Okay, so I got up to page 129 in the Pleiade for my ‘read Proust marathon starting January 1,’ and then I had to go back again. There was too much stuff packed into the pages and I couldn’t take it all in properly to serve my purposes, which is to track the little phrase. Thus, I’ve had to Continue reading “Taking stock”
Let’s talk Ottomans, shall we?
As I’ve said before, I’m no history buff, so forgive me if I’m a little glib about such matters. But let’s talk Ottomans, shall we? And Persia, Byzantine culture, St. Mark and so on. We have to, because Continue reading “Let’s talk Ottomans, shall we?”
Tante Léonie is a beast
Tante Leonie’s the domestic ‘lioness’ looking out from her room ‘tower’ over the village square of Combray and observing the comings and goings.
To my mind, she’s the beast. Akin to the Lion of St. Mark overlooking the square in Venice, she’s the one who facilitates the dipping of the Madeleine in tea that sets everything moving. Young Marcel dips the biscuit in tea… Continue reading “Tante Léonie is a beast”
Silly Bergotte and his little patch of yellow wall
He repeated to himself: “Little patch of yellow wall, with a sloping roof, little patch of yellow wall.”
What is it about the death of Bergotte, poor Bergotte, that makes me love him so much? Yes, it’s his indigestion, and his silly little mantra about the patch of yellow wall. in Vermeer’s View of Delft. Continue reading “Silly Bergotte and his little patch of yellow wall”
Saint Marcel, author of the book
Okay, a word about all the church stuff. Archbishops, saints, churches, resurrection.
I’m not proselytizing here. I’m talking in a fictional sense. And I think the same could be said for Continue reading “Saint Marcel, author of the book”
Illiers-Combray lolol
My son sometimes says something I’ve done is cringe, and I mean no harm to Illiers when I say this (though I hate when he says it to me!) but I do find it a bit that. Of course the town’s the real deal, and yes I’ve been there and it’s charming, but a name… Continue reading “Illiers-Combray lolol”
The masked Saint: Saint Loup
I didn’t know that a mask like this one was called a ‘loup.’
It took me a while to figure this out. I thought at first that this word Loup had something to do with my shepherds (the Moors on the Torre Del’Orologgio)- i.e. something about a wolf in Continue reading “The masked Saint: Saint Loup”