Reading Proust

I’m slowly re-reading In Search of Lost Time and I usually have so many things to say about a volume that I write several posts. I thought it might be useful to gather all the Proust posts on a special page.

To students looking for reviews to write essays: I have no competence in literature at all. I didn’t study literature at university and I haven’t read any academic book about literature. I only write my thoughts and nothing says that what I write makes sense or is accurate.

Enjoy!

IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME

Du côté de chez Swann – Swann’s Way. 1913

From Proust to Baudelaire

Reviews by Melissa Beck (The Book Binder’s Daughter)

• My First Encounter with Proust

Reviews by Max (Pechorin’s Journal)

• A Proustian excerpt
• his love was no longer operable

Review by Sarah (A Rat in the Book Pile)

• Swann’s Way – Marcel Proust

Reviews by Richard (Caravana de Recuerdos)

• Swann’s Way

Review by Séamus (Vapour Trail)

• Swann’s Way

Review by Alex (Alex in Leeds)

• Reading Proust: Very Pleasurable Quicksand

A l’ombre des jeunes filles en fleur – In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower 1919

• Madame Swann at home
• A Proustian morning. Thoughts on the 1923 English translation
• A summer in Balbec
• Sea, sex and fun: the Narrator goes wild
• Doesn’t she look like Odette Swann?

Reviews by Max (Pechorin’s Journal)

• M de Norpois recommends some investments
• Within a Budding Grove by Marcel Proust

Review by Sarah (A Rat in the Book Pile)

• Within a Budding Grove – Marcel Proust

Reviews by Richard (Caravana de Recuerdos)

• In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower
• In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower #2

Reviews by Séamus (Vapour Trail)

• Within A Budding Grove (First Post)

Review by Tony (Tony’s Reading List)

• Don’t forget the Hawthorns… 

Reviews by Melissa Beck (The Book Binder’s Daughter)

• In a Budding Grove: Proust Teaches Us How to Read Proust
• Our Cocoon of Habit: More thoughts on Proust’s In a Budding Grove

Le côté de Guermantes – The Guermantes Way 1920 -1921

• Everyday life near the Guermantes.
• Mme de Guermantes, from dream to reality
• The Guermantes Way, Book II
• The Guermantes Way and the Dreyfus Affair

Reviews by Séamus (Vapour Trail)

• The Guermantes Way (First Post)
• The Guermantes Way (Second Post)

Review by Max (Pechorin’s Journal)

• “Oriane is a snob”

Review by Tony (Tony’s Reading List)

• ‘LE CÔTÉ DE GUERMANTES’ (‘THE GUERMANTES WAY’) BY MARCEL PROUST (REVIEW)

Reviews by Melissa Beck (The Book Binder’s Daughter)

• The Assembly of the Gods: Expectation in Proust’s Guermantes Way
• The Resurrection of the Voice: Proust on Sound

Review by Kaggsy (Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings)

• #1920Club – “Each of us sees in brighter colours what he sees at a distance, what he sees in other people.” #Proust2020

Sodome et Gomorrhe – Sodom and Gomorrah 1921 – 1922

• Sodom and Gomorrah by Marcel Proust
• The Narrator and Molière : Comedy in Sodome et Gomorrhe
• Charlus, Albertine and others : homosexuality in Sodom and Gomorrah

Reviews by Richard (Caravana de Recuerdos)

• Sodom and Gomorrah

Reviews by Séamus (Vapour Trail)

• Cities of the Plain (Sodom and Gomorrha) First Post

Review by Max (Pechorin’s Journal)

• The miraculous possibility of their conjuction 

Review by Tony (Tony’s Reading List)

• ‘SODOME ET GOMORRHE’ (‘SODOM AND GOMORRAH’) BY MARCEL PROUST (REVIEW)

Review by Melissa Beck (The Book Binder’s Daughter)

• Intellectual Narrowness: Proust on the Dreyfus Affair and Anti-Semitism
• Gender and Sexuality in Proust

La Prisonnière –  The Captive 1923

• Every breath you take; every move you make, I’ll be watching you
• I finished reading The Captive, eventually

Reviews by Séamus (Vapour Trail)

• The Captive / La Prisonnière
• The Captive Post 2. A short one this time

Reviews by Melissa Beck (The Book Binder’s Daughter)

• Lovesickness in Proust’s The Captive

Albertine Disparue – Albertine Gone – 1925

not re-read so far

Reviews by Séamus (Vapour Trail)

• The Sweet Cheat Gone / Albertine Disparue 1st post
• The Sweet Cheat Gone / Albertine Disparue 2nd post

Le temps retrouvé – Time regained – 1927

not re-read so far

Reviews by Séamus (Vapour Trail)

• Time Regained

Reviews by Tom (Wuthering Expectations.)

• Finishing In Search of Lost Tile – Proust and the Library of Babel (or Proust and the Blog Post of Babble)
• Grotesque Proust: exploded shells, board meetings and kangaroos.

FOR FUN PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE

Here is the famous Proust questionnaire and the answers by the 13 year old Marcel.

OTHER BOOKS BY PROUST

La Confesstion d’une Jeune Fille et Autres Textes : 

I’ve read it a long time ago. It’s short and can be an introduction to Proust without starting In Search of Lost Time.

BOOKS ABOUT PROUST AND/OR IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME

Marcel Proust and John Ruskin : On reading. Read Tom’s review here

• Monsieur Proust by Céleste Albaret. I haven’t read it yet but it’s the memoirs of the Prousts’ maid.
• Paintings in Proust: A Visual Companion to In Search of Lost Time by Eric Karpeles. This book shows paintings related to In Search of Lost Time. The French title is Le Musée imaginaire de Marcel Proust – Tous les tableaux de A la recherche du Temps Perdu
• Proust: A Life by Edmund White. I haven’t read it but Violet reviewed it here and according to the quote she mentions, the book sounds worth reading.
• Proust’s Overcoat by Lorenza Foschini. This book tells the story of Jacques Guérin who collected Proust’s belongings. See Violet’s review.
• Monsieur Proust’s Library by Anka Mulhstein This book will tell you about the writers who influenced Proust. Read Guy’s Review. And Tom’s review

EXPERIENCING PROUST IN REAL LIFE

• The Book Haven in Paris : 36 hours in France: Have I become a Proustitute?
• Amateur Proust : amateurproust.wordpress.com
• Post by Melissa Beck : A Proust Reading List