How to Read Proust's 'In Search of Lost Time'
Вставка
- Опубліковано 8 чер 2024
- 📚 Read the Great Books with Hardcore Literature: / about
------------
🎙️ open.spotify.com/show/70IZA24... (Subscribe to the Hardcore Literature Podcast on iTunes & Spotify)
🏫 hardcore-university.teachable... (Hardcore University, Exam Preparation Courses)
✍🏼 benjaminmcevoy.com My Personal Website
------------
Hardcore Literature Lecture Series
------------
📔Contents Page: cutt.ly/CmNhRY3
🎖️ War and Peace: cutt.ly/U3nzGma
🎭 Shakespeare Project: cutt.ly/B3nxHH7
🐳 Moby Dick: cutt.ly/K3nzVKf
☄️ Blood Meridian: cutt.ly/P3nz6Qp
🍂 Wuthering Heights: cutt.ly/N3nxxYt
🇮🇪 Ulysses: cutt.ly/x3nxQmN
🚂 Anna Karenina: cutt.ly/vmNhAWv
💀 Crime and Punishment: cutt.ly/rmNhFt5
⚓ Persuasion: cutt.ly/amNhX7b
☕ In Search of Lost Time: cutt.ly/5mNh8oD
⚔️ The Hero’s Journey: cutt.ly/UmNjrE3
🌸 Siddharta: cutt.ly/YmNjuzi
🎠 Don Quixote: cutt.ly/cmNjoK4
❤️Shakespeare’s Sonnets: cutt.ly/nmNlW7V
🇫🇷 Les Misérables: cutt.ly/J3YixoA
🕯️ The Turn of the Screw: cutt.ly/nToAQQ3
🖋️ Dickens Seasonal Read: cutt.ly/9ToAybt
📖 Middlemarch Serial Reading: tinyurl.com/45rv965c
------------
Happy reading!
Recommended edition & translation of Proust's In Search of Lost Time: amzn.to/3uCiDNu
Book Bullet Journal: amzn.to/3bdK2Oq
0:00 how to read Proust's In Search of Lost Time
0:40 difficulty getting into Proust
1:25 choose the right time
1:40 the perfect lockdown books
2:44 Tolstoy vs Dostoyevsky
3:20 Clarissa, Don Quixote, Les Miserables
5:15 how to read slowly
6:45 how to journal about Proust
7:30 how to create a practice (morning/evening routines)
9:10 only read ~10 pages per sitting
10:30 the consciousness-expanding style of Proust
11:30 take it page by page
13:00 when to read Proust (morning or night?)
15:00 how to reread
15:30 In Search of Lost Time = literary art gallery
16:45 how to hunt for Easter eggs
18:05 the Art History approach to Proust
19:45 how to explore rabbit holes in your journal
20:45 the writer-reader collaboration
21:00 recap on the Proust Project ethos
23:45 Year of Proust
25:00 the Moncrieff-Kilmartin translation
26:00 hardback vs paperback (and marginalia)
27:00 how to choose the right time for Proust
28:00 join the Book Club
The Proust Project has officially begun! It's a completely self-paced, ultra-slow, communal reading of Proust's masterpiece over at the Hardcore Literature Book Club. Here is Lecture One: www.patreon.com/posts/search-begins-of-52204586
Which translation would you recommend?
@@sarazee314 Moncrieff-Kilmartin-Enright! Although Lydia Davis did a great job too.
Lydia Davis has some great essays on her methods and the differences between her translation and Moncrieff-Kilmartin in her collection Essays Two.
Am 70 now ,read In Search of Lost Time in my late 40's took about 4 years. Have never read anything like it There is a a story but for me that is not so important. Now I can pick it up and just randomly read from any point and enjoy it. The pleasure for me is similar to that of looking at some visuals art.
That's such an incredible story :) Your love for the work has inspired me to immediately open the Search at a random page and enjoy!
Yes! …or listening to a great symphony.
♥️
From my early 40s up to now at 73, Proust has been a companion to me for this latter half of my life. So many fine things have been said about him here on Benjamin’s blog. (Thank you so much, Benjamin.) All of these comments are true, and so much more could be said. Proust has made me a better writer, a better filmmaker, and a better person. But, I believe most importantly, Proust has taught me how to be observant in ways I never imagined I could be. ❤
There's a new translation by Lydia Davis of "Swann's Way". Other translators have done other volumes in this recent series so it's a stand-alone. I highly recommend it, as well as her translation of "Madame Bovary".
I thoroughly enjoyed your take on approaching Proust. It immediately touched my heart five years ago, as I read the first page. I always felt this book, and author, were too sacred to me to simply skim over the pages. Therefore, it took me five years to read the first volume. I would always start from the first page anytime I got back to it. Oh boy, was it worth it. It lives within me. The anecdotes and heartwarming episodes come to me on a day to day basis - just like Swann’s father, I guess, very often, but only a bit at a time :)
Thank you, Beatriz :) I really appreciate you sharing this! I feel the sacredness of Proust too. I love that it took you five years to read the first volume. Perfect! And I can tell that you have a really intimate connection with the book now :)
Sei que vou parecer muito presunçoso dizendo que " descobri" Proust aos 30 anos , estou com 61 e ja li e reli a Recherche 6 vezes desde entao, sempre descobri do coisas e com mais prazer a cada releitura. Quase todos os dias , tomo um volume da estante e leio 10 paginas aleatoriamente. Penso que Proust nos faz refletir sobre a qualidade das nossas relações com as pessoas, com as coisas , com a vida, enfim. Proust é um mundo.
