New Years Eve 2010

Today ends the year 2010 and I approach my deadline for reading Proust in a year. I have just under a month to finish if I stick to my exact start date. I am about 250 pages in to the third volume, and I am finding the reading to be moving quickly as Proust begins to set the plot for the end of the series. I am not sure if he has changed his style to finish or if, this is the point when his health began to decline and he began to become concerned about finishing before he died. There are many allusions to early death, illness and protracted struggles with mortality.

Overall, as a final comment, I find that reading this volume is stimulating and refreshing. The plot moves in a defined direction and does not wander off into the lives and thoughts of subtle characters.

Happy New year.

Have some things to put up

I have been keeping track of interesting quotes and words from the volumes. I came a cross on yesterday about jealousy and I will put up some of these items tomorrow.

Antecedents of desire and isolation in Proust

Here we have a character, a young man, partially invalid, a bit sheltered, in an elite society, surrounded by women, with a stern unforgiving father and a sensitive and somewhat attentive mother. His main relations, while growing up, lead him, our young man, to feel distanced from his parents and, in many respects, more comforted and cared for by the servants. He almost learns to be an invalid through the extended family, and he begins to develop an unusual view of the society in which he lives. As the reader, you begin to suspect that, through his constant cataloging of the actions of his family members, and his dissection of their motives and morals, he becomes even more isolated and, what we call, in his head. A fair postulate would be, in my opinion, that his distance and somewhat aloof nature, lead to his success in society. He is never overt in describing situations that clearly show an isolated individual, rather we get peeks at the edges, small hints are dropped that let us, the reader, know that this young man is alone with a muffled understanding of the world at large.

Having a time

I communicated with a friend about this blog and he found my writing and comments to be lacking. I have been trying to write a response, some deeper thoughts or observations and I am having a time getting it done. The conclusion I have reached, though I may eventually post those thoughts, is that I enjoy reading Proust more than analyzing. Particularly this final third volume, such a fantastic interwoven story - I am a bit stunned by where he has taken us. OK, so now I feel better having gotten something on the blog. I am terrible at getting writing done, on this blog or any other. I guess my intentions are good, just a bit spotty in completion and follow through.

Catching up

I see that my last post was in July, so I need to catch up on this blog. I read a few other things in the late of Summer and the early Fall. I read all of the "Girl who.." book by Stieg Larsson and I read Moby Dick. Further, when I went back to reading Proust I finished the first volume, due to a need to read the book in digital form, I reread the first volume again, while simultaneously reading the second volume in the traditional trade paperback format.

At this moment I am almost finished with the second volume, I should finish today, or tomorrow at the latest. I have a different impression of these books as I approach the end of this volume. Proust has opened the plot up a bit more and exposed the mind of the character as he relates directly to other characters. The dialogue, which there is more of, and the descriptive passages of the thoughts and feelings of the characters is more rich and varied. Proust, offers up a more personal vision, rather than a point of view of a particular character we get the point of view and a comment of the protagonist about this character or situation.

By far the most revealing and enjoyable passages have to do with time and the emerging awareness of sexuality. Since this revelation on sexuality is a great shift in the book I take it that something happened in the life of the author that opened his mind and heart. Possibly this shift has to do with a sense of urgency to finish the story. I know Proust became ill during the writing of the third volume ( I think this is the correct point when his health declined) and the revelations about time show a strong desire to comment on the changes in society and class structure and the personal time in the mind of the author.

TO give an example, at the opening of the first volume we are treated to a discourse about a person struggling through the night, with time implied and indirect. Three quarters of the way through the second volume we see our protagonist and Albertine going for a drive in a motor car and the description is shorter of the event and the comment on society and especially time in much greater detail.

As a final note for today, I have found that reading Proust continues to make me _feel_ out of step with my society. I do not know what to do about this, if anything needs to be done at all. I find that my perceptions of life and expectations of interaction and communication, in comparison to the world in the 21st century, are skewed by the pointed intelligence of the characters in the book(s). I know that reading these books, absorbing the style, being immersed in the beauty of this writing, has affected my efforts to write. For the first time in my life I fell free to narrate and write without the heavy handed guidance of a rule bound society pinning me into a corner of conformity.

Faux Summer

So the rotten Spring we have had continues to follow into Summer. The good thing is that I have no desire to go outside, so I read Proust. The second volume reveals that Proust has a revolutionary vision of social discourse, which he rips the curtain back consistently exposing, in subtle cutting ways, the vicious smarmy way people ingratiate their lives into society. His foils, the Swann family, become that much more reviled and, to a modern sensibility, modern being relative to my life at this moment, all the more heroic as underdogs.

reading reading reading

Not that anyone reads here, yea, but I have been reading and writing. I have read the first book again on my iTouch and still continue with the second. So much more makes sense on the second reading, the story has finally come together in my mind and I understand what Proust is getting at. The interconnection between the various characters, their relationships and the bridges between the story, blossom as you see why time and structure are so very critical to this book and series. The whole plot shifts away from the simple introduction of the narrator, encompasses Swann, and returns to the comments and the life of the narrator as the book ends. A fascinating comment on time and a beautiful structure.

