Marcel Proust - The Man and His Masterpiece
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Ah, To Be Middle-Aged, Gifted and Rich!
So you're living in Paris, have suffered from ill health all your life, and you sense that death is coming in the not-too-distant future. A desperate dilemma confronts you. How will you memorialize the depth and breadth of your past inner life? How can you apply your unrecognized genius to a work of art that will live forever?
In sum, how will you recover lost time and make it come alive again?
By writing a book, of course. Perhaps a 4,000-page uber-novel that plumbs the psychological and social intricacies of a sensitive mind in a complex culture. Perhaps a masterpiece that exhausts you to death. But you won't leave this world until you've met your goal of recapturing the past in brilliant prose that breaks new ground in the exploration of consciousness, emotion and memory.
Yes, that's it exactly.
The Odd Duck (ou -- le canard bizarre)
Yes, he was an odd creature.Here are a few factoids:
* He wrote lying in bed in a cork-lined room, writing all night and sleeping by day.
* He suffered from asthma and "neuralgia."
* He served one year in the French army (1889-90).
* Despite his father's urging, he never had a career or held any job that paid (except novelist).
* His lived from 1871 to 1922.
* He died of pneumonia at age 51.
* He lived in his parents' apartment until they were both deceased.
* He inherited lots of money.
* His father was a Catholic physician.
* His mother was an artsy Jew.
* He was gay.
* In 1919, he won the Prix Goncourt for In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower.
* The last 3 volumes of his masterwork were published posthumously.
* His brother Robert edited his manuscripts after he died.
About The English Title
Proust's title is "A la recherche du temps perdu" -- In Search of Lost Time.However, British translator C.K. Scott-Moncrieff tried to do a Shakespearean riff on the title, choosing this phrase from Sonnet #30:
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past
Unfortunate, that.
A nod to The Bard is nice, but Proust chose his title carefully, and to call it a mere "remembrance" is to dishonor his mighty quest, his aching Search for Lost Time. Later translations reclaim the original title -- hurrah!
Individual Volume Titles
- Swann's Way or The Way By Swann's (Du cote de chez Swann)
- Within a Budding Grove or In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower (A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleur)
- The Guermantes' Way (Le cote de Guermantes)
- Cities of the Plain or Sodom and Gomorrah (Sodome et Gomorrhe)
- The Prisoner or The Captive (La prisonniere)
- The Sweet Cheat Gone or The Fugitive or Albertine Gone (La fugitive / Albertine disparue)
- Time Regained or The Past Recaptured or Finding Time Again (Le temps retrouve)
About The Translations
You Have Three Choices
THE ORIGINAL: Scott-MoncrieffPictured at Right
For English translations, we first have C.K. Scott-Moncrieff, who translated the first six volumes between 1922 and 1930. This accomplishment earned him high praise, although some find his prose to be over-wrought. (The seventh volume was translated by Stephen Hudson in the UK edition, and Frederick Blossom for the American edition.)
IMPROVEMENTS: Kilmartin and Enright
In 1981, Terence Kilmartin revised Scott-Moncrieff's translation.
In 1992, D.J. Enright took Kilmartin's revision, but re-translated from the 1989 definitive French editions (the most authoritative text). Available in a six-pack edition (see below). Seven become six volumes by combining The Prisoner and The Fugitive. Hey - I bet you never thought you'd see "six pack" and Proust mentioned in the same lens!
THE NEWEST: Penguin/Viking Edition
Highly acclaimed new translations. Each volume is translated by a different person. Only the first four volumes are available in the U.S. So you'll have to pick up the latter three volumes elsewhere.
How Do You Tackle a Seven-Volume Oeuvre?
One Word At A Time
I like Jane Smiley's recommended strategy -- at least an hour a day, for about 70 days. (See the link to her Salon article below.) Yes, it's a commitment, but one you'll look forward to more and more as you immerse yourself in Proust's World.PLAN A - El Cheapo Plan
Read (or download) it all off the Web for free, in English (links provided below). You'll get the Scott-Moncrieff translation, which is now public domain. You can also download it in French (links below).
PLAN B - Some of This; Some of That - All Modern Translation
Order the first 4 Viking/Penguin volumes now. You'll have time while reading those to order the last two Enright-translated books (containing the last 3 volumes) for the final stretch.
PLAN C - One Fell Swoop
Order Enright's "Six-Pack" for about $50 below, and stay with him all the way through.
D.J. Enright's Translation - The Complete Package for 50 Bucks
The Viking / Penguin Classics Series
NOTE: ** Only First 4 Volumes Available in the US
Enright's Translation - Vols 1, 2 and 3
Enright's Translation - Vols 4, 5 and 6
Online Reading to Inspire You To Tackle Proust
- On Reading Proust by Jane Smiley
- Novelist Jane Smiley writes a Salon.com article about her immersion into Remembrance of Things Past. Here's the blurb: "You will spend 70 days in a row with this man, and you will be charmed and offended and amazed and sometimes bored, but you will be lucky."
Read It Online!
via The Gutenberg Project or from Univ. of Adelaide
- Swann's Way
- "For a long time I used to go to bed early." And so it begins.... This is the 1922 Scott-Moncrieff translation, now in public domain.
- Within a Budding Grove
- Vol. 2 from Univ. of Adelaide (Scott-Moncrieff translation).
- Guermantes Way
- Vol. 3 is online from Univ. of Adelaide (Scott-Moncrieff translation).
- Sodom and Gommorah
- Vol. 4 is online, from the Univ. of Adelaide (Scott-Moncrieff translation).
- The Captive
- Vol. 5 from the Univ. of Adelaide (Scott-Moncrieff translation).
- The Sweet Cheat Gone
- Vol. 6 from the Univ. of Adelaide (Scott-Moncrieff translation).
- Time Regained
- Volume 7 from the Univ. of Adelaide. Translated by Stephen Hudson (1931).
Read it Online - in French
- Du cote de chez Swann
- This links to www.gutenberg.org. There you'll find the first four volumes available in French for download.
- A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleur
- Here's a link to Vol. 2 from the Univ. of Adelaide. Through their service, you can find the complete work online in French.
Aids to Reading Proust
Proust's Housekeeper -- She Wrote A Book About Him, Which Became A Film
Celeste Albaret Knew Him Well
New York Times Obituaries, 1984 : "Celeste Albaret, the secretary, housekeeper and nurse of the French novelist Marcel Proust for the last nine years of his life, died of emphysema Wednesday, her family announced Thursday. She was 92 years old. "You can read her account of her years with Proust (see Biographies below) or watch the German film inspired by her story, directed by Percy Adlon (see Films below).
Read her full obituary here.
Books to Read "Alongside" Proust
The Three Best Biographies
Films Based on Proust
On-Line Resources
- Reading Proust
- Going volume by volume, this web site gives you the Two-Minute Synopsis and analyzes the differences between the translations.
- Temps Perdu
- For the general reader as well as the scholar. Provides chronologies, lists of characters and a wealth of links.
- Wikipedia - Remembrance of Things Past
- A nice overview of plot, themes, publication history, etc.
Portrait of a Proust Scholar
In the 2006 film Little Miss Sunshine, Steve Carell plays a Proust scholar. Kudos for the great casting, highlighted by Steve's unique running style!Each member of this family is "In Search Of . . . ." Highly recommended.
Proust On Ebay
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