What fresh lunacy is this?!

So, having put the dreaded Proust on hold for the moment due to the weight of book and lack of time, and being bogged down by the penultimate Barchester chronicle as well as numerous other rather large volumes, I have gone and joined a reading challenge group on Goodreads and committed myself to a six month reading of the dreaded Clarissa. It's a bit naughty, but I was hoping that I would be able to not only get through this behemoth, but also discuss it with some other readers. I'm not sure anybody has actually started it yet, but so far it's not going too badly. I'm a aiming for about five per cent per week so that I can hopefully read it in about five months and I'm reading it on the Kindle fire, which somehow makes it less intimidating. Only thing is, I have a free edition so I miss the footnotes of the paperback edition I have previously tried to read. Still, I can always refer to the other edition, and there is no danger of the spine breaking as it is prone to do on the paperback.
I think Clarissa is  quite a difficult book to judge by modern standards, as the age makes some of it seem very distant to the way people think and behave and read novels. From studying Defoe and Richardson's other novel, Pamela I know that the novel as a form was just taking off and was generally frowned upon for being frivolous and untrue. Writers tried to make it seem as true to life as possible and containing a strong moral message. The messages of Clarissa are that a rake cannot be reformed by marriage and that parents should not treat their children too harshly, I imagine this  would have been quite a controversial proposition for parents of the period. 
It's an understandably difficult book to read, not just in terms of the length but also the way it's written in the epistolary form. So far, I've found that this does give the narrative a sense of urgency, as the letters are written immediately after the events, often the in the evening after the day's events have unfolded. Clarissa is a bit of a contradictory character in that although she is a dutiful, obedient daughter she is dead set against the suitor that her parents have chosen. In fact, there is a sense that Mr. Solmes is not really the person that her parents would have chosen, the family is seemingly controlled by her bachelor uncles, who are concerned with the financial prosperity that a match would bring, and, surprisingly by the older children who act out of jealousy of Clarissa's inheritance from her grandfather, and a hatred for Mr. Lovelace, Arabella's former suitor who briefly tries to switch courting Clarissa (at least this is how Clarissa herself reads the motives of her siblings). She writes about Lovelace, but not as if she considers him a suitor, as he has a bit of a reputation. Mr. Solmes on the other hand, she immediately abhors. 
Mr. Lovelace is another rather contradictory character, although he is considered a rake from the start, Clarissa describes how he gives money to a family in need. He may be putting on a face for the family, but it does serve to slightly warm him towards Clarissa, and she sees him a few times when she is visiting her friend Miss Howe. Miss Howe is a great character, the kind of naughty best friend who contrasts nicely with Clarissa's virtuousness.
Anyway, 3% in and although I know where the plot is going (I saw the TV series years ago and did modules in uni that at least alluded to it, although no-one was brave enough or daft enough to use it as a set book, Pamela was bad enough!), I still think I will be glad to read it.

Swann’s Way Part 3 – Mobile Proust

Mobile, because I am attempting to do this on Kindle with my notebook, not the giant copy of Proust I’ve made notes in. Not quite as easy to search, but I’ve been having trouble finding the time to do any more writing about it and part of me wants to finish more of that before I go on to read any more as I am conscious I’ve got quite a lot of book to analyse. This is going to be a rather long post as there wasn’t really anywhere convenient I wanted to stop. Kindle Proust is not that bad a method of writing, although I miss page numbers. Some Kindle books have them, but the version I have doesn’t. Onto the Proust.

The narrator describes the ‘Guermantes Way’ which is harder than the ‘Meseglise Way’, and in the course of the description we learn more about the Guermantes family, who were also the Counts of Combray. There is a sense that they belong to the past in the way they are associated with ruins, but also with beauty in the sense of the landscape and of Mme Guermantes, whom the narrator imagines asking him to go fishing and questioning him about his writing. He develops a sort of obsession with her but his ideas are shattered when she attends the wedding of Dr. Percepied’s daughter and he finds that she doesn’t look that much like her portrait and she looks quite ordinary instead of like some sort of being from another age. Nevertheless, he convinces himself that he is in love with her and that she is beautiful because he thinks that she looks down on him. There is something rather obsequious about ‘Marcel’, perhaps because of his innate snobbery but his feelings of inferiority are linked with his fear that he is not good enough to be a writer.

