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I must have been close to 20 too when I read Proust's Swann, it's more than 45 years ago now and I don't remember anything of the story. But no novel after it grasped me so much right from the first sentence, it wasn't the story, it was the style of his writing, the descriptions of things that beamed me right into the places he writes about. It was a revelation for me of what literature can do and set the standards for what to read after. I always wanted to reread it and to read the whole set of volumes - but so many unread books pile up in my room and I won't live another 45 years ...
Biggest tragedy for me is having to choose, I know. Time is precious. Thank you for choosing to spend your time here, means a lot. Helps me to highlight things and skip to them once in awhile for reminders.
Please read the rest of the volumes, if it meant so much to you then I guarantee it will resonate even more now. Please take my word for it, and take the time, you will thank God you did. You’re the kind of person he was writing it fore--someone that got it.
I'm 80, just starting this masterpiece and I've made a commitment to be in my second reading before I check out. I'm reading it slow, so someone younger better get on climate change and the Ukraine, cause I'm going to be around for a while with Proust. I love your reviews and will join as soon as I can. Meanwhile, thanks a bunch. Diana/Chicago
I spent 6 months reading Proust (made a video sharing my thoughts) and it is my favourite novel of all time. It's the hard but at the same time the most rewarding book you will ever read. It really goes deep, i learnt things i didnt know existed inside me. reading proust is reading yourself. Thanks for the video. if you have time, watch my summary of the novel, or not. cheers!!
My two favorite english speaking booktubers reunited by my favorite novel. What else can one ask from digital life? Keep up the criminally good work man!!!
This channel is one of the best discoveries I've made (or RU-vid's algorithm made for me) in a long time. Thank you for creating this environment of cultural showcase and exchange. I truly enjoyed your delivery, perspective and humour. Eagerly waiting for the day you'll (maybe) review philosophy books. Came for the Clarice book (Paixão segundo G. H.), stayed for the absolute quality of the content. PS: Sorry about my English. It's not my first language (portuguese) and I'm still figuring it out.
About 30 years ago, during a lecture, Michael Graves called Proust a likely great architect just for his description of dust appearing in sunlight through parted curtains.
Ha! Also, croissants in UK supermarkets taste of misery and despair. I have no idea what those imposters actually are, but they are most certainly NOT croissants. :)
Music is also a huge mean to reminisce. Proust has talked about it with Swann's "sonate de Vinteuil". But today, with recorded music, we all have many of our own sonatas
Swanns Way is broken into three parts, the first and last is a first person narrative by a high-class youth of his experiences at home in France and while in Combray, a village of France, the second part, stuck in the middle, is told in third person, and relates the love life of a French socialite in his relationship with a free-spirited woman, Odette, who isn't as serious as Swann in their relations, and eventually parts from him. The beauty of the book is its long and beautiful descriptions of French countrysides, the social interactions between the characters with its masterfully crafted dialogue and tension. In a sense, Swanns Way is a poetic look of life in France during the turn of the 19th century, full of its drama and social intrigues. It's a very good book! Most readers and writers suggest people to read this book, for its witty use of words, for in very few other works, can one read a work written with such a wonderful style.
Hey Cliff, just wanted to say your channel has made a great impact on my life. I'm 17, about to go into uni and this period of transition has given me time to read and appreciate many of the books you have recommended. Thank you! Should you find yourself in Sydney Australia, give us a heads up!
22.19. That is the exact extract I sent to friends. An incredibly peceptive passage. Marx said "An hour prwctice is worth a 100 hours of theory". Proust is saying we can learn faster from literature which provides us with experiences we may never have.
Greetings from Siberia! I'm so happy to hear your analysis again and again. The thinking people form a real family. Thank you so much, man, for your work!
If anyone is interested, the George Sand novel that Proust mentions in volumes one and seven in connection with the night the narrator's mother failed to kiss him before bed, _François le Champi_ , is potentially an "Easter egg" relevant to the story. I'm currently about a third of the way through _François_ and have already observed at least three things that bear directly on _À la recherche du temps perdu_ . And it's a good story of its own, as well.
I re-watched Eyes Wide Shut a few days ago, then picked up Dream Story by Arthur Schnitzler today. Just wondering if this novella is on your to-read list?