One important thing to mention is that the meaning of the original French title ("À la recherche du temps perdu") has somewhat been lost in translation. Actually, in French, the word "perdu" means "lost" but it also means "wasted". And I think this second meaning is particularly relevant for the understanding of the whole novel, because in the end, with hindsight, the narrator's so-called wasted time, unlike Shakespeare's Richard II ('I wasted time, and now doth time waste me'), turns out on the contrary to be fruitful time. He needed these idle years to observe and understand the human soul and to fulfill himself as an artist to create a timeless work of art. Another often overshadowed aspect of 'In Search of Lost/Wasted Time' is its humour: it's extremely funny. There are countless hilarious moments. I've read it four times in my native French (the first time when I was 20) and, now that I'm almost 50, I can clearly say that every age provides one with a different kind of reward and understanding. I know that this book will follow me till my last day. As John Keats wrote: 'A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:/Its loveliness increases; it will never/Pass into nothingness'.
There is nothing like Proust, he is one of the best writer that ever existed in my opinion. Not necessarily in terms of the 'story' (although that's debatable) but the writing is EXTREMELY unique.
And his personnal sensitivity and sensuality about the world are extremely rare too. Both of those aspects makes him very, very special.
Well I am biaised, I chose him as a subject for my masters final essay. You're giving great tips for reading Proust in a personnal, unpretentious way 👌
I am going to take a look at the English translation you recommand
Hi Benjamin. This video somehow popped up on my feed a couple of months ago and it inspired me to get an Everyman copy of the first volume, just to see if it clicked with me before purchasing the full set. I'm 53 and so I'm probably 'ready' for Proust. I tend to read one novel at a time whilst also reading non-fiction on subjects that I'm interested in.
Upon reading the first page I was hooked. Never before have I read anything which goes into such detail about seemingly mundane things. The descriptions of states of mind, emotions, the way that light casts strange figures and patterns onto objects etc are things which, although we are normally aware of them in our periphery, we don't give enough attention to.
Proust has the ability to put into words, things which I have never read in any author previously. I am so captivated by his writing that I have decided to learn French, with the sole objective to read this in the original.
This has totally changed the way I feel about reading, and of my own sense of self. When I go out for walks now, I try to engage every sense in the moment instead of just walking on some sort of auto-pilot. I'm noticing things that have previously 'just been there'.
It really is incredible how reading a certain author at a certain point in one's life can have such a dramatic effect going forward.
Wow. I'm so thrilled to hear you were inspired to get yourself an Everyman copy - and I'm even more thrilled to hear you were hooked from the first page. How wonderful that you are learning French to read him! Although I'm not a French speaker, listening to audiobooks of the original is like listening to music for me. Proust often tends to hook readers immediately or not at all, and I think that bringing lived experience to the work has a lot to do with it. I also think Marcel was a tender soul, and that comes through his words too. Thank you so much for sharing your incredible appreciation of Proust with me!
I dig what you were saying about lockdown reads: I read The Idiot, Infinite Jest, Stalingrad and Life and Fate by Vasili Grossman, Ulysses, and some shorter works including La Peste by Camus. I’m currently engrossed in my second read of Anna K. I’m fascinated by Proust- I think I’ll join you!
What inspired reading, Tristram!! You read ALL that over lockdown? That's awesome. Do you have a stand-out favourite? I still remember when David Foster Wallace died. When I was writing as part of the Oxford student newspaper Cherwell, I contributed/wrote an introduction to a series of appreciation pieces on him: cherwell.org/2011/11/07/a-students-tribute-to-david-foster-wallace/ Also so stoked to have you involved in the Proust read - and nice one on doing a reread of AK. It's amazing, isn't it?
@@BenjaminMcEvoy they were all fantastic - bad books are all bad in the same way; genius books are each brilliant in their own way....
no, seriously, I have long been a Joycean, and have read and reread many passages from Ulysses over the years but this was only my second full traversal, so that was special. IJ was extraordinary, definitely making my all time top 10, and the Grossman books are also incredible. Thanks for your DFW piece- I’ll read it over my coffee this morning! Love what you are doing, Tris
Really ? '' Infinite Jest'' in the same breath as Dostoyevsky and Joyce and Tolstoy ? Is that a joke ?
Hi. Tristram, can i have these books in good condition, we dont have amazon in pakistan and searched elsewhere but the paper quality makes it unreadable.. is there any other website from i can purchase the soft copies of these books
@@stevenf.laforge5357 Infinite Jest is fantastic- can highly recommend it!
I read the whole Recherche twice, once in my early 20s (Italian translation) and once more recently in my early 40s, after work got me more fluent in French. It is certainly not for everyone, and I say that with the least amount of smug possible. I think one could follow this gentleman's sensible tips religiously and still give up, bored to death, by page 100 of the first volume. Before you wonder how to connect with Proust's work, I would consider if there are any chances that you *will* connect with it at all. It requires a contemplative mind. I, perhaps unlike the majority of people my age, don't believe that contemplative minds are going extinct or out of fashion. I think a lot of contemplative minds out there, especially young ones, don't cultivate, or even express, that side of themselves because they deem it disadvantageous in today's western society. I think reading the Recherche is an excellent way to exercise one's contemplative mind and unlock some of its potential.