He introduces the topic of Swann’s love affair that occurred before he was born. The next part of the novel switches from first person to third, which can be quite disorientating as I didn’t realise at first that we had gone back to the past, and it does switch back at times to the narrator’s recollections of his family’s opinions of the situation. Swann in Love opens with a description of a middle class couple, the Verdurins, who are horrendous social climbers who like giving embarrassing Abigail’s Party style ‘soirees’.  To make it classier, they invite a doctor, a pianist and a painter and Madame Verdurin pretends to be highly affected by music and art. They look down on everybody who is not part of their group as ‘bores’ or ‘nuisances’.

Like this, but in 19^th Century France and less dead people (link)

Odette is also a frequent visitor, although it is not clear why – perhaps, as a courtesan, she has associated with some wealthy men and the Verdurins think that she will start bringing them along.  Swann attends the party as Odette’s ‘guest’.

Swann, meanwhile, is a bit of a roué. He’s not snobbish about women’s appearances, but has associated with aristocrats in the course of his search for variety and pleasure. If he runs out of current women, he writes to his friends for letters of introduction, much to the grandfather’s disgust- the family can see how Swann quickly ‘drops’ women after they have been introduced, which is quite embarrassing for them.

When Swann meets Odette he doesn’t find her that attractive: ‘She had stuck Swann not, certainly, as being devoid of beauty, but as endowed with a style of beauty which left him indifferent, which aroused in him no desire, which gave him, indeed, a sort of physical repulsion…’ (p197). She, however, begins to visit him, ostensibly to see his collections of art. He somewhat regrets that he doesn’t find her attractive.  Odette seems quite obsessed with Swann; it is related how she begs to see him again soon in an ‘anxious, timid way’ (p198) and entreats him to teach her about Vermeer. As we only really see her from Swann’s perspective, it is not always easy to tell what she is really thinking or what she is really like, but re-reading this passage I get the sense that she is skilfully manipulating him, especially as Swann’s friend has told him that she is particularly difficult to seduce, but she seems to be trying to seduce him. It does work; Swann begins to obsess over her.

Part of this seduction is inviting him the Verdurins’ party .The grandfather is inevitably unimpressed by the Verdurins, thinking that they are too bohemian and severing acquaintances with them, so he can’t write a letter of introduction for Swann. The parties that they give are quite comical, particularly with the disparate guests like Dr. Cottard who has a bit of an odd sense of humour, probably caused by him having few social skills, he is in fact, sort of Asperger’s, being unable to tell whether someone is joking or not and unable to have the right manner or facial expression to suit the occasion. He’s also got an obsession with figures of speech, ‘plays on words’ or puns, which he has memorised by rote. Mme. Verdurin thinks he is wonderfully clever but even she gets offended after she foolishly asks for his opinion about Sarah Bernhardt meaning to be modest about the tickets she’s paid for and he takes her at face value telling his hostess he’s sick of Sarah. In return, they send Dr. Cottard a ruby worth 300 francs and pretend that it cost 3,000. They forgive him after that, and laugh like hyenas in a really false way whenever he comes up with another dreadful pun.

The Verdurins fear that Swann is going to be another ‘bore’ but are comforted by his manner and he is  pretty much a perfect guest, even getting past Dr. Cottard’s inspection.  In the course of the dreadful party the pianist plays a piece of music which deeply affects Swann, even though he doesn’t know who composed it.  Before he listens to the music he has no ‘ideal goal’ and pursues ‘ephemeral satisfactions’. He takes ‘refuge in trivial considerations’ and does not express an opinion with ‘any warmth’ – just supplies facts and details, or pretends that he is being ironic (p210). Proust returns to the motif of the invalid from the overture to describe how he feels; like an invalid who starts to hope that he is beginning to recover. He asks who the music was composed by and discovers that it was Vinteuil. As he listens to it again he begins to discover more, there is a sense that the composer  was ‘disenchanted with life’ (p217).  Mme Verdurin pretends to be deeply affected but doesn’t really appreciate it. The Cottards don’t understand it (and in fact are totally oblivious to cultural appreciation), so don’t give an opinion. Swann doesn’t believe that it was the work of the music master at Combrey, but it marks the start of his affection for Odette.  

