il tema che mi ha colpito di pi quello del rapporto con la nonna Si ammala, muore, poi lo strazio del nipote che sembra comprendere troppo tardi di aver perso una persona fondamentale nella sua vita Ma quanto imbarazzante votare Proust a colpi di stelline Si star rivoltando nella tomba

currently reading the second 1000 pages goes a lot quicker than the first.if you want a complete experience reading the proust, its actually necessary to read the last volume first, otherwise you really have no idea what to be following in the first 1000 pages

this became of a chore than the first two volumes but proust s dissection destruction of the salon is so absolute and the closing scenes with swann, le duc et m charlus so devastating that i ll be going on to book 4 after a brief pause.

the opening to Cities of the Plain is perhaps my favorite prose piece ever written.

As disconcerting as it can be to painstakingly grind one s way through a thousand pages of an extraordinarily dense novel and realize that you re only a third of the way through it, it actually does get easier once you pass that first volume admittedly quite the hurdle and move into the second volume A combination of me slowly getting used to Proust s knotted sentence structures seriously, they re not just like a snake attempting to eat themselves but like a snake going back in time to eat itsel [...]

Contrastando com o precedente O Caminho de Guermantes , o quarto volume do Em Busca do Tempo Perdido extravasa em din mica.Em Sodoma e Gomorra , o lirismo, ainda presente, fica eclipsado pelos reveses em que o Tempo lan a os personagens Proust chega a quebrar a quarta parede e, em determinado momento, pede licen a ao leitor para que se interrompa uma deliciosa divaga o para prosseguir com a narrativa.Da Etimologia dos nomes das cidades normandas, passando pelo Esnobismo dos nobres e burgueses, t [...]

Originally published on my blog here in February and March 1999.The Guermantes WayIn the third volume of Remembrance of Things Past, the subject changes From boyhood in Swann s Way, through adolescent lovesickness in Within A Budding Grove, Proust s narrator now emerges into Parisian society The Guermantes are one of the oldest noble families in France, and he gradually becomes involved in their circle The title of this part also balances that of the first one, in that the two walks taken by the [...]

I have always understood what Proust meant about that flood of memories a sensory experience from our past can trigger in us that sweeping involuntary memory that virtually obliterates the passing of time But I had another sort of memory experience recently when reading some diary entries I made 35 years ago as a heart broken teenager I felt as though I was a ghostly apparition at the actual events recorded in the diary because I could often call to mind at least some little wisp of a memory and [...]

As for all the little people who call themselves Marquis de Cambremerde or de Vatefairefiche, there is no difference between them and the humblest private in your regiment Whether you go and do wee wee at the Countess Caca s or caca at the Baroness Wee wee s, it s exactly the same, you will have compromised your reputation and have used a fetid rag instead of toilet paper Which is unsavoury Baron de Charlus Over 1100 pages in Volume II, which is a long haul, but, my, what a magnificent road Here [...]

If you have not yet read Proust, please put aside whatever else you might be reading Better yet, get rid of it There is hardly a point Literature, life, art, love, yearning, the mind, brothels, dinners, celebrities, fashion, aesthetics, cookies, insomnia, the beach, France, mothers, the theater, obsession, flowers, and memory, to name just a few, are perfectly captured here Writing before Proust is little but a long prologue after him, side notes Also, if you re curious about Proust, please refr [...]

Whew I finally got through The Guermantes Way and am on to S G I put Proust down for a couple years but now I am back, baby, ready to finish it all by the time I turn 30 hopefully I will be adding my imrpressions as I read, no doubt My best comparisons for reading Proust are A long distance running and B searching through a really huge thrift store It s going to be long and grueling, but it will be unforgettable, you ll be a healthier person, and you ll be glad you did it in the end And, you ll [...]

Yes, verily, over the course of 27 years, my husband and I did promenade through all three massive volumes of this First Vintage Books Edition Our habit was to sit together in the evening, usually for fifteen minutes around 10pm, one of us reading aloud to the other Finishing the last page left me with mixed feelings a sense of triumph at our completed marathon, admiration for Proust whose sweeping arc of narrative came to an eloquent close, and sadness that our journey through his pages had rea [...]