Facebook and Proust

I find that reading Proust and interacting with Facebook to be difficult as the very issues that Proust comments on and asks us to think about are rife throughout the superficial interactions on Facebook.

Reading on the iTouch

So I am currently reading both books, the first and the second. I am reading the first again on the touch and the second in book form. I find that there are huge chunks that I missed the first time around.

Almost a month

I thought I would let things go until it had been an actual month since my last post. Well here I am early, with a short update then off to work, to the world, to the experience of life. In regards to reading I have been reading an electronic edition of Swann's Way and enjoying it very much the second time through. I find new life and new information. I am still reading Kawabata, letting it linger, and other stuff that I will catch up on in a second post.

Passage vol 2 page 122 Silence

[REM I think that it is difficult to read Proust without commenting/posting on the beautiful passages and comments he delivers page upon page. I have made it this far without posting to this - I cannot resist any longer. When reading this fine work it becomes necessary to share these beautiful comments and language.]

"It has been said that silence is strength; in a quite different sense it is a terrible strength in the hands of those who are loved. It increases the anxiety of the one who waits. Nothing so tempts us to approach another person as what is keeping us apart; and what barrier is so insurmountable as silence? It has been said also that silence is torture, capable of goading to madness the man who is condemned to it in a prison cell. But what an even greater torture than that of having to keep silence it is to have to endure the silence of the person one so loves!"

Infatuated with this book

The Yasunari Kawabata book I am currently reading is _The dancing Girl of Izu and other Stories_ translated by Martin Holman and published by Counterpoint 1-887178-14-7. As I adore this writer and this book I thought I would get the information into the blog space to keep track etc..

Still reading and slowly

Still reading and still reading more Kawabata than Proust. His prose and the characters he has created become so very adept at shifting the plot with a simple turn of phrase, everything makes such sense. I have been reading Proust but I have also been not reading anything because I have been listening to much music and such with my new electronic device.

Here on Monday

I have begun reading Proust again and find the prose so different. Reading these books will surely change your life. I am not sure if it is what he says, or the massive amount of prose that he exposes your brain to. Perhaps it is just his unusual ability to discern detail and thus expose your brain to another way of thinking or seeing would be more accurate. I see into other books, stripped away the text becomes open and the direction of the writing and plot easily assimilated. If, at this moment, I had to name only three authors that even come close to Proust those two would be Kawabata, and Gogol.

I think I will look for a forum about reading Proust. I would be interested to see what else is said about the experience of reading. I must remember to stay in touch with my process and not become distracted or discouraged by the negative or disheartened individuals who may be there in the cloud of communication.

On the mechanics of blogging, I have found that through keeping this blog I would like to expand my blogging efforts to encompass my personal life. I have been well pleased that no one reads this so though the blog is out in the cloud no one comes here so I have privacy. Yea! What I had always hoped for a forum without the public. Customer service be dammed. Go jump and leave and look not back at me I am in my prose forever free.

slow to read of late

Of late I have been finishing Kawabata and completely lost in Martin Dressler. I carry Proust to work with me every day and have not been reading it. Soon I will delve back in, I know that the struggles I feel from reading and living in this world push me away and yet I am determined to finish.

Particular in Modern

There are many things about the writing that continue to fascinate me while reading Proust. One thing in particular is how his writing seems so fresh and of the time I am in. I believe that this is one of the things about his work that makes it perhaps the greatest work in the English language. As an example he speaks of going to the theater and the society around him treating the theater as if it were their own drawing room, a problem we have discussed often in regards to people in the movie theaters. Obviously, this is not a isolated trend, and further, the exposure of this fact is what makes reading great works of literature or any reading of books for that matter so very worthwhile as we can be assisted in putting our lives into a greater focus and perspective.

Catching Up

As usual, I do not write or post much. I was inspired to get another post in by reading information about J.D. Salinger. I have almost finished Snow Country/Thousand Cranes, I have been reluctant to finish this book as I enjoy the writing and I find the style especially appealing and I want to continue to use the book for inspiration. I continue to read other works besides Proust, yet in all I have concentrated on the second volume of late more than anything. One book that has come to light is _Martin Dressler_ by Steven Millhauser, a stunning work of craft and depth that becomes more readable with each page you turn. I have not finished the book yet but I really get lost in the world and the characters.