The Verdurins are impressed with Swann but Dr. Cottard is surprised to discover that Swann associates with the Head of State as well as other members of the upper echelon. Even though the Verdurins are portrayed as being rather vulgar, Swann continues to visit for the sake of seeing Odette. He doesn’t want to see her alone as he is afraid that she will assume that he is falling in love with her and he prefers to spend the first part of the evening with a working girl that he has fallen in love with. He does, however, return her home in his carriage at the end of the night and keeps a chrysanthemum that she impulsively gives him.

Throughout their romance Odette is associated with flowers. Although in France chrysanthemums are associated with death and bereavement, they were a craze in Paris at the time, a flower that Swann looks down on usually but is somewhat pleased when he sees them in her lobby. The other flower that she is associated with, the cattleya, is a type of orchid, associated with beauty, royalty and love. Both flowers are known for their ‘showiness’. 

Link

She also has a penchant for oriental decoration and treats him like some sort of potentate or god when he visits her for tea, arranging the surrounding around her to their best effect and showing him all her knick-knack in turn. He is beguiled by her, considering what it would be like to always have a woman he could go to for a cup of tea, and he begins to try to find her attractive, comparing her to Zipporah, Jethro’s daughter in a fresco in the Sistine Chapel (painted by Botticelli).

Link

This allows him to see her as a romantic, beautiful figure rather than as he saw her before, and he places a copy of Botticelli’s fresco on his study table so that he can admire it.

The trouble is, she has not really changed except in his mind and they still have very little in common and little to talk about. To add a frisson when conversation is growing dull he sends her a letter ‘full of hinted discoveries and feigned indignation’ (p224) in the hope that she will declare her love for him, which she does, allowing him to act indifferently toward her in return. Yet, one day when he is late to the Verdurins and she has already gone, he realises how much he has come to expect her to be around. M. Verdurin notices, but Mme believes that it is purely platonic and they are somewhat dismissive of her.

Swann goes in search of her, but is continually held up and can’t find her in any of the restaurants, this causes him to realise how much he has changed, that he can no longer fool himself that he doesn’t care for her. However, I think it’s fair to say that Swann doesn’t love her in the traditional sense, there is a sense of obsession and wanting to posses her as he would posses a piece of art rather than a woman; he blinds himself to her faults in a conscious way and it is difficult to see who the real Odette is. In his searching for her, his obsession is magnified by her absence.

This seems like a convenient place to stop as I want to do a close reading analysis of the next part, and this has been far too long a post already!

References

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/4195444/Avoiding-the-French-faux-pas.html

http://justaddiceorchids.com/_blog/Orchid_Blog/post/The_Symbolism_of_Orchids/

Swann's Way Part 1 (up to p139 in the Wordsworth Edition)

This is the edition I'm reading, incidentally

Having abandoned the plan to read Recherche on the Kindle – although the books are hefty and I can’t bring the volume I’m reading to places with me, but it allows me to see where I am by putting a bookmark in where Swann’s Way ends. Also, I am enjoying being able to write in the book and highlight parts of it, I know you can do this on the Kindle but I’ve never really got comfortable with it so far – I have been reading the first part. 

Firstly, I don’t think that it is really a book written with the comfort of the reader in mind. If you’re looking for a thrilling plot, don’t read this. It has no real plot, just a series of recollections about the narrator’s youth. Unlike Les Mis, which has a very controlled structure of books and chapters, Proust doesn’t seem to believe in breaking up the narrative in a way that would make it easier to read, no, there are long rambling parts with nary a break let alone some sort of chapter. This makes it quite difficult to decide on a point where to stop reading. I tend to try to finish the topic of the anecdote. I also don’t know whether I’m trying to read it too quickly, I have read some advice that says that you should read it slowly but I want to build up a momentum. I’m scared if I stop for too long that will be it and I will end up giving up. 

