Swann's Way (vol. 1 of Remembrance of Things Past) [Hardcover]

Marcel Proust (Author)

Book Description

Series: Remembrance of Things Past | Publication Date: May 12, 2006

<DIV>The first volume of Marcel Proust's seven-part masterpiece In Search of Lost Time, Swann's Way introduces the novel's major themes and its narrator, then turns its focus to Charles Swann, a wealthy connoisseur who moves in high-society circles in nineteenth-century Paris and a victim of an agonizing romance.</div>

--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Audie Award winner Simon Vance (see Behind the Mike, LJ 11/15/08) elegantly narrates this first volume in Proust s poetic seven-volume work, first published in 1913 and alternately translated as Remembrance of Things Past and In Search of Lost Time. In it, the anonymous narrator s flowing reminiscences about Parisian high society explore and reexplore personalities, relationships, and frustrated ambitions. Those who consider Proust s monumental work to be one of the finest novels of the 20th century will enjoy this title; others may find it intolerably heavy going, particularly on audio. Vance s handling of the sweeping narrative, however, is excellent, recommending this title where there is interest. --Library Journal --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

From the Inside Flap

Each volume contains notes, addenda and synopses, and the sixth and final volume also includes a guide to the complete work. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 380 pages
• Publisher: IndyPublish (May 12, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1421976811
• ISBN-13: 978-1421976815
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,145,628 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

121 of 131 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars if you want a paperback, this is the one to get!, March 13, 2005

By 

Daniel Ford (at danford dot net) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Swann's Way: In Search of Lost Time, Vol. 1 (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (Paperback)

Lydia Davis's new translation of Swann's Way is splendid. I've reviewed it in more detail under the Amazon listing for the hardcover Viking edition, which is the one I own. These are books I intend to keep, and I want them in hardcover. If your needs are more transient, then by all means buy this paperback edition.

In Britain, this first volume is titled The Way By Swann's, and there are a few differences in the text. (French quotations remain in French; conversation is shown by dashes instead of quotation marks.) So it would appear that this Penguin paperback has the same text as the U.S. Viking hardcover and is not simply an import.

Note that if you should buy this volume from a Marketplace seller, you ought to note the ISBN and make very sure that the seller is offering the book as shown and not an earlier translation by Scott-Montcrief or others. Believe me, Davis's is the one you want!

-- Dan Ford

132 of 145 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A challenge and a pleasure at the same proportion, January 2, 2006

By 

Alysson Oliveira "Alysson Oliveira" (Sao Paulo-- Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Swann's Way: In Search of Lost Time, Vol. 1 (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (Paperback)

To read Marcel Proust's "Remembrance of Things Past" is a pleasure and a challenge in the same proportion that any brave read can have. Not only is it a hard task, but also a very pleasant one. The books are written in such a way that readers are transported to another time and place, and get to know the characters as if they were old friends of ours. Of course, if it weren't like that, not many people would dare to try and read the seven novels that compound the whole series. But Proust is a master to keep your interested glued to his words. Even when this words are in a paragraph that lasts four pages.

"Swann's Way" is the first novel and it is a blessing and a curse at the same time. It is good because everything is new to us, so the `nameless' narrator takes his time to explain a lot of things, introduce people, describe places and the action is built up bit by bit. On the other hand, the reader is not used to Proust style and when we come across a paragraph that lasts four pages we get scared.

To make things more complicated, when he was writing "Remembrance of Things Past" Proust wanted to make a novel, but he also wanted to philosophize. Therefore, there is a lot of philosophy in his books. At first this device seems to be difficult to understand, to get the gist, but with time, one gets used to it, and is able to realize that we're not supposed to read this books in the same way we read any other novel.

Proust's work is about senses. He does not expect you to understand everything he is saying. His narrative is not cumulative. What he wants, in fact, is to make his reader feel what he was saying, to feel things like time passing through our lives and its effects on our memories. Bearing this in mind, any reader is able to focus on the poetic narrative and the author's idea rather than understanding the events.

Of course there is a plot in the book, but there are things that are more important to produce the effect Proust wanted. "Swann's Way" begins with the `nameless' narrator remembering experiences from his childhood in Combray. But the largest section of the novel is not about him, but about Swann, a friend of his family. Fifteen years before the events described in the first part, Swann felt in love with Odette, a woman with a terrible reputation. And this love affair will affect his life forever.

Despite Proust's language being evocative, it is not difficult to understand his sentences. His work is replete of references and allusions, mostly to visual arts, namely painting. Some descriptions are like the works of Monet and Botticelli. The writer also has interest in literature. The main character relationship to his mother echoes works as "Oedipus Rex".

Qualities like these make "Remembrance of Things Past" one of the most important works produced ever. With his caldron of references, ideas and images, Proust has created one of the most beloved works from the XX Century. It is certain that this series of books will be read for many many years to come, and will be seen as a definition of what we used to think.

78 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars compare the translations first!, February 20, 2007

By 

an orchestral and jazz bassist (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Swann's Way: In Search of Lost Time, Vol. 1 (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (Paperback)

Just as a general note with Proust translations, compare them in a bookstore before you buy any of them.
There is the original C.K. Scott Moncrieff translation, which is beautiful, though based on a flawed edition put together shortly after Proust's death (especially the later books in the set).

Then there is Terrence Kilmartin's revision, which is based on a much better French edition. You can still find editions of this used, and occasionally new as well. I prefer this one, as Kilmartin didn't change most of the truly beautiful language that Moncrieff rendered except in a few places to clarify confusing sentences.

D.J. Enright, who worked with Kilmartin, made further revisions after the latter's death, whose work (so he says) was incomplete. His reworking is based on yet an even newer edition of the French text, though with fewer changes than the previous French edition had from the original. I feel that Enright modernized the language too much. He claims French hasn't changed much as a language compared to English since the early 20th Century, so to approximate how it would read to a French person today, it needs to be put into more comtemporary language. I don't care for it personally.

I've read some of these other, altogether new translations, which is a good effort considering the potential for incoherence you might have reading a revision of a revision of a translation (whew!). They're not bad, but nowhere near as much of a "new standard" as, say, the Pevear-Volokhonsky translations of Dostoevsky, which give the reader a clearer original while still using beautiful and idiomatic English.

But back to Proust. Decide for yourself! Compare an old version of Moncrieff's translation to his revisors, and then check out these new ones published by Penguin.

And better yet, if you understand French at all, look at a French copy and just absorb the rhythm, the flow of the words, and find a translation that feels the same.

I can't tell you how many times I've spoken to people who hated foreign books in translation, only to find out they read a translation that reads like a textbook and not like something that was meant to be enjoyed!!