Masterpiece of masterpieces
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I had been intrigued by Proust since early age, for one of my favourite books is Gold and Fizdale's "Misia" and his name crops up all the time. I bought the Scott Moncrieff's English version in Paris over ten years ago and I know that many supposedly more authoritative versions have come out ever since. Yet, a few years ago I read the version in French as organised by Jean-Yves Tadié, the best known pundit on Proust's work to date and I have to say Moncrieff's translation doesn't stray that far from the original. "A la recherche" is to me the most important book in the history of literature. Compellingly philosophical, psychological, soul-searching and esthetic, no details of life go amiss. I am alternately moved, stirred and surprised at Proust's dexterity in describing the wide range of human emotions and the complexity of human interactions. He discusses art, love, jealousy, nostalgy, ambition, social climbing, politics and you cannot fail to empathise with his prose or finding new moot questions with each new reading of his work. His work is as relevant today as it was at the time when it got published.
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Just the best novel ever written, ever
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I LOVE Proust. Really worth persevering with, and it's even better in French.
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Grokkable
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Reading Marcel Proust books like : The Past Regained , has been a delicious experience . i especially like the sense in his novels of space and time as being deepened [in terms of their potential for a type of resonance ] by the act of contemplation : where things are contemplated according to a sequence of precise manuevers within and outside of the mind . This is a theme the theologian Paul Tillich also touches upon in his writings . Thomas Wolfe , perhaps , was mistaken when he said : you can't go home again . Marcel Proust teaches us that it is possible to go home again . If we are willing to dwell on the past and contemplate without conflating or distorting each of the distinct nuances of past experiences , we can have the experience of cosmically going home again . [We must in this process avoid the mental laziness of the pop psychology that tells us "don't dwell on it' , "don't cling" to the interesting experiences of the past . ] Do dwell on it should be the message .
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Worthwhile, but be prepared...
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I set myself the challenge of reading this monumental work, and am still in the process of slogging through Volume 3, which I hope to finish sometime before death.The book has moments of transcendant beauty and insight that have made it worthwhile, but also some deeply tedious sections that seem to drag on endlessly. My main problem has been the exasperation I feel with Proust himself. It is frankly difficult at times for modern readers to identify with this supremely self-involved aesthete of the early 20th century. Often I just want to reach out and smack him and tell him to quit whining and obsessing and get on with his life, already. Currently, I am dealing with his jealousy and need to control Albertine and her lesbianism, when I have to restrain myself from screaming "Go ahead and break up with her, you dolt!" The minute details of his emotional life spread out over 3,000 plus pages are sometimes overwhelming. On the other hand, I have to admit that he is ruthlessly honest and makes no attempt to render himself in a glowing light, which is admirable. And there are occasionally those deeply profound insights into human nature that strike a chord in everyone, along with a valuable documentation of a time and a life so unlike my own and fascinating in its own way. Take the challenge, and good luck!
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