Although it’s not the sort of book that you sit down and devour and it’s even more digress-y than Hugo with long rambling sentences and points that seem to be going nowhere, I am finding it pleasurable and even quite relaxing to read. There is something very soothing about reading about a small French town, family life and the various characters that cross the narrator’s path. Even more soothing are the descriptions of sensory experiences such as the famous taste of the Madeline cake dipped into lime blossom tea, evoking religious parallels along with long-forgotten memories. 

I am not really trying to analysis it too closely, it is enough that I am reading it and enjoying it and it’s hard to drag yourself away to the realms of theory when you are trying to get lost in the prose. I have looked a little at the portrayal of women as I’ve noticed that in this first part (I’m not up to the end of the first chapter yet), of the social hierarchy (which the narrator is slightly obsessed by) and personalities  of M. Swann and the narrator, as all are linked.

We are not really sure when the first part takes place or how old the narrator it, there is a sense of journeying back via dreams and small incidences that happened during the narrator’s life.

The narrator is a sickly young boy who tries to spend as much time as possible reading and is very strongly attached to his mother; waiting up for her kiss and associating it with a religious experience much like communion. She suggests to him that he has a nervous condition when he makes a servant take her a note so that she will come up to kiss him and gets into a state.

 He is also lives with his father and grandfather, who are somewhat distant figures (his father attempts to make the narrator a bit more manly and to stop him from being quite so obsessed with his mother), his great-aunt Leonine who is a bit of a joker, and with his grandfather’s sisters, Flora and Celine. Francoise, Leonine’s servant is also around.  There is a sense that the house is full of women and the father is exasperated by the son, he seems distant and strict. 

M. Swann is a frequent visitor as his father was a friend of the narrator’s grandfather. One of the first things that we learn about him is that he has made an ‘unfortunate’ marriage, although we don’t know why this is and the narrator’s parents seem to think that he is not in love with her anymore. He lives a fashionable life consorting with the aristocracy although he has come from quite a modest background as the son of a Jewish stockbroker and he likes in an area which the great aunt considers beneath him. Both his parents are dead. He has a reputation for liking pictures and antiques, which is another sign of his culture and upward mobility. He has a daughter, but so far she has not appeared and she is not from the unfortunate wife, her mother is dead.  

Aunt Leonine has a tendency to tease Swann as she teases most of the family, particularly the narrator’s grandfather and grandmother. He brings gifts to the family which the other great aunts try to thank him for in a rather confusing indirect way. It’s like they can’t directly say anything and they seem to disappear after the first part. Leonine, on the other hand continues, but after she is widowed she gradually shuts herself away to the point where she stays in bed, fancying herself unwell but spying on the goings on of the village through the window and by talking to Eulalie, a woman who pays visits to the sick. Like the narrator’s mother, Leonine is strongly associated with religion with her sick table which is like an altar and her false hair where the bones show like a crown of thorns or a rosary.  

There is also Uncle Adophe whom the narrator anecdotally visits but whom the family has never spoken to since the visit. He introduces the narrator to the concept of ‘fast’ women. The narrator is obsessed with the theatre and Adolphe associates with actresses who are considered to be of low morals, one of whom the narrator meets and becomes infatuated with at his uncle’s house. He admits this to the family and this subsequently causes such a rift that the uncle never speaks to the family again. Nevertheless, this all seems to point to the way that the narrator will react to women in the future. 

Both the family and the narrator seem to have a kind of obsession with class and social hierarchy (despite calling himself ignorant) and the narrator seems to look down particularly on the maids. Although Francoise is named and some of her tasks and impact on the family is described, there seem to be a series of nameless kitchen maids (in particular the one who becomes pregnant and gives birth with as little description as the narrator mentioning that the cat had had kittens) who merit very little description and remain invisible to both the narrator and the reader. 

The narrator becomes friends with Bloch who encourages the author to read an author called Bergotte’s work (Bergotte is fictional but probably based on either Anatole France or Paul Bourget). Swann’s daughter is very friendly with Bergotte, who is a prominent author who seems to not be to everybody’s taste.

