Customer Reviews

In Search of Lost Time: Volume 1, Swann's Way (Modern Library Classics) (v. 1)

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Fortunately, I was never assigned Proust in school and, prior to picking up Swann's Way, knew of Proust mainly through a Monty Python sketch. I thus came to the book with almost no preconceptions. It was, without exaggerration, one of the best reading experiences I have ever had. Proust is unlike any other novelist, somehow looking at life with both incredible analytical detachment and, at the same time, a neurotic coloring that is all his own. But, to fully appreciate this work, you have to take it at the right time. That time, for me at least, is middle age, when you begin to accept your own neuroses, when your own life consists of 50% memories, and when you can appreciate the relentless dissecting of the immortal "types" who inhabit every society. I have gone on to read the next two novels in Proust's series and now have to force myself not to consume the remainder too hastily. Even if Proust turns you off the first time around, wait ten years and try again.

We apply "classic" and "masterpiece" too liberally, but regardless of how loosely or strictly we deploy the terms, Marcel's Proust's extraordinary novel belongs to the shortest of short lists deserving such description. At the risk of hyperbole (though I do not thing it is hyperbolic), Proust is the one writer of the 20th century who perhaps belongs to the ages more than to his own time, who belongs with Shakespeare and Dante and Homer.

Many are put off Proust by not understanding the structure of his work and his writing strategy. The book, to many, seems to have no point and no plot. The novel actually does have a plot, albeit a simple and not easy to discern one: Will the narrator (usually termed "Marcel") become a writer? Through seven long volumes, we watch Marcel variously resolve to write and then forsake his resolve, we see him even forget for enormous lengths of time his intent to write. Through love affairs, through events with his friends, through reflections on all matter of subjects and experiences of every kind, Marcel finally comes in the final volume to rediscover his vocation and the subject of his work.

This first volume in the series contains many of the most famous episodes in all of Proust. The famous passage in which the Narrator tells of his not being able to fall asleep as a child is found in the first pages. The most famous section in all of Proust, that of his eating as an adult a madeleine that first creates an inexplicable sense of joy and then engenders a plethora of involuntary memories of his childhood, is also found in this volume. The second half is the remarkable story of "Swann in Love," in which family friend Charles Swann falls in love, much to his surprise, with the courtesan Odette.

This first volume glitters for the same reason that subsequent volumes do: Proust's remarkable sentences, in which he heaps phrase upon apt phrase on top of a carefully concealed central idea; Proust's extraordinarily complex, interesting, believable, and brilliant characters (I personally think he handles character better than any other author); and the wonderful passion and sensibility that permeates every page.

I will end with a piece of advice: Proust, more than any writer I know, gives back as much as you point into him. If you expend a great deal of effort in working through his masterpiece, you will be comparably rewarded. If, on the other hand, you pick up SWANN'S WAY casually, expecting a relaxed, entertaining read, you will be profoundly disappointed. But if you approach him with an open mind, a great deal of patience, and a willingness to work your way carefully through each sentence, you just might believe this to be the most remarkable thing you have ever read.

Amazon has really confused things here. I am reviewing this Kindle e-book: In Search of Lost Time or Remembrance of Things Past, Volume 1: Swann's Way by Marcel Proust. This is nothing more than the old, public-domain translation from the 1920s, yet it dishonestly appropriates the cover of the recent Penguin-Viking translation and links to another fairly recent updating of the 1920s translation, copyrighted by Random House / Modern Library. Stay away from this cheating publisher!

If you want the public-domain translation in Kindle format, you can get it here without cost: Swann's Way. It's also available free on the Gutenberg Project, which is almost certainly where this 'publisher' ripped off his text.

If you want a really good modern translation in Kindle format, then buy the Modern Library edition: In Search of Lost Time, Volume I: Swann's Way. It costs nine bucks, but it's far more enjoyable, and you're not dealing with bandits.

For more about the modern translations, see this Kindle short take: The Fourteen-Minute Marcel Proust: Everyone's guide to the greatest novel ever written. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Swann's Way is the gateway to the most beautifully written novel there is, that is, the whole of the "Search for Lost Time". Contrary to reputation, it is not "difficult" (in the way, say, Joyce or Faulkner can be) but it is not for people who prefer to skim across novels rather than immerse themselves in them. There is no use in my pulling out the superlatives; to do so would just invite redundancy to the books that have been written on him. But for anyone who loves reading (and who checking out this review does not) I would consider it a great loss to have gone through life, loving books as you do, and having missed out on Proust. It is an experience that will remind you of why you love to read and stay with you throughout your life.

