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.