Rating: 
Summary: The Best Work of "Fiction" Ever Written
Review: Moncrieff/Kilmartin's translation is still the best. Proust's life-work is the most psychologically acute novel ever written, and a perfect match between form and content. His form is the memoir, conceived as a piece of music, with themes and variations, codas and recapitulations. The content is a list of evolving concerns, from love (in all its forms) to aesthetic creation and appreciation, as well as a sort of living autopsy of the aristocracy of his time. His motives were manifold, but it seems Proust primarily wanted to get in the final word on those people he knew throughout his life, and show he both understood them (better than they themselves) and that they had little inkling of his amazing inner life. For all his encounters with and criticisms of snobs and poseurs throughout the work, and his tendency to fully absorb himself in his experiences, Marcel the narrator risks coming off as a snob himself; but quite the opposite, he denigrates himself constantly with reference to his own writing abilities, up into the very last section of "Time Regained" when the structural idea for the novel we have just read comes to him. He's disappointed many times by his own experiences, when they are is measured and conditioned by the background of his keen aesthetic imagination. His salvation is both the Idea for the novel, and a theory of time/identity which has been "calling out" to him with his famous episodes of "involuntary memory" (the most famous of which is the tea-dipped madeleine). As one reads on, there are times when it seems Proust has suspended all action and narrative in favor of impressions which resonate against one another. It may seem gratuitous or self-indulgent, but he is "performing" his theory at the same time he's telling you about it. They each have a purpose, and it seems he's trying to enact a philosophical theory of identity and experience: as if we the subject are nodes of activity that blend memory and present conscious experience.
"Remembrance of Things Past" can be a difficult work to read, but it is so very much worth it. One needs no guide to read this work; it's not as allusive as "Ulysses" nor esoteric like "Gravity's Rainbow". Proust's style is very reader-friendly (albeit he spins very long sentences). He respects the reader, and wants her to understand exactly where he's coming from, for this novel is like the map Borges once described in one of his "Ficciones": it's a representation so large and subtle and complex that it is as big as what it depicts. If Proust were alive today, he'd probably be kibbitzing with Hollywood stars or the world's billionaire elites...And not much of this book would change!
Rating:
Summary: Bewilderingly unique
Review: I'm afraid I cannot really quantify "A la recherche dutemps perdu" in terms of a star rating, although I have had togive it 5 stars because I couldn't submit my review otherwise! It took me the best part of two years to read Proust's magnum opus and the question I find myself asking is: was it time well spent? I'm really not sure, even two years later. The first and most important thing I will say is that the novel is unlike anything you will ever read, and Proust is totally unique among authors. If you thought Tolstoy or Eliot were insightful, Proust digs beneath another ten layers of motive and counter-motive to reveal his truths: there has never been a writer prepared to go to such exhaustive lengths. I'm still not sure exactly what the book is about, either. Nominally it is an exploration of the perception of time and its effects on the mind. Proust shines this light on his protagonist's early years and the high social circles he finds himself moving in. Some of the characters are memorably bizarre - principally the Baron de Charlus, whose incredible arrogance and self-deception will certainly provide the reader with a few surprises. ... Proust's other fascinations with lineage and place names may not be to every reader's tastes but are revealing insights into his incredible pedantry and appetite for minutiae. The writing itself is often astonishing - Proust's ideas about love, betrayal and jealousy are sometimes diametrically opposed to received wisdom, but when he concentrates his unmistakable genius on these themes it is hard not to agree with his reasoning, however cynical it may be. Overall, I wouldn't recommend "A la recherche du temps perdu" lightly. Many people won't get past the opening ruminations over the effects of Marcel missing his mother's goodnight kiss. However, for serious literary buffs it is a must. END
Rating: 
Summary: Well written but longer than it should be
Review: this book is long. i mean loooong. only read it if u are failing english and need to catch up. otherwise dont read it because it is so loooong. seriously folks. i had to read it in 11th grade english and i only got halfway through volume i before i noticed how much more i had to go. i gave up reading and still got a c for the quarter.
Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece of masterpieces!
Review: I had been intrigued by Proust since early age, for one of my favourite books is Gold and Fizdale's "Misia" and his name crops up all the time in it. I bought the Scott Moncrieff's English version in Paris over ten years ago and I know that many soi-dissant more authoritative versions have come out eversince. Yet, a few years ago I read the version in French as organized by Jean-Yves Tadié -possibly the best known pundit on Proust's work to date- and I have to say Moncrieff's translation doesn't stray that far from the original. "A La Recherche" is to me the most important book in the history of literature. Compellingly philosophical, psychological, soul-searching and esthetic, no details of life go amiss. I am alternately moved, stirred and surprised at Proust's dexterity in describing the wide range of human emotions and the complexity of human interactions. He talks about art, love, jealousy, nostalgy, ambition, social climbing, politics and you cannot fail to empathise with his prose or finding new moot questions with each new reading of his work. His book is as relevant to life as life itself.
Rating:
Summary: Not a Waste at all !
Review: Think of the series of books as a diary. It's all about his perception of things. Kind of like the ARTHUR INMAN DIARY, but not written by a huge bigot (like Arthur Inman). And Proust doesn't kill himself in the end. Mike
Rating:
Summary: This book will change your life
Review: "A la recherche du temps perdu" is not simply a book - it is an experience in time-travel. I read the first two volumes at the age of 22, and was overwhelmed by the density, complexity, and beauty of Proust's style (magnificent even in translation), but I could not appreciate the book's deeper emotional resonances because I had not lived long enough or loved intensely enough. Although I am only five years older now, I have suffered through two intense, beautiful, and sorrowful relationships, and these experiences have made rereading Proust one of the most rewarding activities I have ever engaged in. I am half-way through "Le Temps Retrouve" and look forward to starting the whole thing again as soon as I have finished this first reading. Even if you don't have the patience to read the entire cycle, at least read "Du Cote du Chez Swann/Swann's Way," which perfectly encapsulates the effects, styles, and themes of the entire work. If you have ever fallen in love, the section "Swann in Love" in this book will make you really think about this sensation. Proust's style may seem long-winded and pretentious at first, but once you become accustomed to it, you will realize that Proust's way of looking at the world seems to explain much that is mysterious in the human mind and heart. I have no words of praise high enough for this book. It will shock you into realizing how terrible and beautiful life really is, and how complex people are underneath the mask which we present to most other humans we encounter. The paintings of Vermeer (which play an important part in the novel) are the closest visual equivalent to this book - the sheer poetry of everyday existence is deftly and exquisitely communicated. Unlike many novels which are considered great because they deal explicitly with "great themes" - sex, death, and politics - "A la recherche du temps perdu" appears to the casual reader to be about nothing at all - a bunch of descriptions of ordinary phenomena or gossip about society figures - little more than a glorified soap opera. There is not a single word here that is not absolutely necessary, however, and the careful reader will note how many times crucial events happen for which the reader has been prepared by a seemingly trivial incident several hundred pages earlier. Somehow, this book recaptures the experience of being alive more fully than anything I have ever read, including the Bible! Read this book and I guarantee that you will not think the way you did before Proust came into your life.
Rating:
Summary: The masterpiece -"period".
Review: I read "A la recherche du temps perdu" in its original language and I took about one year to finish it. It's a very difficult book ( 8 volumes) to read. It is not a autobiography nor a representation of reality, nor a interpretation of the world, but it's a book about us, human beings, about our innerselves, about time and space and the relationship we all have with those two realities. And all this in the most beautifull and perfect literary form. Proust writes about life like a microscope looks at reality: tiny little details we all experience but are not realy aware.This book is a masterpiece about us.
Rating:
Summary: Not a Waste at all !
