Proust Appreciation Thread

You fucking shill

It basically is, tbqh. But especially in the first 3 volumes, the concerns with romance and growing up are universal and detailed with great finesse.

It's also not entirely "about" the narrator, so to speak. A lot of the focus is on how the people in his life affect his memories and vice versa, which makes it difficult to fully establish what is and isn't true of one or the other. But even then, the full thing discusses so many topics that there's something of interest for any reader, as long as you're patient.

I hate novels about rich fags

OP here. That is a fair assessment of it but it is the best of all time

>twin peaks
Good taste. Who are your favorite novelists?

Thats a big question, ol'sport
I dont have the favorite

Well, I guess it will be a better sleep aid than clonazepam. At least healthier

>reminder that reading just Swann's Way doesn't count

read the whole thing, plebs.

I love his rhythmic and poetic writing style. I glide through his pages in ecstasy. And his insights into relationships, nature, art, psychology even, all had a very strong impact on me.

For what it's worth Marcel had an addiction to masturbation growing up, documented in several letters between him and other people, and I also masturbate way more than the average person, so it gives me hope, like in heaven there's a group of brilliant chronic masturbators in a secluded marble castle and Proust is at the highest tower, shouting "Lower the draw bridge, he's one of us!" and I am welcomed into my rightful place in eternity.

Same

Proust > Musil > Joyce

I see work ahead.

Hence the plural. No problem, though, could you recommend me one on a whim?

I needed this today

Ha!

Luz Aurora Pimentel is a proustian specialist here in Mexico and an astounding literary theorist. She spent 10 years reading ISOLT to pay proper attention to the richness of Proust's prose. ISOLT is paradigmatic in almost every resource written expression has in terms of aesthetics.
You're an ass.

VALIS

Ok faggots I bought it
What should I expect

a book that makes you proud to just have existed, a book that cures you of all insecurities, existential unease, depression, anxiety, worries, and pessimism. remember this day because it will be remembered as the best day of your life

I just looked up this professor and she's a badass motherfucker, that's a glorious feat, good for her. I'm taking my time with ISOLT too, it's the only book I really care about anymore, if my entire bookshelf burned down i wouldn't really give a shit as long as I kept my ISOLT collection

Which translation?

Funny

Is not an english translation

Proust > Pessoa > Musil > Joyce

Damn you faggots were not memeing

Thoughts that began crossing my mind while reading:

"Wait, what does he do for money?"
"Oh, he doesn't have to worry about money at all."
"...The fuck is he depressed about then?"
"Yo stop clinging to your mother you're 20+ years old now Jesus Christ this guy is intolerable grow the fuck up already."
"None of the drama in this book need exist, stop hanging around people you don't like. Nope, oh cool he's hanging around people he doesn't like again. Oh cool, more drama because of that."

Obviously the writing is really good but by God do I not give a flying fuck about the narrator or any of the characters, literally nothing of import happens. Rich kid wanders and around, misses his mum, watches some old fags.

Is this Alain de Botton?

>Oh, he doesn't have to worry about money at all."
>"...The fuck is he depressed about then?"
>"Yo stop clinging to your mother you're 20+ years old
Mylife.jpg

name one thing in the history of existence that would be considered important

If literally is about a queer rich neet saying woe is me for 3000 pages.

>Is it really that good?
If you're not reading it in French, I'd guess it depends heavily on the translation. I've just read a little but should start my way through them soon. For a long time I didn't think it would be the kind of book I would enjoy, but from what little I've read it does seem to be incredibly well written and deserve the praise it got.

>The writing is really good but by God do I not give a flying fuck about the narrator or any of the characters.
I'm pretty sure that's how I'll feel too as well as soon as I start getting into it. I'm at a point where I forgive everything for good writing though. It's funny how tastes change as you grow older or learn to appreciate literature more.

One thing I'll mention as a Proust lover: even being purple-y as fuck sometimes, an incredibly striking thing is his ability to just be funny, particularly when you don't expect it. Some situations (very apparent in many sections of "Swann in Love" in Swann's Way, and something I've just now read in the Balbec section of Within A Budding Grove) are told in such a way that makes you happy of the strange/cringey ways in which people can behave with each other. It's so proto-Seinfeld in that way.