The second volume of Proust I find continues to flow as the last ended. His style opens up and is a bit warmer and descriptive even in the longer passages. The biggest difficulty I have with reading Proust, as I have said before, is the conflict between the world he creates for us and the world I live in. It is getting worse and I found that, having taken a few days off, the struggle was not easy to isolate, the extended elevated levels of ennui in my daily life, the disturbed dreams while asleep, finally traced back to this conflict. Still it works inside me. I am not sure if reading this text is making me smarter or just plain distracted and maladjusted. If I look at the world around me I know that being in what I have begun to think of as a Proustian state is a challenge. I know that the positive changes in my life and my writing can be enumerated. I know I am a better person - I know I have a better brain, I know it to be true.

Volume One

I have completed the first volume of Remembrance of Things Past earlier in the week. I found marked differences in the writing toward the end of the the final book of this volume. In my opinion this can be attributed to the actions of the main character being closer in action to what we do in this day and age. Further, the interplay between the individuals seems to occur with greater frequency, though the longer passages do contain incredible prose that rivals any in earlier sections.

On another note I find that the reading of Proust has had a more profound effect on my life, in particular my reading life, certainly my ability to concentrate and elucidate ideas and expressions in writing and in verbal communication. I have found a greater inspiration to write from Proust than from any other source of writing in my life. I cannot exactly state the particulars that are in the writing that inspire or teach or reveal to my desire or mind or heart that which I have not been able to see in other literature or schooling. I almost have a sensation that, like some occult tome, or ancient carved tablet, my particular circumstance now resonates in harmony with the textural flow of Proust. A secret come to light, hidden between the pages, and transmitted across the ages.

Page 900

I have reached page 900, leaving only 118 pages to go in the first volume. I have found the writing to be a bit more open, leaning toward a more conversational style. The prose, is as ever, beautiful and the long descriptive passages blot the world around me out. The struggles I experience in reading Proust is the conflict between the rough rude ill-bred aggressive world I live in in comparison to the world rich in culture, manners, and grace. I often find myself distracted by the formal descriptions and respectful conversations, that imply or state that the people in the world of Proust are listening and interested in each other. Even as Proust details the separation of class and the oft denigrating or snobbish behavior of characters I find that at least they do not fear for their lives from those around them and even those in the class loser than the common servants are given polite words and connected interactions. The contrast is stark and troubling.

Catching up

I am not very Proust like in my posts. I do not write enough inside the body of the messages and I do not write enough posts. I would guess that Proust would write pages and pages, detailing thoughts and emotions, ideas and musings, descriptions and undulations, that would reveal the whys and wherefores of the limiting capacity toward posting. How was that for a Proustian sentence?

Ok, so I have been reading and reading and reading. I have been reading Proust and I have been reading other writers. I am finding as is on the frontispiece of _Dead Souls_ that there are books and there are Books and even some of the greatest literature can only fall into the class of books. I have become enchanted with Kawabata and Gogol but Doctorow and Steinbeck leave me cold. I do ok with Mahfouz but I have no love or connection for Nabakov. I have not started with M.F.K. Fisher or Jane Austen and I particularly like Calvino, I can see why Calvino is so popular in bookstores. Ok so I gotta go live life a bit see you again soonish.

Proust - v.1 page 658

I am three quarters of the way through this volume. I find it difficult to out this book down. I feel most alive and connected while experiencing the lives of the characters. One of my favorite popular writers died yesterday, Robert B. Parker, and the passion I have had for reading his work is in simpatico for the overarching passion I currently feel for Proust.

Blog Structure Update

As this is the first real blog of pure intent, I have learned a few things, thus need to change the basic structure of my posts. In particular the tittle of the post does not need the date included. I have decided to title each post to better reflect the body of the post. So since I want to begin to comment on the other titles I am using for comparison I shall include the name of the Author in the post title. This will allow the posts to me ordered in the long run according to topic, or book. As I see this blog as a true web-log and not a public instrument per-say, the information is generated more for my benefit, and my own future reference, I will not limit the size of the posts. I will endeavor to keep the posts brief and focused.

Eighteen January 2010

I have been reading of the other titles, in particular _East of Eden and _The Cairo Trilogy_, and have decided to add a few more titles for various reasons of my own. In regard to reading these titles I have not a comment, as I do not think I have read enough in depth or breadth. I have also found myself lost in Proust, making effort to read the other works. I have reached that point in the life of the book that I am compelled to read to find out, to experience, to be with the characters that are upon the pages.

I have also come into the most generous loan of the _Kebra Nagast_ and have begun reading this most holy work. I already have a thirst for the information that is available here. So thus the breadth of my reading continues to grow. I have more to day about reading Proust, these additional thoughts and comments wait for another time, as does the additional books I have chosen to add.

