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?”
Golo, projected
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”
Do you think it’s odd that…
…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…”
An Exercise: Nom de Plume, Nom de Guerre
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”
A fork in the road: Forcheville
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”
Canals, not Quenelles
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”
Okay, so what’s the question? It’s about that Little Phrase!!
“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!!”
Prooosty stumbles onto something
Here they are, my two kings, the ones to blame for starting it all.
I don’t even know why I looked them up. I’ve never been the least bit interested in history. But that’s how it started. I did a casual search, a few words typed in- and that’s when I stumbled on Cambrai Continue reading “Prooosty stumbles onto something”
2 + 2 = a Quatuor!
Quatuor is not a very easy word to say in French. Probably why it caught my attention.
I just loved that word all by itself. – the u and the o a bit of a tongue twister for me, the non-native French speaker. And in my mind, twisting letters around- because the line preceding it… Continue reading “2 + 2 = a Quatuor!”