Review: Proust's great novel does not need to be read all at one time. I read it one volume at a time and usually took six months to a year off between volumes. I was always able to pick up right where I left off with nothing lost, like visiting old friends. I think it is OK to think of Remembrance of Things Past as a series of novels. I know Proust would disagree with this. It was very important to him that his readers consider carefully the unifying theme and symmetry to which he aspired in the novel, but I think that aspect became less and less tangible as his manuscript grew from 1000 pages originally to 2000, and then from 2000 to the 4000 odd pages it ended up being (he continued to expand the manuscript right up until the time of his death). In any event, the grand theme he designed will not be lost on you if you stay with the novel until the end and it is wonderful when you consider it, but it is not the reason I love the novel so well. Swann's Way, Within a Budding Grove, and The Guermantes Way are decisively the best volumes and, fortunately, they are the first three in that order. If you like Swann's Way but are intimidated by the gargantuan size of the entire series, then plan to read at least the first three volumes. In this way you will have experienced Proust's best material. The entire novel is essentially a fictional autobiography or memoir. It is narrated by a man whose name we are never given, although he does hypothetically suggest the name "Marcel" for himself on one occasion about three-fourth of the way through. The story is inspired by events and people from Proust's life, but it is strictly a fiction. Swann's Way is the only volume in which the narrator is not the central figure in the story. It is, ultimately, a conventional story with several fascinating characters and humorous, razor sharp dialogue. There are several recurring, ingeniously depicted themes in the novel, not the least of which is involuntary memory, and it often reads like a deeply philosophical essay, with Proust wandering off on one of his famous digressions. The philosophical digressions are the best part for me, but I could see why they could be distracting or tedious to some. Proust's sentences quite frequently stretch to 10, 20, or even 30 lines, with multiple subordinating clauses. It can be dizzying. Some have claimed that this makes him a stream-of-consciousness writer. I flat out reject this notion. The sentences are long for the sole purpose of conveying their intended meaning, nothing else. The text is never, ever pretentious or unnecessarily wordy. Literary historians love to bracket Proust in the same category as Joyce (like art historians like to couple, for example, Van Gough and Gauguin), but the two writers are as different as night and day. Every sentence is worth the time in Proust, there are no word games, there is no obscurity, and it is all essential and rewarding. The only complaint I have is that he spends too much time on the theme of jealousy in the later volumes, a theme he covered quite well in Swann's way. Those volumes are worth reading too, but they do have a tendency to drag out in a way that the first three volumes don't. Things do tend to pick up a bit with the final volume, Time Regained, where everything comes full circle.
Rating:
Summary: wow!
Review: I just finished. This is the most amazing thing I've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: ...
Review: Of course for something so revered you have to read it. The same reverence that made me read it also made me extremely uneasy reading it, as it does with many other things (it especially makes me hesistant to see supposedly "good" movies, driving me to the insipid). Obviously I don't want anyone else to experience the same hesitation, so read Remembrance of Things Past asap, and don't allow its status and other reviews to give you expectations for it. You may hate it, but you might also love it. I've loved it (have only read the first volume- Swann's Way and Within a Budding Groove... eagerly approaching the rest). I would sing the praises of Proust's prose, but, of course, I'm reading a translation. But, the translation ovbiously communicates enough for me to love it. For all its absurdly dense sentence strucutres and five page paragraphs, it took me a while to get used to, reading 5 pages at a time and taking half an hour for just that. I loved the 5 pages, but couldn't read much more without getting a migrane, but, after a couple months of hatcheting my way through it, I managed to discard the spectre of its reputation and slowly move my way through increasingly elegant tools, eventually consuming dozens of pages at a time. You have to read Remembrance of Things Past... for me it's taken loads of patience... so I'll recommend the same course for any other fairly inexperienced reader - even if it's slow at first, keep on reading, and don't allow your expectations or its reputation to drive you too much - it's better to honestly dislike something and retry it later than to allow reputation to ruin enjoyment and enslave you into finishing it (conversely, it might be reputation that drives you on until you begin to enjoy it... which is what kept me reading for the first 50 pages, but also drove me into not reading it for a month).
|