Thirteen January 2010

I have decided, to broaden my scope while reading Proust. I have chosen six famous figures of Literature to read in part or in total while reading Proust. I hope to get a better idea, for comparison, how and what the textural differences are between the various writers. I am sure that with many of these texts I could remember the body of the work or the particular title. I want to have a complete and fresh understanding that is not pulled from the cloudy fields of memory, or the influence of criticism or media, rather I want an unbiased and wholly synchronous experience.

The criteria I used was arbitrary. I walked the stacks of one of the libraries I currently patronize and chose books that were classic or noteworthy and held my interest. I also tried to pick titles that I had not read to further challenge my attempt at a fresh transparent view.

Here are the first six I have chosen to work with:

1. _East of Eden_ John Steinbeck ISBN 0-14-200423-5
2. _Mr. Palomar_ Italo Calvino 0-15-162835-1
3. _Snow country and Thousand Cranes_ Yasunari Kawabata_ LCCCN 69-17239
4. _Dead Souls_ NIcholai V. Gogol LCCCN 65-15433
5. _Sound and the Fury_ William Faulkner (no number(s) looks like a donated book club)
6. _The Cairo Trilogy_ Naguib Mahfouz_ 0-375-41331-6

Of the books listed above I have read two Snow Country and Dead Souls. I have read portions of Cairo Trilogy and East of Eden having read many other works by Steinbeck. The same circumstance applies to Faulkner, I have read many other works but never this particular title. I think these books are a complete blog entry in themselves so I hope to sample the writing without the pressure to finish them in total. The effort to finish Proust will be challenging enough. I have begun with Steinbeck as I am in the middle of Oregon winter and miss California, and Northern California in particular, quite a bit. So I will read a bit more Proust and a bit more Steinbeck before I comment further.

Ten January 2010

I think one of the things that Proust is trying to get at is the movement inside society. The shifts of personal freedom, class freedom, and the burgeoning Art and Entertainment offerings that offer the promise of a better educated more integrated society built around intellectual discourse.

At the same time he presents the overarching vision of a society in transition we also peer into the life of a young man, somewhat befuddled by the changing world and, not fully insulated or educated successfully by his immediate family. We are given glimpses with subtle phrase and descriptive passages. The two together woven together create a pattern of seamless narrative.

On a note of personal concern, yes concern, the society that Proust chronicles, and the transition of said society, could, at any point in the future from his day, be what he states. Meaning that, as an example, the immediate times I live in offer a wealth of knowledge and opportunity not available to Proust or his protagonist yet the struggles of ignorance, aggressive behavior, rude and uncouth lives continue to manifest. The prejudice inside the hearts of men toward race, class, and religion is legion. Proust would be shocked to see the amount of available Entertainment and knowledge and the unalterable, overwhelming, narrow minded culture that we are surrounded by today.

I find reading these books and working in the retail setting jarring each day I go to work. I have had to make a conscious effort, to an even greater degree than normal, not allowing my own personal internal changes, brought about by my expanded understandings through the reading of Proust,to infiltrate my daily customer service offerings.

Now to go start my weekly baking projects - and read Proust.

Nine January 2010

So I have had many adventures with Proust this week. Overall I have enjoyed being surrounded by the textural prose presented. Often,while reading the long passages, concentration can waver only to be sharpened by exquisite phrases unlike any that I have previously read by other fine writers.

On a practical note, to facilitate the reading of the text, I have given up on trying to keep these paperback copies pristine and now tote them about so to give ample opportunity to enjoy and finish these tomes. Plus I did indeed drop my book,on the wet floor, while getting on the bus, thsu dampening the edges and spoiling the book. Sigh. I have much more to present, but now it is time to go back to the rude aggressive world that is the 21st century.

Proust Edition information statement

I have been and will continue to read the following editions of Proust

_Remembrance Of Things Past_

v. 1 _Swann's way_
_Within a budding grove_
ISBN 0-394-71182-3

v. 2 _Guermantes way_
_Cities of the Plain_
ISBN 0-394-71183-1

v. 3 _The captive_
_The Fugitive_
_Time regained_
ISBN 0-394-71184-X

All of these edition are paperback, what I think of as the "Silver Proust as the the covers are silver with black art deco design. The cover states the following:
"The definitive French Pleiade edition translated by C.K. Scott Moncrieff abd Terrance Kilmartin" I do have all three volumes, though not in the standard slipcase. I also have a similar electronic edition on my netbook but I find that reading both book and electronic is difficult as they do not reconcile well.

-end

Statement of intention 6 January 2010

This web log will serve to track my progress and thoughts on reading Proust. I shall endeavor to accomplish these three goals:

1. Finish the three volumes by 31 December 2010.
2. Write at least one blog post each week about my progress.
3. Write one creative piece that stems from my time with Proust.