 This provokes questions about ‘truth’ and ‘reality’ in relationship to art. The narrator feels that the emotions of characters in novels are more understandable than those of’ real’ people, that we can only share emotions with characters. Bloch is disliked by the grandparents and father for acting inappropriately towards their hospitality. He encourages the narrator to feel that poetry is finer if it is meaningless, ideas which cause the narrator to feel physically unwell. He also greatly influences the author’s ideas about women: ‘...no women thought of anything but love, and that there was not one of them whose resistance a man could not overcome.’ (p104). He also tells the narrator that his great-aunt once lived a ‘gay life’ and was a ‘kept’ woman (p105).

Other than the family the narrator also encounters Legrandin, and engineer who has a holiday house in Combrey. He is a writer in his spare time but claims to hate the aristocracy and snobs. The family think that he is a gentleman. He upsets the family by ignoring them one day when he is with a married lady, then acting as if nothing has happened the next. He behaves is quite an obsequious way towards the lady, and denies everything, including that he knows any of the ladies of Guermantes (the local aristocracy) and the narrator identifies what a horrendous hypocritical snob he is. There is also M. Vinteuil and his ‘boyish’ daughter who act quite snobbishly towards Swann.

So, I am up to p138 which is where I thought I ought to stop and reflect. I’ve passed the fifty page mark and the one hundred page mark and I haven’t given up yet! So far, I’ve met some intriguing characters and mysteries. Was Leonine really a kept woman?Why is Swann's wife so unfortunate? Hopefully these mysteries will be answered.

In a bit of a Muddle!

Pinched from my local library's Facebook page

Okay, so having finished Les Mis and decided to embark on Wuthering Heights I now discover that the Guardian’s next Reading Group project is Swann’s Way by Proust, one of the hefty tomes appearing on the BIHNR list. I am now quite muddled over what to read. I have a few options:

Abandon Wuthering for the time being, take it off Goodreads and dive straight into the Proustian behemoth with the intention of finishing the first book with the rest of the Guardian crowd then carrying on with the rest of it. Yes, I know I said I wanted something shorter and probably less French, but it would be nice to read it sort of with other people (although I am more of a reader of comments than maker of comments)

Stick to Wuthering, possibly attempting to finish it early (which is a bit of a cheat as there is so much written about it).

The ultimate challenge, which is going against the unofficial one book at a time rule and reading the two books at the same time, which will probably lead to me not finishing Swann’s Way by the end of the month and possibly turning the whole thing into a lot of frustration and toil. It’s not so much the reading that takes the time, it’s the analysis and the writing about the books so reading two will possibly slow me up so I am either writing about the books more than a couple of times of week or I have to spend a few weeks catching up with the writing afterwards. I really don’t want to turn this into a chore, that leads to abandoned books and feeling like this is more work than play!

If I am reading Swann’s Way, which format? I have the Moncrieff translation in paperback and ebook form (both were pretty cheap).  It’s lovely to be able to pencil in a book, but the same time, the two volumes are MASSIVE, bigger than even Les Mis. I doubt I will be able to take a copy to work. 

Anyway, I think on reflection I am going to leave rolling in brie for the moment and plunge into Proust. At least it will feel like a major achievement once I start crossing off books from an entire series and I am actually looking forward to it. The prose isn’t that difficult to read, it’s just extremely easy to get bogged-down with the length. I’m going to go ebook for the sake of my back and my sanity, but I can always refer to the physical book at home if I want to. 

I am also a little bit muddled with the amount of reviews and books to finish, so I am making a list of the things I aim to do shortly:

• Write a review for Mr. Selfridge
• Finish writing about the Bell Jar. I have most of the notes I wrote for the feminist part of it, but I wanted to have a look into the Freudian aspects of the book which is linked. Yes, I am rediscovering the old literary theory.
• Finish Castle Rackrent and write a short review 
• Finish My Cousin Rachel and review. 

 

It’s getting more difficult to keep up with the number of books I’m reading and reviewing, but as I am enjoying it at the moment I might as well continue.