I have just started Swanns Way. Maybe starting to read this at nearly 60 years old is a good thing because so far I am loving it. I am reading each couple of pages or so two or three times before moving on and am finding that it becomes more lyrical with each read…I so hope I carry on liking it
That is so wonderful to hear :) Perfect reading experience - it sounds like you're really relishing and cherishing it! I believe the more you read the more you will like it!
I’m upset that I missed the start of the Proust Project. I got my copy today, the Everyman’s Library 4-Vol set, and I’m planning on diving in quite soon. I enjoy your work and your advice and tips. Thank you.
Hi Michael - you haven't missed it at all :) It's a completely self-paced project and all the videos are still available over at the book club (plus the discussion is still rich and only just getting started). We're only 10 pages into the novel so far. And nice one on grabbing the Everyman! Let me know what you think of Proust :)
I know there are communities for readers but it sounds like we need a special community for marathon readers born out of the pandemic, love to hear I’m not the only one who started crossing off the big ones during lockdown
I completely agree, Samuel. And the marathon readers born out of the lockdown are always the coolest people :)
I feel very strongly that i am facing my last decade, so it's now or never for Proust for me, have read Swann's Way 3 times in the past though, his prose is gorgeous!!
It sounds like now is the perfect time for you, Jeff. I've heard from so many readers that Proust only began to make sense after many decades of lived experience. You're right the prose is gorgeous. I'm not a fluent speaker of French by any means, but having the original French audio wash over me is always intoxicating too.
Same here; at 82 it's pretty much a now-or-never scenario for me. I'm fully capable of reading Proust in French, have started three or four times, but could never really get into it. I am determined to try again, perhaps starting TONIGHT. (Pls. pardon all-caps...)
Today I started reading the first volume and at the same time I discovered this absolutely brilliant channel. Thank you 💗 Subscribed!
I have tried, and I only got through a few pages. Not because it was bad, but because it was so well written. I found myself just going back to the beginning again and again to think about what he was saying and enjoy the beautiful flow of his words and so I never got around to moving on 😭🤣
On reflection I really should have taken notes.
Still really want to read In Search of Lost Time, it's just getting around to picking it back up.
Found your channel after I decided to start my own Proust Project. Am loving your videos. You've rekindled my love of reading and classic literature.
Very nice! Thank you for your kind words :) I'm happy to have you here reading along with me, Daniel. Let me know what you make of the Search!
I agree about the Scott Moncrieff translation, an imperfect translation, but a classic of English. I've tried reading/listening to newer, so-called 'improved' translations and they were dead on the page (or in the ear), at least for me. I found that, for myself, reading Proust was a daunting experience, I couldn't break through. I've read many other novels you talk about and had not much trouble. Proust is densely packed with allusions, so subtle, aesthetic in outlook, so baroque almost. I finally cracked it by going to an audiobook version, namely the one read by Simon Vance. Now Proust was talking directly in my ear and I found the flow to be very suited to listening. I emphasize that this is my experience and others may have their own preferences. It's probably the best book I've ever read/listened to. I suppose that by now, mid July, the course is nearly over, I'm not clear on it. Too bad for me.
Amazing insights. I've heard from a lot of readers who had a very similar instinctive pull towards the audio, with understanding and appreciation finally following afters. Myself included :) Reading aloud is also a beautiful experience. As for the Proust Project, Jack, it's only just started and completely self-paced. We've reached only page 8 so far - so ultra-slow pacing, perfect for Proust. We have the Book Club contents page here: www.patreon.com/posts/hardcore-book-48439779
I am FINALLY reading Swan's Way. I first commented on this video 2 years ago and since watching this video , I kept telling myself to just read it ! Now's the time. I've got it on my nightstand and just read a little before bed. I thought the way he goes on and on about minutia that I would be bored but the prose is so lush it is the perfect before bed book for me.
A good introduction and guide Benjamin to the uninitiated for reading and approaching Proust's great novel. I think your emphasis on reading him slowly is absolutely right. I'm not a fast reader at the best of times but I probably read Proust more slowly than any other writer.
Very glad to get the thumbs up for audiobooks. I did find Lydia Davis’s version read by Simon Vance through my library. Started yesterday, listening for about 20 minutes before bed, and with my coffee in the morning. I already feel entranced. And will take the suggestion to journal.
Thank you!
I'm absolutely in awe of your passion for literature. Consider us friends although we know very little about each other. ❤️
Aw, thank you, Girish :) I'm so thrilled to have you here with me 🙏
Found this by chance. Currently two thirds into Within a Budding Grove. Thanks so much for this. Echoed so much of what I have developed with my own reading of Proust, the slowness, introspection, rereading, meditation. Finding it endlessly rewarding. Thank you for illuminating and articulating so well the potential of this reading experience.
Thank you, Roger! I’m so glad you’re enjoying Proust’s work :) Within a Budding Grove, or In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, particularly contains some of my favourite passages in all of literature - quite a reward for being able to make it through the beautiful but incredible slow ‘Combray’ section of the first volume. This one received the Prix Goncourt literary prize too :)
@@BenjaminMcEvoy thank you for your reply. It really is the most luxurious, involving read. I really appreciate your thoughts and tips in this video. Thank you.
I've been thinking of reading Proust for a while now, so when I came across your video, I was intrigued! I did get most of the way through Swann's Way one time, but I don't feel as though I got much out of it. I need to do it your way, the slow way! I'm a year late, but I guess I can at least start reading with your approach. Thank you!
