The Proust Project starts next week
The Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition of Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust, in the new translation by Lydia Davis, is available at National Bookstores.
We’re going to read Swann’s Way, the first volume of In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. Everyone is welcome to join the reading group. Each week we will post a short report on our progress, and we’ll expect you to give your own update, with observations, complaints, cries for help, etc.
When we finish Swann’s Way: madeleines and tea.
Download C.K. Scott Moncrieff’s translation of Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust at Project Gutenberg.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
January 9th, 2013 at 06:19
Wow. Good luck.
BTW, in spite of the brouhaha about his faking Bob Dylan quotes in his last book, which caused his downfall, I recommend his first book Proust Was a Neuroscientist in which he argues that artists who ushered in the modern era including Proust were able to limn (yes, I am using that Kakutani’s favorite word) intuitions about the brain that neuroscience research has eventually been able to elucidate. Like how the sense of smell is intimately associated with the memory centers, i.e. Proust smelling his tea-soaked madeleines triggering childhood memories, etc.
January 9th, 2013 at 09:27
I want in! Argh, I still have to submit my St Aubyn review pa pala–this weekend hehe
January 9th, 2013 at 10:48
Jonah Lehrer.
January 9th, 2013 at 11:20
^ Yes, Lehrer. Forgot to mention the author’s name. Thanks.
January 9th, 2013 at 12:31
I want to join, too, but is this a good book to take with me at the beach? Other literal options are the following:
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
The Fish Can Sing by Halldor Laxness
If Swann’s Way isn’t fit for beach-reading, I’ll try to catch up.
January 9th, 2013 at 15:58
Ooh, reading club. Game!
January 9th, 2013 at 16:35
hi jessica,
do you know any coffee shops around qc or ortigas na tahimik? been searching for a place like that for me to be able to read and understand the books that i have to read ( i still have a total of mga 18 books pa) and also for journal writing. i am easily distracted kasi.
January 9th, 2013 at 20:27
angus25: Those two are about the same fun level as Proust, which isn’t saying much. They are shorter though.
January 9th, 2013 at 22:21
sali ako!
January 10th, 2013 at 10:48
I’m joining!
January 10th, 2013 at 11:22
nikko17: In Ortigas we go to Terry’s in the basement of Podium (though we haven’t been there in a while). In QC we go to Uno off Tomas Morato. If you are easily distracted, you will not find peace and quiet in a coffee shop. Wear noise-cancelling headphones.
January 10th, 2013 at 12:12
thanks jz will check them maybe on friday night, noise cancelling headphones? hmmm aren’t they expensive?
January 10th, 2013 at 18:24
nikko17: Forget the noise-cancelling headphones, they’re expensive and make you oblivious to danger. Any good pair of headphones or earphones will do. Marshall Minor earphones are pricey but worth the expense. Sit in cafe and read your book while listening to jazz from the 50s and 60s. Guaranteed to make one feel superior haha.
January 11th, 2013 at 09:28
ckecked on marshall minor’s earphones, like the combination of gold and black :)