>tfw you realize the title is mocking how you wasted so much time on a book that didn't really say anything profound or significant

Wait so should I read it?

OK lads, which translation? Revised Moncrieff or Davis & co.?

This is my single favorite meme on Veeky Forums

In search of the lost time you spent reading this three thousand page neurosis riddled work of a bed-ridden "nothing better to do" rich boy

>the only arguments against the quality of Proust are "hurr durr rich privileged boy"

you are all resentful idiots. the fact that "you do not care about the characters" is your fault, not Proust's. He is an incredible creator of characters. It is the reader's job to empathize and analyze the characters so as to find the humanity within them. The fact that you can't appreciate Proust because "his problems aren't significant" is only a sign of a fault of your own. Proust did not claim to have the worst life ever, and in search of lost time is not a whiny book, but an incredibly sensitive one. An inability to relate to Proust's reflections only shows that you are a dull and narrow-minded twat. No other writer has been able to capture so much of life in such a brilliant and beautiful way. The fact that there are still arrogant pseuds trying to dismiss great writers with critiques that show such a lack of understanding of literature really makes me fucking mad. And you idiots probably think you're so much better than the pseud reviewers on goodreads who dismiss books because "the author was a misogynist." You're just as stupid.

I'm about to dive into Combray, which I must read for university. In french. What can I expect?

Wrong, the greatest work of art is E7.

>his writing
You're reading a translation, you stupid faggot.

>Oh, he doesn't have to worry about money at all....The fuck is he depressed about then?"
Um, what? Did mummy never tell you about the larger existential concerns that other big boys have to confront in their life? Do you gain anything out of novels or do you just read to strain your eyes?
>by God do I not give a flying fuck about the narrator or any of the characters, literally nothing of import happens
It's official, you have no interest in literature. Gobble up Proust's pretty style all you like, but if you have managed to completely ignore the insights into love, jealousy, grief, art, and suffering then you honestly must have been reading with your brain on the other side of the room.
Awesome analysis of the text d u d e, but most people actually try reading a novel before disregarding it with the utterly meaningless "muh bourgeoisie" criticisms such as that.

Guy who bought it here. I just started reading it. I'm about 30 pages into Swann's Way and I can confirm that this is the best book I have ever read. I can't put my finger on it, he speaks in this ethereal language like that of a spirit communicating with you during an ayahuasca trip, connected to this collective consciousness of the universe, and it feels sublime.

I am getting this for everyone in my family for Christmas this year. I will banish anyone who does not read it by the following Christmas, never speaking to them again.

This. People who read for the plot should not be on this board, you might as well just go on /tv/

Moncrieff is great but I haven't read other translations.

relax, baby.

I'd just like to say the Proust fans on this board are the best people on this board. There is no other following as patrician. It just shows you what a better person you become by reading Proust.

I'd go with Moncrieff+Kilmartin+Enright (the Modern Library version) for two reasons:
1) consistency across books. Davis is a great translator but only worked on Swann's Way. If you plan on reading even one or two more books than that, you'll get different stylistic feels between books if you go with them as opposed to the Moncrieff line.
2) The Modern Library versions come with some helpful stuff: summaries in each book, and their "Guide to Proust" that comes with Time Regained is a true guide for when/if you get lost between books and forget little details about Thing X, Person Y, or Place Z.

I haven't compared Moncrieff by himself to the revisions by Kilmartin and Enright, but their introductions make a good argument for their revisions: for instance, access to the Pleiade text which Moncrieff didn't have access to in his time.

Actually, take the point off for the synopses. Both versions (Davis and co., versus Moncrieff and co.) use the same set of summaries.

Is The Man Without Qualities really that good?

Could you recommend me some good Pessoa (other than the Book of Disquiet)?

>
It's an incredible work, and I would say Musil's writing is much denser and more openly philosophical in its objectives than Proust.

He also writes with a much greater focus on more modernist concerns, and his work is a response to the changing climate around him and is a clear questioning of the 20th Century's implications for identity, as well as the sudden loss of any kind of objectivity in an area that was once so stable as the sense of self. Epistemology is a constant theme.