Proust distinguishes himself from all the other great authors through his meticulously fathoming of human emotion and the unparalleled meditation on the passing of time which surpasses in his complexity any philosophy I've read. Great review Cliff, always happy to see a new video of yours.
@@williamdrouin8063 The themes of Joyce are very different though, dealing with religion, symbols and language. I'd say Virginia Woolf is much closer to Proust because she also uses interiority, time and memory to structure her narratives. She also has a debt to the romantics like Proust, Joyce is radically modern.
YES! 19:40 this really translates my feelings with Proust. And Tim Hecker was absolutely one of my more blissful live experiences ever, I was completely drowned in the sound of his Konoyo live setting, accompanied by an ensemble of Japanese musicians playing Gagaku. It made me think of Teshigahara's films and Toru Takemitsu's soundtracks.
Great review per usual . After I finish up with Giovanni's room I'm definitely picking up Swan's Way. Have you read any James Baldwin? Is he a future video topic ?
Read Swann's Way only last year and totally loved it! As you said, it needs to be taken in slowly, sipped in drop by drop like very heavy port wine. Second Part is already on my bookshelf, but I'm still busy with other books and work and boring everyday issues... ;-) As Proust is also one of the writer's discussed by Bataille in "Evil in Literature" I wondered wether you would touch on that. But maybe that would make for a good topic for a seperate vid: "Evil in Literature" and the works discussed therein.
I came here after reading Flaubert's Madame Bovary (I loved it), because you recommended that book to people who like Proust. So happen now I am reading Swann's Way; I like Madame Bovary the story more, but I enjoy the writing in this book. That part you read at the end, about how we empathize better with people in books (more than people we know outside books) because we can see them really close, we can see them change (I am thinking about Madame Bovary when I write that), and people outside books change too slow and feel less than real for us. Happen it is similar if you have a child and the child she is growing; in your mind you can remember when she was an infant but because you saw every moment in her growing, it is difficult for to feel how each part in her childhood, infant, 1 year, 2 year, and every day and week between she is changing, but we forget the different people they become and remember only a line stretch back from how she is now. I remember the moment I read that part and I think, still think, that is one of the most true things I read in my life. Thank you.
I read Bovary when I was younger I remember feeling contempt towards her and pity for her husband. Retreading it later in life I have pity for her and contempt for her husband. Life changes the way you read tremendously
I've been hoping you'd do Swann's Way since I discovered your channel. It has intimidated me for years. I've always doubted my ability to grasp it but I think it's about time I gave it proper go.
God i was excited when i saw this in my feed. Purchased the Recherche a couple of weeks ago, now i just gotta finnish all my unread books. Keep the Great content comin'!
I finished Past Recaptured a few years ago... it was magnificent! time well-spent I must say... Proust was a genius.... what else can I say? LOL... thank goodness for that damn madeleine!
@@scriecumine913 thanks for the recommendation. The first volume has sort of shocked me profoundly while the 2nd helped me to grasp Proust‘s genius. I will continue and plan to read it all!!
This might seem unrelated, but I recently saw The Neon Demon and I was wondering--spoilers for the ending--: Do you think the ending was a reference to 'Story of the Eye'? It fits the themes of the film oddly well, in my opinion.
Ohhhh Man I really love your channel, just because you talk about my favorite books and authors (and you do it with passion): Huysmans, Pessoa, Lispector and now Proust (if you do one of Virginia Woolf I die jaja). Im happy,. In this days Im reading the second novel of the saga, and Im doing it to my grandmother.
Better Than Food: Book Reviews Well, I recommend you The Complete Shorter Fiction. One of my favorite topics in those tales is madness, and how that style, the steam of conciusness, fall in a hole (as ocurrs in Ms Dalloway).
@@BetterThanFoodBookReviews 'Orlando' is my favorite book of hers. It grabs you right from the first page. Borges even translated it to Spanish. Maybe that one, Cliff.
glad to see this one on here cliff, it really is a great read. hope ur project is going well. if you like proust but maybe found him a little too sensitive I recommend the man without qualities by musil-some of his sentences r more precise than math equations. also based on the high recommendation from bolano, I discovered the great poet ( or antipoet, as he claims), niconor parra. looking forward to whats coming
I have a painting that is probably done by Marcel Proust, it has been in my French family for decades and I wonder if art by Marcel would have some value. Anyone?