One of the most fascinating and beautiful books I've ever read, Proust had a knack for taking the smallest detail and making it meaningful and beautiful. His sentence structure is very different from anything I've ever read before and his writing style is very dense(somebody once told me that it was like swimming through mayonaise) He is one of most original writers of this century and certainly one of the most poetic. Reading Swanns Way has made me hungry to read more of Proust. I've looked everywhere for the whole set of In Search of Lost Time(or Rememberence of Things Past) luckily Amazon has the whole set. Everybody should at least try to read Swanns Way.

Obviously, Swann's Way is a classic piece of literature, one of the most vital works of fiction of the 20th Century. The prose, whether in the original French or in the beautifully translated English, is lush, evocative and deliriously prolix--from the moment the narrator takes a bite of that famous pastry, the reader is swept up into a world so tangibly realized and, at the same time, so hallucinatory in its lushness that he or she cannot fail to be drawn in, quite despite the fact that there's not much of a "plot" to carry the thing along. Instead, we are given intimate access to the minds of Swann, Odette and Proust himself and they are unbelievably fascinating people--so complex, so "real" that one is actually quite sorry when the book ends. Which brings me to my main point: Don't stop here. If Swann's Way is the most famous volume in the monumental "In Search of Lost Time" series, it is not necessarily the best. It is, in fact, something of an extended prologue to the later books, gracefully and movingly setting the scene for the far more dramatic twists and turns that will culminate in the mind-blowing final volume "Time Regained." While Swann's Way is a most compelling and satisfying read on its own, you'll miss out on so much beauty, drama and passion if you don't follow up and read through the full series, rich as it is with intrigue, consuming love, staggering insights into the human mind and outright entertainment value. So, Swann's Way is a must read, but one has to come to it realizing that the end of the novel is only the beginning of Proust's enormous, all-consuming magnum opus. No one will tell you that committing to Proust's fictional world is a slight undertaking, but it is a deeply rewarding one and a required one for all serious readers.

Everyone, from time to time, experiences the strangeness of having some momentary sensation recall something from the distant past. For example, the scent of a window screen after rain can still recall to me a moment from, probably, 1956, the year I was five. I stood at the back window of my grandmother's bedroom, arms on the sill--looking across her backyard, the alley, and the neighbor's back yard to the cars rolling along Midlothian Turnpike. It was a gloomy fall day. I can feel my forearms resting on the cool wood. I can see the white sill and the screen and the landscape in some detail, so that I know it was a real moment from my life, not something snatched from a dream.

But the effect is fleeting. It's like a piece of film that runs for a few seconds and then disappears. I can't attach anything to it, before or behind, that would explain why this particular moment comes back to me, except the scent of wet screen. There are a few other such bits of my life that sometimes come back to me, but I have no connections between them.

Now imagine that a similar experience happens to you, but one that is vastly larger. A sensation of taste or smell, not encountered for many years, brings back, not a single momentary impression, but the entire history of your childhood and of all the years since, so that you are finally able to contemplate your life in its completeness--so that you know fully who you are and how you came to be who you are. And imagine that you are an aspiring writer, that you've sought all your life for the right subject, the right thing to share with the world--and now you have finally found it. And you are gifted with a kindhearted nature, high intelligence, psychological insight, irony and humor, along with the power of precise description, so that you can convey in words anything you think or feel. And this sudden discovery, which brings you all of your life and all of your gifts, comes with such force that you devote nearly all your energy, for the remaining years of your life, to sharing the fullness of your remembered and re-imagined experience with those who will read your work--so that you and your life, to an extent that reaches the edge of human possibility, are delivered from the limitations of time and language and death. And the resulting work brings readers so deeply into your head and heart, and they find your humanity and understanding so rich, that it is read with delight and gratitude by millions throughout the world.

This fortunate person, of course, is Marcel Proust, whose novel In Search of Lost Time (of which this is the first volume) is one of the greatest achievements in the history of creativity.

