A rivalry, a quartet, a church? on the first page? That's odd, no? she asked. And Marcel Proust said "Yes! My lovely little phrase- she is famous now?!'
I don’t buy that Proust named Albertine after Alfred Agostinelli, I just don’t .
“As Proustians know, Albertine was based on Proust’s real-life secretary and chauffeur, Alfred Agostinell.
Says who? There’s no more reason to buy that idea than to agree that Combray is Illiers.
On what basis? No, I don’t think so.
It’s a topsy-turvy world, Proust’s is. Hopes dashed. Or else you possess and then you no longer want. Here I am writing this whole blog, hoping I can get my ideas out there, and now that I’m doing it, I’m feeling dispossessed. Like I’ve clung to this idea I’ve had- the question I’m asking- for so long, Continue reading “To think that I’ve wasted…”
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?”
Marcel’s room, overtaken by Genevieve de Brabant and Golo is perhaps one of the most captivating scenes in the book – and we can see it so clearly. Vibrant, stirring, emotionally resonant, gorgeously wrought. No translation could do justice to the Continue reading “Golo, projected”
…that Proust has all those chapters on Place-Names? If so, I don’t think you’re going to like this post, so best not to read on lol!
Are you still reading? Okay- here’s my thought. Or rather, here’s a hint in the picture below:
A pretty sight. One I think I should use on Continue reading “Do you think it’s odd that…”
I’m always thinking of the idea of Place Names: the Name. If I were to choose the path of reductive thinking, I might see it in terms of pens and swords.
Nom de Plume is Swann’s Way. Nom de Guerre is the way of the Guermantes.
I don’t really believe this, as I think such bipolar thinking is not at all Proustian. The two paths are in reality one and the same, as we know from the famous passage on The Two Ways. Continue reading “An Exercise: Nom de Plume, Nom de Guerre”
He’s not just the other one. You know, the one that Odette went off with, forsaking Swann. No, Forcheville is the prime contender for the Place Name: The Name award, his name in and of itself a place, or rather the idea of place. Also the idea of Continue reading “A fork in the road: Forcheville”
Mme. de Cambremer let herself drift upon a stream of exquisite memories and sensations.
Lovely Mme. de Cambremer. I know she’s the butt of jokes. Her name ends poorly, meaning the ‘de’ should be appended to the end. Mme de Cambremer(de). Not all that different in tone from Mme Verdurin’s name – verdant tinged with the subtext of ordure and Continue reading “Madame de Cambremer deserves better”
When I told my husband I was writing about canals today, he said ‘quenelles?!’
No, not quenelles. And not the canals in Venice, or even in Delft. Let’s talk about canals in Combray, shall we? Continue reading “Canals, not Quenelles”
“My thoughts had taken a turn a bit particular. I was myself what the book was talking about. A church, a quartet, the rivalry of Francis I and Charles V. “
For most, it’s just a little phrase – a mere 10 words long. Obviously this little phrase isn’t the one in the Vinteuil sonata. It’s a different one. And it has confounded me for – okay, I’ll admit it, for 20 years, no joke. When I first laid eyes on the odd combination of words in the opening paragraph of In Search of Lost Time [ISOLT], I was vaguely Continue reading “Okay, so what’s the question? It’s about that Little Phrase!!”