Thank you for this magnificent voyage to Proust’s realm! Amazing, absolutely amazing content and the tone of your voice, Im not sure if it is intended, adds extra glamour to the depth of reading Proust.
Thank you and very well done job!
I picked up Swann's Way in 2019 at age 25. I read 200/250 pages and did not get it. But then Odette began to change. Towards the end I realized Proust had been hooking me without my knowledge into a group of people who were nothing like what they appeared and when I read the last page I was almost shouting "That can't be how it really is!?" But alas, not only did it turn out to be exactly how it was in the book, it was also how it was all around me. I was shook. The second book gave me a similar feeling but this time I was ready. I'm on book three now. Book three after three years. Trauma.
I just finished Swann’s Way and it took me about 6 weeks. There were some days I couldn’t pick up the book at all because I needed to make sure I was in the right head space to settle down into the the language. Some days I could only read a few pages. Other days, the pages flew. The only companion read I used was Paintings in Proust as a visual guide, which had all of the paintings mentioned in all six volumes. I did annotate this book like crazy because there’s just so much to muse over! I was surprised at how approachable Swann’s Way was once I got into it. There is a cadence to it and once I settled into it’s rhythm it would just flow. I found it to be such a relaxing read. I agree with you, there is a lot of rereading! I often would go back and reread certain passages multiple times and just sit there and think. Now I need to write up my notes I’ve been letting this marinate for a couple of weeks. I work approach the second volume into next year. Excellent video! I’m saving it to revisit when I read the other volumes!
Thank you for this. I used to read indefatigably and I’ve not read a book for the last 10 years. You have stimulated that forgotten desire. I’ve lost time, precious time, I’m not reading. The first thing I will do tomorrow is go out and buy a book.
Thank you. I'm rereading Swanns Way, which I read alone a dozen years ago. At that time I also read half of The Captive, both in The Modern Lib. editions, always at the aleatory mercy of things reading what may be had on whim at the Caprice of what's available at the secondhand bookshop or Goodwill. So I'm rereading Sqanns Way because I heard a Shelby Foote Book Notes interview on C-Span during which he lauds Proust as his favorite writer and says quite a lot about his adoration. So I am excited. I'll buy piece by piece the remainder as I go, neccitating finding a copy of The Fugitive in a single volume having The Captive in same from an early Modern Library edition which separated the two. I'm going about 5-10 pages a day. While reading the Faulkner Snopes trilogy, so-called, alongside Proust, denying no others if I have a reading notion toward them. Thanks this is the most valuable reading video I've seen: Proust and surreptitious psychoanalysis combined....
New subscriber here… just wanted to drop in and say hello.
I’ve mostly stuck with non-fiction over the last 25 years (20th Century war/political/policy history, biographies, etc…), with the exception of my Henry Miller obsession that started in the mid-90’s. And it was my return to a couple of Miller’s works late last year, where he name dropped a few of his favorite books, that stimulated my curiosity for fiction. And now I’m hooked!
I’ve recently finished Moby Dick, Winesburg Ohio, Anna Karenina (which is a masterpiece, imo) Ulysses and Crime & Punishment among a few others. And I’m now 100 pages in to Don Quixote.
“In Search of Lost Time” is on my short list of to reads, so this video is very helpful. Thanks for your enthusiasm and thoughtfulness regarding these classics… Your insightful suggestions, especially for newbies to fiction like me, are incredibly resourceful and appreciated! Thank you!
Hi Ben, I recently found your UA-cam channel; I am so glad to have found it. This summer I have slowly made my way through an unabridged copy of Hugo’s “Les Miserables” (I started watching your video on it) and Lydia Davis’ translation of “Swann’s Way”. I will look at the translation you recommend for the remaining volumes. I really appreciate your advice about reading Proust in small doses-it makes a complex work less daunting. I am also researching the references to art (Proust seems to really have an affinity for works by Botticelli). I will enjoy seeing more videos on Proust. On an unrelated topic, have you ever done any videos on Henry James’ novels? I read “The Wings of the Dove” earlier this year and could find no videos on UA-cam analyzing this book. It was difficult read. Anyway, thank you so much for these videos!
Hi Christopher :) thank you for your kind words. I’m so happy to have you watching and reading along! Les Misérables is incredible, isn’t it? I’m incredibly excited to kick off the deep read next week. And Lydia Davis accomplished something remarkable - a great writer in her own right too. Ah, Botticelli - not hard to see why he was so enamoured with his works. As for Henry James, I actually have a couple of videos on The Turn of the Screw that should be released soon as we gear up for a serialised read of the ghost story across 12 weeks. There are some aesthetic similarities between James and Proust, so I’m not surprised you’ve been reading him :)
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Yes, “Les Miserables” is definitely one of the best books that I have ever read. Although I was familiar with the plot after having seen the musical, reading an unabridged copy of the book (I read the Donougher translation) made me have a full appreciation for the genius in Hugo. As you state in the video, the long digressions (albeit difficult to comprehend at times) were an essential component for me to get that appreciation. I expect to reread it several more times in the future. As for your comparison between Proust and James, I couldn’t agree more. When I started reading the Combray section of “Swann’s Way”, I immediately noticed a similarity between Proust’s elaborate sentences and those of Henry James. From what I can tell, many Booktubers eschew James ostensibly for the reason that his prose is so complicated to comprehend. I will look forward to your videos on “The Turn of the Screw”, which I have also read. Also, I have that enormous Penguin Classic copy of “Clarissa” sitting on one of my shelves. It is quite intimidating even for a seasoned reader like me. I will look forward to any videos you make on it, too! Enjoy the rest of your weekend, man!