This is, of course, a huge divergence from Proust who's work is often called the "last novel of the 19th century", and his insights end up feeling much more universal because of this, in my opinion. Definitely read Musil, but I never loved him as much as I love Proust. But do bear in mind that Musil never finished his novel :)

Thank you user. My doubt was about if it is really worthwhile to read a huge book even if it's unfinished. I'll give it a shot when I have time to read a mammuth-book, maybe I'll read Proust first.

Different person here. Don't treat "The Man Without Qualities" as a novel, treat it as a collection of philosophical essays loosely connected by a plot, you'll end up enjoying it a lot more.

Ah I see, you should definitely prioritise Proust and I hope you really do get something out of it when you read.

His sonnets, his heteronymic poetry (i personnaly enjoy Reis and Campos the most) and his collected aphorisms.

How long would it take me, a native English speaker, to learn French well enough to read the original French text of ISOLT?

Its a novel that's complex and difficult enough for a lot of native French speakers so, presuming you haven't read it before, just dive into the revised Moncrieff translation. Proust himself read translations of British and American works which he adored, so don't bother feeling guilty about it.

>muh humanity
fuck off
I'm twice your age you flaming niggerfaggot
Being a tool is not 'patrician' or 'better'.

>adds 'muh' in front of a strawman and thinks his argument carries any weight
Try hiding your insecurity in future, it can be a bit overwhelming.

Which edition of ISOLT should I get?

The Vintage version is cheap and has the best English translation

>arguments are good because im a pacified fruit

Woah haha, that was a zinger!

Thanks brah

Doesn't he namedrop Wagner in this novel and how the Tristan Prelude is the greatest piece of music ever written?

Yes because he's a whiny sappy HON HON HON pseud.

The An*lo reveals himself

Go on and fuck off back to your rainy shithole and never set foot on the Continental again

lmao

B A I T

>faguettes

I'm not an *nglo, but you may as well be, whiny faggot.
It's not like I hate fr*gs, my wife is one.
HON HON HON *eats own shit*

His poetry and essays. It's hard to go wrong, just dive in.

Best translation for ISOLT?

A pretty good site for English translation comparisons:
readingproust.com/
readingproust.com/compare.htm

You can follow the links to a given volume, and then scroll towards the bottom to see the guy's opinion on the different translations for the text.

For a full/consistent experience, you really can't go wrong with Moncrieff or one of the revisions. That was *the* standard for decades, because almost every thought it was good enough.

telegraph.co.uk/culture/4729005/Many-hands-make-Proust-work.html
theguardian.com/books/2002/nov/17/classics.highereducation
nytimes.com/2004/01/25/books/the-shape-of-time.html
^ Some articles talking about the then-new translation (the Davis, et al translations) and comparing them with Moncrieff, et al.

>almost every
* almost everyone

Lots of words for someone who just drank a sip of tea.

This is why I love this board.

I'm the original guy who was talking about buying it

Any /hispanoablantes/ here? What is the best spanish translation?
literature btfo

One insufferable Jewish faggot.

Alianza está muy bien, aunque si tienes suficiente dinero y puedes comprarlo en editorial Valdemar, es la mejor opción.

Alright OP, you have convinced me. But as it stands, I'm a brainlet. Give me another 30 years of reading before trying my hand at Proust, Musil, Joyce etc

Proust is very readable. He isn't a "tricky" writer -- at worst, his sentence structures (which overlap clauses again and again and again and run extremely long) can be daunting, but he's otherwise fairly straightforward in terms of word choice and references -- so you should be able to read him even as a newb.

If you could get the meaning of my previous sentence, you can probably read Proust.

pretty excited for my order to come in

fucking kek

If that's all there is to it, then sure. I was thinking more in terms of any cultural/biblical/mythological references that I'd like to catch as I'm reading

Proust most heavily references French stuff from his era; Wiki'ing any French names/locations will usually solve things. Bible references are rare and, when they do appear, are just name drops, as opposed to being truly symbolically important; as a small spoiler, he's much more interested in churches and their architecture than the religion that they house.

To put it another way, Proust's references are very on the nose. They're not "subtle" nor are they intended to be; it is more important to understand the "what" of his references than the deeper implications of them (the "why's" and "how's").

Modern Library for consistency, good translation and aesthetic covers.

Thank you for the info, brother

They are pricey, no?

$50 for a set of 6 of the greatest books you'll ever read, it's not too bad