Anyone else obsessed with this man's novels here ?

>reached sexual climax by defiling a photograph of his mother and watching the torture of rats.

I am in the middle of reading them and regret not finishing them all a long time ago (especially instead of reading trash). They are wonderful.

>shakespeare: gay
This a myth promoted by self-hating gays and their sympathizers who project their insecurities into everything

You clearly are, otherwise you wouldn't respond

Honestly curious. What piece of historical context would you cite to explain away the fact that the loviest-doviest sonnets in his repertoire (shall I compare thee etc.) were written about a handsome young earl?

So, people who see God in everything hate God.

He was a woman

Erudite chick lit

again, Source?

Just some Platonic love bro, kek, why's everything gotta be sexual with you??

How many years of learning french will it take for an english speaker to be able to read and appreciate ISoLT?

Not much I would say.
He doesn't use a complex and esoteric vocabulary like authors from the XVIIth century.
The only difficulty comes from his long sentences, which may get a foreign reader confused.
A good 2-3 years should suffice.

You won't learn any language up to a decent level unless you start from early childhood. Your brain isn't much of a sponge once you pass through your teen years.

Depends on how you approach it. You can read basic literary stuff after about a year (at B1-B2 level).
If you really go at it, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to read it after a few years. Of course, it might be harder to really appreciate it as I'm assuming you would have to read a lot of French lit before you consider ISoLT.

You keep thinking that, amebo.

How does one eviscerate the inner workings of something? And how does a mole eviscerate the ground?

'Obsessed' is maybe too strong, but reading his works has been one of the most profound literary experiences I have had, and I agree with about the psychological aspect, which is, also due to the book's sheer length, virtually insurpassable. I think it is possible to legitimately argue that it's the best novel of all time. But there are other novels about which can be legitimately said the same. ISOLT is also boring at times and there's a lot of repetition, but that's part of life as well. Reading the novel is like reading, living, experiencing a life other than your own, and it also revives countless precious memories you have completely forgotten about. I will undoubtedly read the whole thing again.

I am. Currently in the middle of Sodome et Gomorrhe and I've enjoyed every little bit of them so far. The man had an insight on the human mind that is mind boggling. He truly was and still remains the master of the inner world. His novel is a life you live, no one has ever come as close as Proust in writing a pure first person experience. And the beauty of it is that it is all sincere, it's emotions you relate to, it's the emotions you've been through your life put into words, in beautiful prose. Countless times while reading I had to stop and stare at the wall and think to myself ''How in the world does he know that?''

Started learning french at 17 and am almost fluent now, at 21.

Started reading ISOLT recently, I'm halfway through the Guermantes Way and loving it so far. They probably aren't that interesting to foreigners but I love the parts about 17th century French literature, Racine in particular. Which there was more of that.

>The man had an insight on the human mind that is mind boggling
can you detail this?

>The man had an insight on the human mind that is mind boggling.
>''How in the world does he know that?''
He was also a man.

For example, when you read his descriptions of his characters' psyche : you can see the depth than even minor characters have.
This capacity to make each character unique, while being able to determine them via a certain proper specificity, that could seem bland in another writer's work, thanks to his special use of punctuation and sentences' construction, makes him able to build great psychologic portraits.
Moreover, during certain events, such as the seduction game between characters, he analyzes the facts with a magnificent insight, giving details that would not strike most of us after a while spent thinking about it.
His reflexions on cause and consequences are also astounding most of the time, once again joining the finest hour of psychanalysis.

He just knows the human emotions to perfection, and can trace in details what drives a certain person to commit a certain action, be it something as vulgar as when someone greets you by your name and starts a conversation with you and you awkwardly try to remember their's, which you have in the tip of your tongue, struggle which is described in a page's length.

Of course. It is still astounding though to see it dissected for the first time in your life.

reminder that the main whore tried anal and the main characters did not like it

Can anyone explain why In Search of Lost Time is "one book" and Harry Potter is a series?

>described in a page's length.
that's far too long tho

Proust originally intended for it to be release as one book, but, due it's sheer size, it would take years for the publisher to edit it all, so they decided publish a volume every 2 or 3 years.

It's not though, it's pertinent and beautiful, and he never repeats the same thing twice. You have to read it by yourself I guess.

Is In Search of Lost Time even worth reading though? I mean that's like 4000ish pages of some fag's life, how interesting can it get?

Nabby thought you can skip the second half.

I suppose.

What most people call fluent doesn't live up to living in a language all your life though. You will never experience all the associations, the nuances, being completely formed by it in your thought in a culture that has experienced the same.

You will never read a book in another language like a native speaker would, no matter how good you get.

I don't know, if you get really good at French, read a lot about Proust's life and the Paris of his time, as well as the works of the authors he references, you might get more out of ISOLT than the average French Proust reader.