Hi Benjamin, thank you for all the great content you keep putting out, I've enjoyed and benefited so much from each video I've watched. I read Proust during the first half of this year, and would like to read it again and go deeper, this project sounds like the perfect way to do that, but I realize this is something that started two years ago. If I was to sign-up for membership at this point what would you recommend? Start from the beginning and slowly work my way through the archive material, or jump in where the book club currently is at in Proust?
I got the whole In Search of Lost Time for Christmas, and finally decided to take it on. Very excited to start this journey
Awesome Christmas present! Happy reading :) Let me know your thoughts!
I just stumbled upon your website (and subscribed). I finished Swann's Way and then read In a Budding Grove hoping that things would come together a bit. Finished Budding Grove and realized that needed to go back to Swann's Way and have a slower re-read. This is a humbling moment, but then I found your site and realized what I really need is exactly what you are offering. Yay!! Let's do this thing from the get-go! I will go to Lecture One (referenced in your comments section) and go from there.
Thank you, Mark :) My first read of Proust had that same humbling moment. Coming to the end of In a Budding Grove (which is my personal favourite volume) and realising that I needed to go all the way back to the beginning and start again but in a slower fashion. I’m so glad I made that decision - and thrilled to hear you’re in on the reading too! Let me know how your journey goes!
I started reading Proust about 15 years ago. I have intentionally dragged it out as I enjoy it so much. I am near finishing the second last volume. He is probably the only writer that would compel me to journal about.
Ben, thank you for introducing Proust. He is phenomenal.
These were fantastic tips! I've been so intimidated by Proust for years but your video inspired me to give him a chance. Love your content 😊
Thank you :) Let me know how you get on with Proust!!
You are really doing the business.
This is one of the best videos I have watched in ages! Thank you! I have been doing a lot of rereads of favorites during the pandemy since I have more time at home. Anna K, all of Austen's works, Some Trollope , and more. I have never read any Proust . I don't know why, but I've always been afraid to dive in.
Thank you so much :) you have been reading some great books - each one you mentioned, aside from Trollope (who I am keen to dive into), is one of my favourite authors. No need to fear Proust! You’re well prepared for him if you already loved Austen and Tolstoy!
Really excited for this series on Proust! I started Swann's Way a couple of weeks ago and found the ideas in the narrative fanned out into so many threads a reader was beckoned to examine...I'd love to go back and apply a more expansive reading approach, and I can see many re-reads on the horizon.
I was interested to hear you say you found the text sort of unyielding on first reading. I was wondering what authors you still rate now whose writing you found more penetrable when you first discovered them - those love-at-first-sight kind of books? Asking because I have actually found Proust's style really, I suppose familiar to my mind, so far. Lots of the ideas in the narrative seem like thoughts I have fleetingly had myself but never properly formulated, making reading his work revelatory in an interior sort of way for me. However, I remember finding Dostoevsky quite tricky to get into the first time I read him (The Brothers Karamazov).
I have a partial theory that perhaps it's to do with how closely the 'voice' in your own mind fits to the unique voice of the author. If they're similar, it's easy to immediately mould your thoughts into the text; if not, it takes some time before you can allow the author's words to actually percolate through. A bit like how the body rebels initially after an organ transplant, perhaps?
Wow. Respect for one of the coolest comments I've seen. Firstly, just to nail my personal taste down - I absolutely adore Proust. My first reading was so long ago I was a completely different person. After a lot of lived experience, reading Proust today is endlessly insightful for me. He intoxicates me, and I think him a literary genius, like Tolstoy and Shakespeare. And I LOVE what you've said about consciousness and love at first sight. I 100% agree with you. I've found myself in simpatico with the voices of James Baldwin and Cormac McCarthy. I read these writers and think... Damn. If I had an ounce of their talent, THIS is what my own stories would sound like. So that's amazing you find Proust to be similar to your own consciousness. It sounds like you have found a friend :) I also struggle with Dostoyevsky. He absolutely does not mirror my consciousness, thought, world-outlook, or morality. Thank you again for the wonderful comment. I can tell you've read deeply and widely and written a lot :)
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Thanks for the reply! Shakespeare for me too - something in the way he just...elevates drew me in even when I was first exposed to him in school, when I found lots of the verse and dialogue quite hard to parse. I think the best writers can pull this off: creating that - as you say, intoxicating - allure that keeps you coming back for more, but prevents you from fully deciphering them at first. Having to work at it seems to leave you with more. I think that's the real craftsmanship.
I have yet to start with McCarthy, but I agree with you on Baldwin. For me, Balzac and Rilke also have manners of writing that were strangely recognisable to me when I first read them. I should have added to my last comment though - I don't think it's a static thing. It can be a real reward to persist with someone you find difficult at first, to the point where you're able to let the text work itself on you. Haha, I remember my secondary school English teacher turning her nose up when I started Conrad, on account of his being 'dry' - and I thought so too at first, but over time that changed for me, which I suppose means I now think a little more like Conrad did. In a way.