Il secondo volume della Recherche forse un po pi ostico del primo a causa delle lunghissime descrizioni di vita mondana L inizio di Sodoma e Gomorra, comunque, dove viene narrato il rapporto tra Charlus e Julien una delle pagine pi belle che abbia mai letto in un libro E pure il capitolo finale, Le intermittenze del cuore, con il narratore che si rende finalmente conto che la nonna morta davvero, per poi scordarsene quasi subito, tanta roba Confermo le impressioni che avevo avuto col primo volum [...]

Unbelievable I actually reached the ending I wasn t entirely sure there was an ending I thought maybe pages quietly added themselves, possibly from the front of the book to the back, while I slept every knight I think everyone should read Proust s first volume it s one of the loveliest things I ve ever embarked on After that is purely elective, although I love what I ve gotten through, thus far.This book is not a fast read However, I ve properly picked it up again, and I can see the light at the [...]

It took me a year to read all three of the books of Remembrance of Things Past I limited myself to reading ten pages a day, which is the only way one can read Proust and remain interested Some of the most beautiful writing I ve ever read was in these books, and also some of the most boring On the whole, I gave the books five stars because the beauty outweighed the boredom enormously.

Marcel has returned to Balbec, actually Cabourg, my favorite setting in this series There are salons, the Verdurins transplanted from Paris for the summer season and all the characters that attend, some old and some new Marcel is still conflicted about his love life and the book ends with a surprise I m just elated to be than half way finished with this quest

Re Guermantes Way Fascinating Odd, both book and style and narrator Can t wait for the next one.Re Cities of the Plain Yet odder Must have been scandalous at the time, although the understated tone underplays the scandal But the idea of the narrator getting married is truly shocking.

A hard slog through 3500 pages in all 3 volumes I set aside a summer when not working to get through them Some sentences are that a page long Patience required The story of Albertine, that threads through several volumes, is one of the most interesting parts of the opus.

This volume includes the two books from Proust s novel that bridges the narrator s innocence as a young boy and the realization that a darker reality often lies behind our experiences.

The 7 volume series was a required reading in college It took me back to my whirl wind of reading prior to HS and all the book I got into.I would recommend everyone read the entire collection.

More from the Master A long time since I read this, but it must be the one with the reflection of the sea in the panes of glass in the bookcase

I am once again swimming against the tide of four and five star reviews that litter this site, as they did for the first volume of Proust s very long novel, but I cannot in good conscience claim that I think this book is good or enjoyable or that it is rightfully called one of the great pieces of literature from the last century Why Remembrance of Things Past or as the title is sometimes translated, In Search of Lost Time has obtained this reputation is beyond me Our protagonist is a feckless tw [...]

Okay, this is to mark making it through The Germantes Way, now slowly into Cities of the Plain I can t say that I find reading Proust as enthralling as some who have showered these books with 5 stars and it is not the type of read that I can t put down I am fascinated by the extreme detail, of the youth growing up with all the feelings and infatuations and fantasies that the narrator has It is a portrait of a society, seen through the eyes of one individual that appears incredibly shallow and st [...]

The Guermantes Way Read 4 Oct to 5 Dec, 2002Cities on the Plain Read 17 Dec to 13 Feb, 2003I sometimes tell people that the first three books are prologue and it really begins around book 4 A technique that he uses is that of repeating the same story over and over, except that he changes one or two things in between each telling and therefor makes it a completely different story the second time I was utterly in awe throughout most of Cities on the Plain, and still am.

The rule among the human race a rule that naturally admits of exceptions is that the reputedly hard are the weak whom nobody wanted, and that the strong, caring little whether they are wanted or not, have alone the gentleness which the vulgar herd mistakes for weakness 1080

the full set took me 6 months to read, and it was decent i have heard of people reading the set multiple times i will not be spending any additional time reading or discussing this group of books.

No change in quality from the first volume Here, the narrator enters society, and continues to derive insights of remarkable delicacy and profundity from the most superficial social relations Some great comic moments here, especially from the at turns tragic and ludicrous invert, M de Charlus.