Often, but only a little at a time
I came across this passage recently, about Swann's father losing his wife:
Apropos of a different sort of thing, this phrase strikes me as a good description of how I will most likely read Proust. I'm not sure I can spend hours, or even much more than an hour on it, but I think I will return to it frequently. This is how I've begun, at any rate, by reading Proust a little at a time, 10 pages or so, savoring it, and then moving on to something else, ready before too long to return to it again. How about you?He could not be consoled for the death of his wife, but, during the two years he survived her, he would say to my grandfather: "It's odd, I think of my poor wife often, but I can't think of her for long at a time." "Often, but only a little at a time, like poor old Swann," had become one of my grandfather's favorite phrases, which he uttered apropos of the most different sorts of things.
posted by Rebecca H. at 8:40 PM
4 Comments:
What a great idea for a blog, and what an author to choose! I just started reading Proust--I'm sure you'll hear more from my in the future . = )
I agree Dorothy, 10 pages or so at a sitting is enough to fill a person up. More than that and it gets to be too much. I find my brain, no matter how much I may be enjoying the book, has a limit.
I've made it through about 300 pages of "Swann's Way," and I've done it at about that pace -- 10 pages at a time. To me, it's like being in a dream. When you're in it, each detail seems so relevant and important. But when you've "woken up," (or in this case, stopped reading), it's difficult to recount to anybody the true depth of the experience!
Michelle, I, too, have been wanting to dunk the madeleine. There is a French bakery near my house that sells them. Unfortunately, no lime-blossom tea on hand...English Breakfast doesn't seem to cut it somehow...
A little at a time - that's the only way I can take Proust. Otherwise I find myself losing the thread and going back to re-read the previous passages.
But I admit it can be engaging - like eavesdropping on long stretches of gossip about your neighbours.
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