@@chocolatepiano7366 Beautiful. I'm so glad to have found another Shakespeare fan - we're a rare commodity these days. Absolutely agree with you - the best writers know that it's a collaborative act. When you do come to McCarthy, I highly recommend Blood Meridian. It's brutal though, and I had to stop reading it a few times. Baldwin's non-fiction aside, I fell in love with Giovanni's Room :) I still need to read more of Balzac, but Rilke, yes 100% His 'Letters to a Young Poet' was, without exaggeration, life-changing for me. Ah, Conrad - he ages like a fine wine over time :)
I so agree with you on this. If an author’s
voice seems to have a similar rhythm to my own inner voice, I can coast along ao much more effortlessly and can truly internalise the thought processes. I felt this intensely with the writing of Virginia Woolf and it also explains why I find Hilary Mantel’s writing so jarring and clunky. I feel so out of synch with ii. But with Woolf and Proust and also Thomas Mann, I get carried along on the rhythm and get so much more out of it.
Ben, hi... I'll say this quick and finish the video.. I love your channel. Thank you so much for focusing on reading for enlightenment as much as it is for enjoyment and aesthetics. I've recently discovered you and I couldn't be more thankful for such insights.
If you hate being called Ben, I'm sorry
Hi Beth :) Aw, thank you so much for such a lovely comment. I really deeply appreciate that. Thank you for being here, and for reading with me! I appreciate you :) 🙏 And Ben is absolutely fine by me!
Hey Ben, I have started journalling one page at a time, thanks to your suggestion and I am absolutely loving what I am getting out of it! Every day I look forward to getting to sit down with my new best friend Proust and spend some time with him. On most pages I feel like I learn something I never knew about myself. But sometimes I'm not really sure what to journal about, and feel like I'm often just explaining to myself what just happened in the last sentence or paragraph, without really connecting with anything deeper, and I feel like I start to lose sight of how exactly to go about doing this journal. Can you give me some tips?
You have gained a new subscriber. Thank you so much for sharing your passion. I have to keep taking a deep breath every time you mention the philosophy behind every idea in this precious literature. You are amazing, Benjamin. I live in Bali, Indonesia.
Thank you so much, Laura! You have completely made my day!! Happy reading over in beautiful Bali 🇮🇩☺️
Well Ben, you did it. I’ve had the first 2 volumes of La Recherche (Italian translation) on my shelves for 3 years. I was waiting for the right time. Since discovering your channel I’ve been waiting for the best time (as opposed to right)…. my search for the paper copies of the best Italian translation had hampered me (there are several, but Giovanni Raboni’s is considered a masterpiece), but I found a workaround i.e. a Kindle copy. As a native speaker of Italian, I like to read Latin languages in Italian, it makes more sense. I have some French so I got a copy of the French original too and I’m reading it alongside the Italian. That’s a secondary project, if I finish volume 1 in my lifespan that’s good enough 😆
You’ve made me take the plunge. Thank you!
I agree, the best way to read Proust is to re-read his work, and it has to be the right time in your life. I am a very slow reader so when I start reading Proust I need time. I can read for 8 to 10 hours a day for 3 days until I embark on a certain pace of reading. I am a very slow person and when I was a child my slowliness was often a subject of mockery which made me feel ashamed. Your advice restaure my confidence and make me feel like reading "La Recherche" a third time, although I never read it entirely, both times, after "Sodome et Gomorrhe", I skipped "La prisonnière" et "Albertine disparue" to reach "Le temps retrouvé". I once had a notebook about "La Recherche" that must have been lost in the depths of a drawer somewhere. If you are interested in Proust's writing technique you must read articles about "les paperolles" (Les paperolles de Proust). Thank you.
Proust is a wonderful companion for 8-10 hours a day. Complete immersion in his world is so rewarding. I'm glad you're no longer ashamed of your slow reading :) this is a skill to be proud of, with many great rewards, and I can tell that you read deeply and have a strong love of literature. And thank you for the recommendations :)
Jumping in a bit late to the Proust Project, but know that it is time for me to journal as I progress slowly through the works. Tried once before; was too impatient. Reading, rereading, and recursively reflecting on my underlined passages and notes in my journal. Connecting more with the author's prose and identifying more significant memories worth unpacking for their novelty and/or impact. This is better than journaling and interpreting dreams! :-) Thank you for your guidance and instruction - you are a Treasure!!
Great video and tips, I plan on putting them to use when I get started on the search.
So happy to have found your site...can you imagin at 86 I now have time..my time to read all my favorite writers ..and Marcel Proust has beeb one for soo long..while I was living in France I discoverd in French cinema" lost time " en plus Swanne"..both a joy .....now to have not only the time but other outside interpretations of much Im sure I missed...thank you....
I was debating on which version to read, and settled on the Moncrieff-Kilmartin translation on my own (Vintage paperback), then I found this video and was so relieved when you spoke so highly of it.
Some days ago I celebrated my 83rd birthday. It is the perfect time to read Proust. I need to slow down. and realize what life is about before I have to leave. Like what you say but why hurry. Read for 20 minutes every morning. Have found a little group to discuss the text with. Thanks for your words.
Happy belated birthday, Marianne :) It certainly sounds like the perfect time to read Proust. I love taking the scenic route through the Search. Such a beautiful reading experience :)
Excellent talk on Proust! Cheers!
Hi Benjamin. New to your channel; which I enjoy. I just picked up Proust's "In Search Of Lost Time" today (for the 1st time), and will begin to read "Swann's Way" v1 tomorrow evening (for maximum benefit), as per your suggestion and at 10-pages max/day. I like your idea about journalling, so I'll look for some nice journals tomorrow so I can dive in. I'm excited in finally getting around to reading Proust, yet somewhat nervous at the prospect of such a long process (both as a reader and doing the introspective work vis-a-vis the journal). That part will be very interesting...