I've read many a great novel, both classic and contemporary, but until I read Swann's Way, I had never before been tempted to take a highlighter to a book. Never has an author been able to squeeze so much out of so little. Like Shakespeare's, much of Proust's genius lies in observing and explaining complex human emotion. Unlike Shakespeare, though, Proust believes in using everyday events for this purpose. And rather than explaining thoughts and emotions through action on a stage, Proust takes the reader directly into his characters' thoughts. While the plot may not take you away, his insights are genius. Yes, sometimes he describes scenery in too much detail for my tastes (don't get him started on flowers, music or architecture), but his understanding of the human heart is peerless. This is all the more astounding when you consider how much of his life Proust spent bedridden. Swann's Way is an absolute miracle of literature, but having said that, I must also admit that it's not for most readers. Most people will not have the patience to decipher Proust's excessively long and complex sentences before they simply throw the book into the fireplace. Most people will not be impressed by how much detail Proust uses to describe something as seemingly simple, on the surface at least, as neighborhood gossip, dipping cake into a cup of tea or the architecture of a church steeple. I'll give it five stars, but most people won't get past the first 50 pages. I also struggled with some of the lengthy descriptions, and had to set it aside or force myself through parts of it. So when I say most people won't enjoy it, that's not to congratulate myself, it's just being honest. I can't imagine the millions who enjoy watching "Survivor" or WWE wrestling or who subscribe to "People Magazine" ever even hearing about Proust, let alone buying Swann's Way. And how many of those that do dare to buy it on this or any other recommendation, will get past the Combray section and continue reading? Very few indeed. That's really a shame, because this is one of the greatest works of literature ever published anywhere.

Proust is one of my very favortite authors. "Swann's Way," the first book of A la recherche du temps perdu, is perhaps the most accessible and lyrical of the seven. Written in a hypnotic and mesmerizing style, "Swann's Way" begins by recreating life in a fictionalized 19th century French village, complete with gossipy aunts, church festivals and priests who "know too much."

"Swann's Way" is also the volume in which Proust tastes the divine madeleine then goes on to link memory to memory to memory. Even the smallest detail is not overlooked: sights, sounds, smells, textures, the interplay of light and shadow; everything was a source of joy and connection for Proust and he records those connections in this fascinating book. While Joyce lived in the world of the present, Proust lived in the world of the past.

So many people complain about the lack of plot in this book. But do we really need a plot in every book we read? Aren't some works of art beautiful enough to be read, or listened to or gazed upon for their beauty alone? Is anything truly "art for art's sake?" If your answer to this question is "Yes," then "Swann's Way" might be a book you'll come to treasure. Yes, it is dense and yes, it does take quite a bit of time to read, but it is time well spent and time that will never be forgotten.

"Swann's Way" sets the tone for all the volumes that follow. Indeed, the final section of the final book is but an echo of the first section of "Swann's Way." Although Proust may have seemed to be wandering, he was not; A la recherche du temps perdu is one of the most structured works in any language. The fact that this structure is not immediately discernable is only further proof of the genius of Proust.

The section, Swann in Love, is typical of Proust's obsession with repetition. Each time the tortured Swann meets Odette, he must re-enact the very first ritual of the cattleyas. They even come to speak of this as "doing a cattleya." The Swann in Love section also showcases Proust's wicked sense of humor, for Swann is both a character of high comedy and high tragedy, and Proust dissects French society in a most deliciously scathing manner.

While it may be Proust's reputation that causes us to pick up this book, it is his prose that keeps us reading. Almost indescribable, it is luminous, poetic, magical, fascinating, ephemeral, gossamer, mesmerizing, elegant and, of course, sublime.

I realize that "Swann's Way" is definitely not going to be a book for everyone. But those who love and appreciate fine literature and beautiful, crystalline prose, may find that "Swann's Way" will become nothing less than a lifetime treasure.

Proust's eye for the everyday events of life remains unmatched by any other writer this century. Anyone attempting this style of observant detail would risk losing the reader;however,Proust knew the right words for grabbing the reader's attention. His sentence structure may be unorthodox but his flow moves down the highest streams of consciousness.Swanns Way has the ability to broaden any artist's creativity. Proust, himself, was an artist of innovation and eccentrity. This books graces his uniqueness.