Love this book. I'm starting to watch your video now, so maybe you'll answer it there, but... I still have got to read the others, do you think they can be easily be resumed after some two or three years I've read the first one?
Hi there Mr. Books, Love your channel! You give literature another fun dimension... thank you for that! So, question: Did you read anything of Mr. Philip Roth? What do you think about him? Keep on awesome work! Kindest and warmest regards, De Selby
As the same occurrence. I have read Proust with the same breaks. Firstly, half of Swan's way, then about 7 months passed and I returned to again and couldn't separate myself from him.
haha finally! I love Proust. I had planned to read all of In Search... last year, but life happened and school happened... maybe when I graduate. But yeah, I read Swann's Way in High School and it became my all time favorite book.
I couldn't articulate it either. Glad I sounded it out enough for Google to give the name of the author. 'Joris-Karl Huysmans' is his name, and the book title is, 'Against Nature'. 'Better Than Food' gives a review of it, btw. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6iDdRSBW92s.html
I believe it was Richard Griffiths who played Uncle Monty in 'Withnail & I'. Did you know 'Withnail & I' was originally an unpublished novel?, one which featured a far bleaker ending than the one shown in the film.
Not sure if the novel is readily available, though sections of it certainly are. If you do manage to find it then I'll look forward to your review of it. :)
Knausgaard definitely has daddy issues. He wrote about it extensively in his books. In an interview I saw, he himself doesn't take that comparison seriously. Lazy reviewers came up with this label because their works are somewhat autobiographical and long. That's it. The style of writing is nothing alike. Proust has a truly unique style.
,,For a while he had had the idea, so as to be able to go to Compiegne and Pirrefonds without appearing to be doing it in order to meet Odette, of contriving to be taken there by one of his friends, the Marquis de Forestelle , who had a chateau in the vicinity."
Life is too short to read bullshit. What a wonderful review! I picked up Swans Way last fall and was intimidated that I wouldn’t grasp it fully. But after your review I can’t wait to take my time, slow down and take it in. Thank you!
By being so sensitive and observant of the tiniest details a great writer can express the human experience in the most beautiful way but it also means they can cut through bullshit which may not be so good for the fathers ego. Clashes of opinion are probably quite good for sharpening the sword of rhetoric too.
my question is, could someone get away with floral descriptions today? i mean, you can self-publish now, almost as like a main consideration in many instances, but, would one be able to sell at a decent clip if their work is full of those brands of lavish meditations on [pick a topic]....
Its funny you mentioned Borges, because I just picked him up recently. All I can say right now is that I'm in complete awe. He manages to do things in stories that I didn't think were possible.
Volume 1, Swan's Way, is like a prelude to the remaining volumes, or so I am told by an Oxford literature professor friend of mine. I'm currently half way through Volume 2, In the 'Shadow of Young Girls in Flower'. I'm reading the Penguin Modern Classics ed. translated by James Grieve. I highly recommend it. It is a dazzling analysis of male and female adolescence, of childhood memories, of love and sexuality, of growing up, relationships, finding one's place in society and much more. Proust's ability to describe feelings, emotions and perceptions is simply spectacular. Please don't stop at reading Swan's Way. In The Shadow of Young Girls in Flower is, in my opinion, deeper and more profound. Virginia Woolf is quoted as saying 'My great adventure was undoubtedly Proust. What is there left to write after that?'
I don't think James Joyce had any issues with his dad, actually I've heard they were quite fond of one another, and Joyce is my favorite 20th century author! (please try to review one of his books, although I remember you saying in one video that you did not finish "Ulysses" which is understandable but unfortunate)
Who the hell finish Ulysses? I try, 2 or 3 times, and when I can enter is stream of tought, the book is really amazing, but the last 1/3 of the book is just impossible. i can't believe that someone ever read that. It's impossible.
Hey, great video, new to your channel but I am slowly working my way through your content. You make a nice change from much of the booktube culture. I would be really interested to see your take on Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence.
you don't read big books and now you pick the largest of the lot! i suppose you are going to read it in series form. A great reward if you can do it so they say.
I thought you were supposed to dunk the cookie in the tea? Seriously though this link is the best explanation of Proust: www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/marcel-proust/