I just finished reading Swann’s Way and I’m looking forward to reading it again with Benjamin McEvoy and the book group.
That's amazing, Suzan :) We're eager to read it with you too!
Starting Proust. Have my journal. Am in the Proust level of the club. Thanks Ben
I have started Swanns way and have just finished chapter 2. It is beautiful so far
I’ve wanted to read this for a few years now after actually hearing Norm Macdonald (who was fairly well read in Russian literature) saying it was his current read and was enjoying it haha. Once I saw the size I had no clue how to start and kinda forgot about it so very happy this randomly showed up on my feed.
Many of my friends suggested reading Proust. I said I want my own copy. I will get mine next week and this video kicked start my interest. You are awesome! Thank you, thank you.
Amazing :) I'm excited for you! Let me know what you make of it!
Around 16:54 you remark on the great gift that is the Internet, and its woeful misuse. My feeling is that the Internet is the greatest human invention -- at least non-medical invention -- of all time. It's deplorable that it's been subverted to harmful, even disastrous, uses. I suppose this has been a problem ever since Prometheus, but it's still deeply troubling. Your suggestions for enhancing reading through Internet-based research are right on the mark. Not a day goes by that I don't feel grateful beyond words for such a resource.
Thank you for this. I've always considered his great work akin to a Wagnerian opera like Der Ring des Nibelungen, the 15 hour cycle.
That's a brilliant parallel!
Thanks again Benjamin for an interesting video, great work! I liked that you mentioned how you have to wait until you are ‘ready’ to read Proust - i suppose it’s largely the same for other titans of the canon. I remember reading the brothers Karamazov when i was younger and it didn’t really connect.....on a side note: what is your take on Lawrence Durell?
Thank you, George :) Yes, I would absolutely agree. I'm not sure my teenage self would have gotten anything out of Tolstoy. And I'm happy to discover returning to Austen many years after being forced to read her, I now find her hilarious and endlessly enjoyable. I can't say I'm familiar with his work - do you have a recommendation for where to start? :)
you all are so organized and well adjusted
Restarting. Am 76 so your guidance on how to tackle Proust has been such a lifesaver:) I have read since I was a tot but without any plan.😊
Very interesting video and channel, thank you for this high quality work. Definitely going to get the first one tonight!
Thank you, Orson! I hope you enjoy it - let me know how you get on :)
Thank you for this fantastic video !
I have recently discovered Proust, but I haven’t read anything yet. I have tried to read Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot and failed, likewise I got lost in David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest and some other comprehensive books.
However, I do find your slow reading course intriguing.
I have one major concern, that being the language barrier. I am not a native English speaker, I have read several other other books in English, but I often find that I am missing some subtleties. I am considering reading a danish translation instead (I don’t know the quality of any of the danish translation).
What are your thoughts on this topic ?
This is so helpful. Thank you!
This was very insightful and educating advice. It came too late, though, but it was more or less my own approach, anyway.
Interesting to hear how you also know the dozing off and entering a semi-conscious state, where the words and sentences take you on a (personal) journey.
Thank you for all the good advice - and not least the enthusiastic encouragement of reading. The reading experience is by definition a very solitary one, so it's always a delight to hear that you're not alone.
However, I will recommend not to read another novel alongside Proust, but poetry (very suitable), or philosophy (in likewise small chunks) - Bergson is really recommended here.
PS. It seems that you aren't familiar with Hamsun. It could be due to a lack of good translations in English, I don't know, I haven't checked. Despite the marvels of the experience with Proust, Knut Hamsun is still my favourite author, especially due to his language and storytelling, which will of course to a large extent be lost in translation.
Chekhov is also up there for the same reasons, absolutely.
Love all the videos I"ve watched of yours. When you say to read other books along with "Search", do you mean to continue reading Proust regularly at the same time as another, or take time off to read, say, Don Quixote, and then go back to Search? Or maybe cut down on the amount of Search you read each day, and spend more time on the other book? I know you don't put anything in stone as things one "must" do, just looking for what you do/recommend. Thanks.
This is very helpful, thank you.
Proust is a writer for whom the language is totally complementary to the content. He can't be read like any author. I enjoy him first and foremost for the incredible prose style, which is hypnotic. It really is a matter of going with the flow, so attempting to read either too fast or for too long is to miss the point. The "point " is its the slow motion of consciousness and the meditative quality of introspection.
Hello!
I Found your channel last night (June 17/22)
I thought about something as you mentioned the many layers in In Search of Lost Time: Do you know of any fiction books where (for some reason/s) Plato's Meno is brought up and discussed for a while?
I found a copy of the Penguin Classic Deluxe Edition of Swann’s Way for $7.00 second hand. You have inspired me to dive into French literature and Proust.
Nice find! Happy reading :) Let me know how you get on!
Great analysis. Thanks!
Hi! Love your video, just a question: I'm thinking of reading it in french, but i'm 16 and i'm not sure if I would understand all of the themes? How mature do you think a reader should be to tackle this? I've read long novels before like Shogun and War and Peace
The Search is definitely a work for mature readers, but if you’re interested you should 100% give it a go. You already have read some great books - War and Peace isn’t easy so well done :) I first read Proust aged 14, so why not!
Sir I just bought Jean Santeuil for early depth of Proust. I heard this book was a draft and the author didn't finish the work but as you said his practice platform, I think this one is the core of In Search of Lost Time. I found Proust from the school of life jihad parody.
Hi thank you for another awesome video! Im curious, where can one purchase the books with that hardcover (that look vintage) i can not find them on amazon! Thank you again!
I just finished Within A Budding Grove. I think I'm gonna jump into the Proust project! I have spent about 8 months on the first two volumes while I am reading other novels as well. Let's do this!
Congratulations :) Perfect pacing - I would love to hear your thoughts. You'll be warmly welcomed to the Proust Project, Dave!
You have one of the best channels on all of UA-cam.
Thank you so much! That really means a lot to me :)
Just finding your channel. Amazing content with depth.
Thank you, Aaron :) I really appreciate you being here!
You have an incredible way of making me want to read books that previously would have scared me off due to length and/or density. I'm reading Moby Dick right now and I thoroughly love it so far. Someday I shall do the same with Proust.
That's so kind of you. I'm incredibly happy I could get you picking up some of my favourites. Moby Dick is great fun, isn't it? Enjoy your journey on the Pequod, my friend!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy I'll save Clarissa for later though haha
Hey Ben. I just finished reading In search of Lost Time. It was truly a life changing experience . Proust does indeed provides us with a magnifying glass into the world. I would very much like to know which of the volumes you liked best? Personally for me, the last one stands out. Thanks, love all your videos. Currently getting inspired by your videos on Shakespeare too.
It’ really wonderful
I’m going to get into account all your tips 😊
Wonderful video! Thank you for posting!
Thank you, my friend!
OMG just found you....and love this.....Can I start Proust now??? Your enthusiasm is infectious.
Aw, thank you, Mimi :) I can feel your own excitement through your words! Yes, absolutely, please do start Proust - you'll love him!
Been thinking about getting into Swanns Way. The only thing I hear is that the first 50-100 pages can be really slow for some. Also, I just wanna say about the Dostoevsky vs Tolstoy thing. I’m really liking Anna Karenina right now. I’d say Dostoevsky spoiled me for other books. Dostoevsky is definitely able to write mature books. If you’d like another mature Russian classic, read The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky. One of my favorite books I’ve ever read. I’m just a Dostoevsky fan boy 😂
What are your opinions on Montecriff- Stephen Hudson translation?What is the difference between that and the Montecriff-Killmartin-Enright one? Are they different in quality
Interesting and helpful. Thank you
Thank you so much, Oscar! I really appreciate that :)
Wonderful!
I enjoy the way you arouse interest.
If anyone has an I phone,Google a word from English into French and an authentic
pronunciation is given.
You will like it.
I’m starting to read more thanks to your enthusiasm.
Bye
Hi,
I read Anna Karénina and I'm now reading War and Peace. I've been watching your videos here and I ended up on this one from Proust. Since your advice is to read Proust slowly, would you advise me to keep reading other books while reading In Search of Lost Time?
Thank you.
Loved This, Thank You
How can I find the Hardcover editions like in this video? All I can find is two types
Thanks for all these recommendations Benjamin; to be honest, I should have watched your video a few weeks ago, before I failed in my first attempt to read A Swann’s Way and enjoy its content 😥.
Next time I think it will be better and I’ll be more prepared, I can tell.
Cheers! 👋
Thank you, Axl :) Slow and steady is the way to go with Swann's Way! It takes most readers (myself included) multiple attempts over the years to break into it!
What journals Ben do you recommend?
Thanks so much for your insights. I have recently finished Anna K -loved most of it. Then took up Crime and Punishment but lost my self in the depressing environment, then switched to War and Peace. I want to go back to C&P but the Time is so short -Tick Tock. Can I fit in Proust? ..........
This was/is really useful. Thank you.
You're so welcome :) Happy reading, Richard!
Excellent. Thank you.
One also needs motivation, so desire to read it. Here's my way to do that: Proust is funny, extraordinarily sensitive (in such a beautiful and intelligent way), he will change how you perceive the world an people. Reading Proust is delightful, dreamlike... you understand a lot about the human psyche (ego mainly, thru fun and laughs). Don't be so intimidated, just dive in (at a slow pace, yes, but not too slow so it feels discouraging). Approach it as you would sit a the table of one of the best restaurants of the world, interested and curious to taste with great attention and pleasure. I really can't wait to re-read it.
I am a bit confused by translations of Proust. I have opened up the Kilmartin Moncreiff Everyman translation and the first lines read , ' For a long time I used to go to bed early. Sometimes when I had put out my candle, my eyes would close so quickly that I had not even time to say " I'm going to sleep". The Kilmartin Moncreiff Vintage edition reads differently and in my mind far better as , ' For a long time I would go to bed early. Sometimes, the candle barely out, my eyes closed so quicky that I did not have time to tell myself, "I'm falling asleep". I think I will go for the Vintage edition. Does anyone have any comments on this ?
Ok I got my money refunded for my Everyman Proust edition without needing to return the book. I have ordered the Vintage version and I think I will read both in tandem as it's interesting to see the differences in translation.
Where can I find “the Proust project”? My partner has continuously reread it her whole life. Her second favorite book is “Joseph and his brothers “ by Mann. I’ve found both to be pure torture although I love ulysses . I’ve blamed it on my adhd since I find myself wanting to smack them upside the head for their endlessly complicated sentences that run on endlessly
Hi John :) I think if you love Ulysses, you can most certainly derive some enjoyment and appreciation out of Proust. The lectures for the Proust Project go up over at the Book Club Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/hardcoreliterature
I love your voice, its calming :)
Thank you, Thao :)